NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: Special Session Ahead and Maybe Some Forgotten Money for You

12/2/2024
By Representative David Gomberg, House District 10

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

In the weeks following Veterans Day, I made an effort to reach out to six military families.

When safe deposit boxes are abandoned in Oregon, the contents are turned over to the state Treasury as unclaimed property. Military medals and decorations found are held forever for their owner or their heirs.

A state web page now lists those awards along with the name of the last box owner and a process for filing claims.

Using several sources including the state voter database, I searched for family members. I left voicemails for people in the same city with the same surname. I also called and had nice conversations with people now living at the listed address but had no idea how to contact previous owners. In the end, I was not successful.

Smarter people than me, I’m sure, have already worked this list trying to connect family members with the earned awards of loved ones. But I felt good for having made the effort. As I have often said, we need to recognize our veterans every day for their service and sacrifice on our behalf.

The State Treasurer also receives and holds money for unclaimed accounts like security deposits, refunds, forgotten bank accounts, or wages owed in a final job payment.

I regularly urge people to check the Find Your Unclaimed Property website. Enter your name, your relatives, or even your friends and see what pops up. I think you’ll be surprised!

The last time I posted this link, I received three emails from readers who were pleased to receive forgotten cash in the mail.

Starting December 10th, legislators from across Oregon will return to Salem for the quarterly “Legislative Days”. There will be committee meetings, caucus gatherings and conversations all in preparation for the full session that will begin in January. Luke handles my Salem schedule and tells me I already have over 90 requests for 15-minute appointments over the four days. And of course, that is not going to happen! Between now and the end of December, most of those requests will end up as Zoom conferences online.

While all of this is going on, retiring members will be cleaning out their offices while newly elected Representatives and Senators vie for those spaces.

Office selection is actually a pretty big deal in Salem. The basic rule is that you can keep the location you have or move into one being vacated. Selection is based first on seniority and then alphabetically. The same is true for floor desks and parking spaces. If you have occasionally read about a departing member retiring early and their replacement being appointed a few weeks before session rather than waiting to be sworn in with the rest of their class, “location” is one of the benefits that results from a bit more seniority.

I’m happy with the spots I currently enjoy.

Leg Days are always time well spent but this one will be particularly important because leadership and the Governor have asked us to convene in a special session while we are all in town. Your legislature meets for a regular long session in odd years and a regular short session in even years. But we can also convene in an irregular special session when called by the Governor or a majority of legislators.

At issue are the costs of Oregon’s record wildfire season.

The Governor will ask lawmakers to approve $218 million to help the Department of Forestry and the state fire marshal cover bills after 1.9 million acres burned across the state this year. That’s three times the annual average.

The full cost of fires topped $350 million. Much of that cost will eventually be paid for by the federal government. But reimbursement takes time and much of that money is owed to private contractors who stepped in to help with fire prevention or response work. Without immediate help, those small businesses can’t pay their costs or employees. In short, the State needs to pay our bills.

The Legislature’s Joint Emergency Board is the usual vehicle for approving emergency spending in between sessions. But the board doesn’t have enough money at its disposal to cover the costs faced by firefighting agencies. The legislature can either convene to shift more money to the E-Board, or convene and make the allocation directly.

Problems like this often present opportunities for posturing.

One of my legislative colleagues recently wrote that the situation is a result of “failed Oregon leadership” that “eliminated timber harvesting” and resulted in neglected forests left to burn with Oregon taxpayers expected to foot the bill.

That’s an argument that merits further debate. But it doesn’t square with the facts of the ’24 fire season.

Nearly 2 million acres burned this summer and fall — more than three times the 10-year average — mostly in eastern Oregon grass and shrub, with only about 25% of it in forestland, according to the Wildland Mapping Institute. More than one-third of all acres burned have been on private land, and about 62% was on federal land.

State policies for logging in state forests are a small part of our current situation.

Nearly 2 million acres of Oregon burned in a record 2024 wildfire season that racked up some $350 million in costs. Governor Tina Kotek announced Tuesday she’d call lawmakers to a special session in December to address those costs.

