Hello Friends,
I hope this finds you and your families well. Although work for the residents of our district and Oregon continues, the 83rd Session of the Oregon Legislative Assembly's 2026 Short Session has come to end!
I wanted to share with you the project funding that we have secured for our district and southwest Oregon through this budget cycle. Oregon budgets on a two-year cycle and some of the funding is carry forward from previous sessions, and we had to work to make sure our resources were not reallocated to other projects elsewhere in the state. Also below is legislation that I Chief and Co-Sponsored that passed this Session. This work was successful because of the combined efforts of my legislative colleagues, our residents, their communities and businesses with their incredible advocacy.
As you know, the Democrats have Supermajorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This means that no piece of legislation below moves through the process of receiving a public hearing in committee to a vote on the Senate or House Floors, without hard work to gather support in both chambers. That said, I again sincerely appreciate all of the support of my legislative colleagues, residents and industries for their collaboration and efforts to bring the funding and legislation below across the finish line for Oregonians.
There were of course a number of important projects that needed funding and important pieces of legislation that did not make it through the legislative process this session. We will continue to push forward in 2027 Legislative Session to bring them to fruition.
To read more about the legislation, testimony and other information, click on the bill number.
Project Funding
-
$44 Million Bay Area Hospital loan guarantee through the State Treasurer for financial stabilization of Bay Area Hospital.
-
$500,000 County Fairgrounds per biennium in additional support for the Curry, Coos & Douglas County Fairgrounds each for improvements, by removing the 1% cap. All 36 county fairgrounds will receive roughly $500,000 in additional revenue. We have been working on this for a number of years and finally got it done!
-
$450,000 Glide Revitalization Community Center – the center will be a hub of services for rural Glide community; Little Loggers (affordable childcare), office/community space, library, access to social service partners, and host Glide Revitalization’s programs (i.e. youth development, disaster case management, economic development). Representative Osborne championed this effort.
-
$35 Million Roseburg Veterans Home – There are currently two Veterans' Homes in Oregon that provide qualifying veterans with long-term care and Oregon law provides for two more. A 65% federal match to these State funds will provide for the construction, permitting, labor and project administration of building the third Veteran’s Home in Roseburg. Admittance to a Veterans' Home is a benefit that honorably discharged veterans have earned, that extends to their spouses and to the parents of children who died serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
-
$1.4 Million Rock Creek Hatchery Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife budget increase for operations and research at the Rock Creek Hatchery.
-
$946,700 City of Winston sewer Lines – This 47% of funding needed for the replacement of existing sewer lines on Abraham Avenue, Highway 42, and through agricultural fields between the two. A new segment installed on Abraham Avenue in order to abandon a current line that traverses underneath private property. Relocation of the line under the bridge at Lookingglass Creek - moving the line, installing new hangers, and relocating the manholes so that the line is accessible.
-
$504,000 Sutherlin Fire Department – The construction and site prep of a three story NFPA Certified training tower building that would allow for Sutherlin Firefighters, our mutual aid departments, as well as the Umpqua Community College Fire Science Program students to utilize to learn firefighting tactics and tasks through a multipurpose training building.
-
$176,721 Cancer Center - Community Cancer Foundation, DBA Community Cancer Center, for quality assurance equipment and the electronic medical records upgrade project.
-
$100 Million Port of Coos Bay Channel deepening – Necessary step for the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port Project which would create the first ship-to-rail facility on the U.S. West Coast.
-
$5 Million Port of Coos Bay navigation channel – These 2023 Oregon Business Development Departments funds had not yet been used yet and needed other port projects in order to proceed. This allows the port to carryover and not lose those funds.
-
$1.6 Million Port of Port Orford Redevelopment Project – These are previously allocated funds from 2017 that have been carried forward each biennium. These funds have now been expended to finish the Port of Port Orford's Crane Project. These two new 50 ton cranes are a game changer for the port and the fleet.
-
$750,000 City of Port Orford Water Recycling - These are previously allocated funds from 2023 that have been carried forward to assist the City with a secondary wastewater outfall.
