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Happy New Year! Best wishes for a respectful, healthy, and rewarding 2024.
The Schedule: January legislative days will be held January 10th, 11th, and 12th. During those days, all interim committees will meet to hold hearings and adopt committee bills for the 2024 short session. The good news is that there are a limited number of bills that can be introduced either from committees or individuals, but even with that we will have more bills than we are able to process and complete. Between January legislative days and the start of the 35-day short session on February 5th, final work will be completed on bills in preparation for first reading in the House and committee referral by Speaker Rayfield. Most of the content of these measures will be available during this time for those who want to testify or otherwise provide input.
Short Session: There is an extensive list of priorities for the short session, many of which have budget implications. Even though we adopted the 24-25 budget on June 23rd, changes have occurred that create a need for additional funds to support existing programs and/or adjustments in allocations based on what we have learned since adoption. Many of the budget changes will not be the result of policy bills, but rather requests to, and discussion by the Ways and Means Committee. Some examples of additional funding requests we’ve made based on the updated information include the $19 million in general funds to ODOT for winter road needs, $38 million to support the childcare subsidies authorized during the 2023 session, $50 million for summer learning programs, $7.8 million for capital projects for cultural organizations around Oregon, plus, several others. Many of these were considered during the 2023 long session and either did not receive any funding or only partial funding.
Key Budget Requests: The major budget items for consideration include the request by Governor Kotek for approximately $600 million in new funds to help address housing and homelessness. The requested funds include $500 million for housing development, $65 million for rental assistance, and $33 million for shelter capacity. The Governor is also introducing key policy changes to support work in this area. It is important to remember that allocating the money will not lead to immediate changes and that it may in fact take years for the investments to show the expected results. A key factor in addressing our communities' housing shortage is the need for infrastructure including streets, water, sewer, stormwater, etc. The Governor and others are requesting some of the additional funding be available to communities to pay for the needed services to the development sites. Local infrastructure is a very key challenge and one that is usually mostly dependent on local resources rather than state. This is an important policy discussion for local jurisdictions and the State of Oregon.
Behavioral Health: Behavioral health is another key area for consideration during the short session. Our overall system is plagued with employee shortages, lack of ongoing financial support, and the ever-changing conditions in our communities. Everyone is aware of current ongoing conversations about Measure 110. No doubt the rollout has been problematic and lessons learned to date indicate it may not work as expected. A special committee, the Joint Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response, has been studying the issues in the interim and will have recommendations on what needs to be done to further address the crisis we find ourselves in. I fully expect several other legislative concepts to be introduced for consideration up to and including repealing Measure 110. Legislative leadership along with key committees are focused on taking key actions to reduce the impact a wide range of behavioral health issues are having in our communities.
Additional revenue needs: All of these budget discussions will require additional funds. The good news is our revenues continue to grow from the projections used in approving the 24-25 budget. However, at the same time, current additional requests far exceed what is projected to be available. Tough conversations will be needed to reach agreement on the highest priorities and how much funding to commit. Additional budget pressures exist that will not be solved in 2024 but will need to be addressed in 2025 and could impact our reserves, funds available for existing programs, and any growth expected in our revenues. One key area is transportation funding. As noted earlier, the legislature is being asked to spend general fund money for winter highway maintenance. Normally all highway related issues are paid from transportation sources, however these sources are diminishing while costs are increasing. Our current system (primarily funded by gas taxes) is no longer sufficient to keep our transportation system in good repair while completing many needed system upgrades including the new Columbia River bridge between Oregon and Washington. School funding continues to remain a challenge and the Governor is asking the legislature to look at changes to the school funding formula. Any changes will require additional funding and would only apply to K-12 funding. In the meantime, our institutions of higher education struggle to provide classes to students at a cost they can afford. Current state funding, while increased, still only addresses a small part of the cost of providing students with the opportunities they need to graduate and be successful without significant debt.
A challenging 2024 and beyond: If this all seems a little overwhelming, believe me it is. However, we have an obligation to address the challenges and do the best job we can for our citizens. It is always important to focus on the long-term objectives and realize it will take many increments and much time to achieve our objectives. At the end of the day, we in the Legislature need to improve our follow-up and ensure that objectives we set are being met and working. If they aren’t then we need to be flexible in making needed adjustments.
I look forward to hearing from you before, during, and after the session. Feel free to contact me at rep.johnlively@oregonlegislature.gov, or by phone at (503) 986-1407. My chief of staff, Andrew Hickerson, along with my session legislative assistant, Gianluca Scoppa, will be glad to assist with any of your questions and other district needs during the session.
email: Rep.JohnLively@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1412
address: 900 Court St NE, H-488, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/lively
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