Special sessions can be unpredictable affairs in Oregon. Unlike normal sessions, they don’t come with built-in constitutional guardrails requiring lawmakers to adjourn at any specific point. There is always suspicion that sessions convened for a particular purpose can spiral off into other issues and drag on. I don’t see that happening next week and expect the session to actually be only a few hours long. The main delay will be the required time necessary to publicly announce notice of committee agendas and advance the two planned bills to the House and Senate for final votes.

Complicating the process is the awkward fact that both the House and Senate chambers are closed until January for ongoing renovations. That means the full 60-member House will meet in one of the larger committee hearing rooms. That’s something I’ve not seen before. You may want to tune in to the Legislative Information Service to see how it actually works…

The 30-member State Senate met in a hearing room rather than the Senate Chambers in September to confirm several Governor appointments. In December, the Senate and the 60-member House will convene in hearing rooms since the Chambers are still being renovated.

Few citizens of other states enjoy the kind of unfettered access along the beach that was ensured for Oregonians and their visitors by our celebrated Beach Bill, initially passed by the legislature in 1967.

Today, however, this Oregonian legacy is under threat.

No one is scheming to take away our rights—at least, not directly. But human actions are threatening our beaches from both directions. We may retain our access to the shore, but in coming years our access along the beach could be lost.

Our shoreline is now caught in what is known as the “coastal squeeze.” Sea level rise and increased storm surges, driven by climate change, are pushing waves and tides higher and higher, speeding up erosion and flooding the beach more frequently. And on the landward side, more and more landowners are seeking to protect their property from those higher waves with shoreline armoring, such as seawalls and riprap revetments (structures made of boulders).

In a column published in the Cottage Grove Sentinel, Phillip Johnson from the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition and Charlie Plybon of Surfrider Foundation argued that over time, this will be a deadly combination.

Hardened structures lead to increased erosion by deflecting waves onto adjoining shoreland. At the same time, they deprive beaches of their natural sand supply. Higher seas and stronger storms pull sand offshore, but if nature is allowed to take its course, it replenishes the beach by mobilizing sand from bluffs and dunes as they move upslope. Deprived of this fresh sand supply, beaches will narrow, becoming inaccessible to people first at high tide, and then at lower and lower tide levels. Eventually, beaches may disappear entirely, as waves slap against solid walls and riprap forms protecting coastal property owners.

The desire of property owners to preserve their assets is understandable. Statewide Land Use Goal #18 restricts armoring to properties developed by January 1, 1977.

A new campaign, Oregon Beaches Forever, is designed to foster a statewide conversation about our public shoreline. This will be a long-term effort to educate Oregonians on the geology of the coast and the impending consequences of climate change, as well as our best available planning options to deal with these implications, to save Oregon’s beaches.

I spent much of last session working to fund 50 water and sewer projects around the state with $100 million of infrastructure support. And what we learned in that process is that there are many more than 50 projects and communities that need help.

Water is the lifeblood of Oregon’s environment, communities, and economy. The Legislative Water Caucus was formed in 2023 to promote a more secure and resilient water future for all Oregonians through sustained bipartisan water leadership. The Water Caucus, which includes 30 Democrats and Republicans representing diverse communities and waters across the state, is currently working to survey local and statewide water investment needs in advance of the 2025 Legislative Session.

In September, I toured the new water storage complex in Waldport.

The Legislature does not have a comprehensive inventory of water investment needs. In an effort to fill that gap, the Water Caucus invites water managers, users, stewards, advocates and members of the public to submit water investment needs by December 15 via a statewide survey. Find more details here.

Oregonians can help the Water Caucus understand investment-ready water projects. The survey is for informational and planning purposes only and does not guarantee funding or replace other legislative processes.

Susan and I enjoyed a contemplative Thanksgiving with friends. The Holiday week here has been fairly quiet and of course, the winter weather has been spectacular!

I have legislative trips to Philomath and Monroe planned for the next few days along with a plethora of visits to holiday fairs to make sure we are well-stocked with banana and pumpkin bread for the cold weather ahead.

Stay tuned as mid-December is going to get very busy!