Chief Sponsored Legislation
-
HB4075 - Digest: This Act makes the State Treasurer use unclaimed moneys to guarantee a loan to a hospital. (Flesch Readability Score: 63.6). Requires the State Treasurer to use up to $44 million from the Unclaimed Property and Estates Fund to guarantee a loan made to a rural hospital for financial stabilization.
-
HB4097 - Digest: This Act lets the Oregon Ocean Science Trust form a nonprofit. (Flesch Readability Score: 72.6). Authorizes the Oregon Ocean Science Trust to create and maintain a nonprofit organization.
-
HB4153 - Digest: Allows farm stores on farmlands. (Flesch Readability Score: 90.9). Allows counties to approve farm stores as nonfarm use on lands zoned for farm use.
-
SCR204 - Digest: Honors the AOC on the 120th year since it was founded. (Flesch Readability Score: 72.6). Honors the Association of Oregon Counties on the 120th anniversary of its founding.
-
SCR206 - Digest: Pays respect to the life and memory of Aaron Woods. (Flesch Readability Score: 78.2). In memoriam: State Senator Aaron Lionel Woods, 1949-2025.
Co-Sponsored Legislation
-
HB4045 - Digest: The Act requires a response within a specified time for certain search warrants. The Act goes into effect when the Governor signs it. (Flesch Readability Score: 70.1). Requires a social media platform to respond to a search warrant within 72 hours of service, and all other communications providers to respond within five business days of service, when the warrant pertains to an investigation of stalking or a crime constituting domestic violence.
-
HB4047 - Digest: The Act tells OHA to create a new hospital license type. (Flesch Readability Score: 80.3). Requires the Oregon Health Authority to adopt rules and procedures to allow a hospital to apply for a license as a rural emergency hospital.
-
HB4052 - Digest: The Act makes a new tax credit for new banks. (Flesch Readability Score: 100.0). Creates a corporate excise tax credit for each of the first three years that a bank does business in this state. Applies only to Oregon-chartered banks that commence business in tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2033.
-
HB4099 - Digest: This Act creates the Task Force on Responding to Veterans in Crisis and makes the task force submit a report to the legislature. (Flesch Readability Score: 62.1). Establishes the Task Force on Responding to Veterans in Crisis and directs the task force to submit a report to the interim committee of the Legislative Assembly related to emergency management and veterans no later than September 15, 2026. Sunsets the task force on December 31, 2027.
-
HB4102 - Digest: This Act changes the way DEQ can agree to make a regulatory process work faster or better. (Flesch Readability Score: 60.1). Modifies the authority of the Department of Environmental Quality to enter into agreements with regulated entities to expedite or enhance a regulatory process.
-
HB4108 - Digest: This Act lets Eugene add some noncontiguous land to the city. (Flesch Readability Score: 72.6). Allows the City of Eugene to annex noncontiguous land upon receipt of a petition from all owners of the land that satisfies four eligibility criteria.
-
HB4121 - Digest: The Act creates new systems and structures and changes law to improve emergency response in the state. (Flesch Readability Score: 65.1). Creates authority to coordinate emergency management. Requires state agencies to designate liaisons for emergency management. Imposes duties on the Oregon Department of Emergency Management related to management of emergency preparedness assets. Modifies the definitions of and grant requirements for Resilience Hubs and Resilience Networks. Authorizes certain training facilities to host overnight training activities. Requires the Oregon Department of Emergency Management to obtain fingerprints of employees and contractors. Authorizes counties to waive certain civil penalties related to food service facilities during emergencies. Requires the Department of the State Fire Marshal to study health coverage for firefighters. Establishes grant programs for emergencies.
-
HB4131 - Digest: The Act says the BOP has to give a license to run a mobile pharmacy to someone who meets the requirements. (Flesch Readability Score: 64.6). Directs the State Board of Pharmacy to issue a license to operate a mobile pharmacy to a qualified applicant. Establishes requirements for a mobile pharmacy.
-
HB4132 - Digest: Makes changes to veteran laws. (Flesch Readability Score: 66.4). Requires the director to be a veteran who has received a discharge or release under other than dishonorable conditions. Allows the director to appoint a deputy director, subject to approval by the Governor. Directs the department to develop and implement a grant program for suicide prevention and workforce training and preparation. Allows moneys in the Veterans' Services Fund to be used for the grant program. Increases an expenditure limitation for the purpose of the grant program. Directs the director to distribute moneys appropriated for county veterans' service officer programs on a quarterly basis. Directs the department to provide a report on the quarterly distribution process. Changes who are allowed to request county veteran discharge records. Increases, from $5,000 to $10,000, the cap on the individual grant amount that is allowed under the Veteran Educational Bridge Grant Program. Directs the Judicial Department, in consultation with the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, to study methods for providing access to veterans' treatment courts to residents of each county or judicial district. Takes effect on July 1, 2026.
-
HB4151 - Digest: The Act changes the crime of initiating a false report. (Flesch Readability Score: 69.7). Increases the penalties for the crime of initiating a false report when a person intentionally causes an enhanced law enforcement response and recklessly causes serious physical injury or death as a result of the response. Punishes by a maximum of five years' imprisonment, $125,000 fine, or both.
-
HB4157 - Digest: The Act says that some hearsay about some sex crimes can come into evidence though the speaker is available. (Flesch Readability Score: 62.8). Provides that certain hearsay statements related to certain sex crimes are not inadmissible in evidence, even though the declarant is available as a witness.
-
HCR201 - Digest: Honors an important agency that helps fight fires as it turns 75 years old. (Flesch Readability Score: 71.7). Celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Oregon Fire District Directors Association.
-
HJM201 - Digest: Asks Congress to pass a new law so people who were victims of wildfires will keep getting the help they need. (Flesch Readability Score: 86.7). Urges Congress to pass legislation to permanently extend federal tax cuts for wildfire victims.
-
SB1535 - Digest: The Act allows ELC to change some standards for who can use a day care subsidy program. The Act tells DELC to create a work group to study and report to the Senate and the House on liability insurance issues for child care providers and on how to increase access and reduce costs for those providers. The Act sunsets the work group in 2029. The Act takes effect 91 days after session ends. (Flesch Readability Score: 67.7). Allows the Early Learning Council to modify the priority given to families receiving temporary assistance for needy families for participation in the Employment Related Day Care subsidy program. Directs the Department of Early Learning and Care to convene a work group to study the cost and availability of liability insurance and other liability issues for child care providers. Identifies work group participants. Directs the work group to report to the Legislative Assembly on options to increase child care provider access to liability insurance, to reduce the financial burden of liability insurance on child care providers and to use other strategies to address liability issues for child care providers. Requires the work group to submit the report to the Legislative Assembly by November 1, 2027. Sunsets the work group on January 2, 2029.
-
SB1561 - Digest: This Act allows an owner a separate path to restore a destroyed home. (Flesch Readability Score: 69.9). Requires local governments to approve restoration or replacement of dwellings rendered uninhabitable under an alternative process that is not a land use decision.
-
SB1585 - Digest: The Act would set a maximum percent required for matching grants made by the state to small cities for capital projects. (Flesch Readability Score: 64.6). Sets maximum matching fund requirements for state grants to small incorporated cities for certain capital construction and municipal infrastructure and improvements.
Stay tuned for more information and thank you for all of your engagement and support for the funding and legislation we were able to move above during this 2026 Short Legislative Session. Representative Osborne, Representative Boice and I sincerely appreciate your efforts and advocacy.
If you would like to read more information about my work for you, please Click Here.
If you would like to watch some recorded testimony in committee and comments from the Senate Floor, please Click Here.
It continues to be truly an honor and privilege to work with and for the residents, their businesses and communities of our district and our beloved State of Oregon as your Senator.
As always, please be safe and God Bless you, your family and your neighbor.
Yours Truly,
 Senator David Brock Smith
Together, We Will Build a Better Oregon
 Senate District 1
Curry, Coos, and Douglas Counties
Southwest Oregon’s Fish, Farm, and Forestry District.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1701
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-316, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Sen.DavidBrockSmith@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/smithd
|
