NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: Week Two

By Representative David Gomberg, House District 10

Last week I described our five-week “short” session as a freight train – a heavy load moving fast with little time or opportunity for detours or unplanned deliveries.

A total of 280 measures have been introduced. That’s 172 in the House and 108 in the Senate. (The House has twice as many members.) All are available for public view on OLIS here.

The short-session moves very quickly, as illustrated in the Legislative Policy and Research Office 2024 Short Session Survival Guide below. Monday, February 12^th, brings us to the “first chamber work session posting deadline.” This means, for a bill to remain viable it must be scheduled for a work session.

The big session issues remain unchanged – housing and drug policy.

As co-chair of the budget committee that manages housing investments, I have been meeting with policy chairs and House and Senate leadership for the past few weeks. And this week, Governor Kotek appeared before a legislative committee to present her own proposals.

The Governor’s bill comes with a hefty price tag: about $500 million in state funds to pay for land, infrastructure development and expanding utility services. Governor Kotek is proposing a new state agency, the Housing Accountability and Production Office, that would help developers and local governments navigate state housing laws. But the most controversial piece of the legislation would allow cities a one-time chance to bypass state land use laws to bring in either 150 or 75 acres of land for housing as long as it meets certain criteria, including at least 30% being set aside for affordable housing. A similar proposal failed last legislative session.

I have my own proposal for a $100 million investment in 50 local water and sewer projects to support housing growth. Across Oregon, too many of these systems are at capacity, aging out, or falling apart and small towns can’t afford the high cost of replacing them. Siletz is a good example. The city of 1,100 faces a $12 million sewer problem and without repairs or replacement, they cannot build new homes, can’t support the tribe, and can’t service the people who live there now.

Drug addiction, treatment, and criminalization is the other high-profile concern.

At the center of the conversation is a fierce debate over whether to end Oregon’s three-year drug decriminalization experiment. That question took center stage Wednesday in a four-hour long hearing.

On one side were those urging lawmakers to leave in place the decriminalization policy created by 2020′s Measure 110. They argued that expanding the state’s approach of treating addiction as a public health matter, rather than a crime, is the best way to steer drug users to treatment. In the other camp were those convinced that Measure 110 must be undone, in whole or in part, in order to give police a greater role in disrupting the open drug use and disorder playing out on some city streets.

Reintroducing criminal consequences for possessing small amounts of illicit drugs, they argued, would provide accountability for drug users. Only stricter potential penalties, some people who testified said, would be enough to convince drug users to seek help.

My own mail is running about even between leaving 110 in place as passed by voters and making changes. And overshadowing the debate is a well-funded proposed ballot measure for the November election proposing a return to modified criminal prosecution.

Big issues are dominating the headlines, but plenty of other issues are advancing relevant to our district as the first week concludes.

My measure to renew and fund staffing of our five Marine Reserves has been unanimously approved by the Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water committee and forwarded to Ways and Means for funding approval. Marine Reserve sites are areas in the ocean dedicated to conservation and scientific research. In the Reserves all ocean development and removal of marine life is generally prohibited. Management and scientific monitoring of the sites is overseen by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Witnesses were lined up to testify online in support of HB 4132. Watch the hearing here.

Another bill getting lots of attention would provide support for the arts and culture industry by funding infrastructure improvements at a targeted list of Cultural Resources Economic Fund Venues. The bill would provide support for seven major venues including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the High Desert Museum, and the Portland Art Museum. And finally, the bill would offer grants to smaller venues and cultural organizations still struggling in the wake of COVID-19.

Recent studies document that arts and culture are the fourth largest employer across our district but that audiences are still slow in returning to their pre-pandemic numbers.

Showing our support for Arts and Culture funding. Photo from Rep. D Nguyen

Over on the senate side, lawmakers are once again considering a bill that would make it easier to repair devices made by tech manufacturers like Google and Apple. The “Right to Repair” bill would require that device makers offer technical documents and specialty tools needed to fix broken phones, laptops, and appliances available to small repair shops or even tech-minded owners who want to make fixes themselves. The bill is a reaction to increasingly complex devices and manufacturers that only provide the tools and know-how to make fixes to a limited network of technicians. As a result, repairs tend to be more expensive. And of course, in rural Oregon, those fixes tend to be further away.

And finally, there are at least three proposals addressing wildfire funding in the state.

Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, is proposing both a new state body dedicated to public safety and wildfires and a ballot measure to be presented to Oregon voters that would fund it. The ballot measure would include a tax of up to 25 cents on every $1,000 of assessed property taxes. According to the Legislative Revenue Office, this could bring in at least an additional $125 million per year to wildfire prevention and response.

Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, wants the timber industry to step up its funding. He’s proposing a ballot measure to reinstate a tax on the value of timber logged on industrial forestland. This would send tens of millions of dollars to the forestry department and ease pressure on the state’s general fund.

Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, D-Portland, has proposed reducing the millions in per-acre fees that timber and grazing landowners pay to the state for wildfire protection. She dropped part of her earlier proposal that would have charged every property owner in the state a $10 fee and instead is co-sponsoring Evans’ tax proposal.

Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, is backing Golden’s proposal and introducing a bill that would require the state’s investor-owned utilities such as PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric to report to the State Fire Marshal and the forestry department every time a fire is started because of the company’s infrastructure. Such reports could be used in court if a large wildfire starts from the companies’ electrical equipment and leads to property losses. It would also mandate that utilities cannot recoup the costs of fires that their equipment starts by raising rates on customers.

As bills make their way through the initial steps on the pathway to passage, the big news this week was an update on how much money will be available to the legislature to fund all of these requests.

On Wednesday, the Office of Economic Analysis released the March 2024 quarterly Economic and Revenue Forecast. This forecast largely determines the session’s budget decisions and is key information I will use in my role as a vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

A replay of the forecast presentation can be viewed here. You can also read the March Economic and Revenue Forecast Presentation and March Revenue Forecast Summary documents.

The good news was that Oregon’s economy is continuing to perform very well, both in historical terms and relative to the rest of the country. Individual and corporate incomes continue to rise, and we seem on track, as a state and as a nation, recovering from the pandemic and its resulting inflation. The possibility of a recession is now completely off the table. That’s a relief.

What does that mean in terms of dollars? Combined with a number of fund transfers that economists described as “closing the books” on the previous budget’s unspent money, the Legislature has an additional $559 million on hand. Legislative budget writers had already accounted for much of that money, and cautioned that the number did not represent a sudden windfall. In total, the projection suggests the state has as much as $1.7 billion that isn’t currently spoken for in the current two-year budget.

Democratic leadership responded that this stable forecast coupled with a decade of good budgeting gives us the certainty and resources we need to invest in the priorities Oregonians care about most. Republicans replied that flat population is a warning sign for the future of our state. They said it is critically important that we pursue pro-job policies that will make Oregon an attractive place to live, work, and raise a family. Both perspectives have merit.

And where does this additional money go?

About $200 million will be needed for adjustments to agency budgets approved last session.

We’re looking at increases in the compensation for state workers that were negotiated through collective bargaining during the summer. And of course, we need to put a lot more money into housing, childcare, summer learning programs and behavioral health or addictions treatment. And we need to maintain some level of ending fund balance so that we don’t have to start the next biennium with nothing.

At the end of the day, that leaves around $100 million for new agency requests and new legislation. Translation – most bills that cost money are going nowhere.

All throughout February, people in the United States celebrate the achievements and history of African Americans as part of Black History Month.

Black History Month was created in 1970 to focus attention on the contributions of African Americans to the United States. It honors all Black people from all periods of U.S. history, from the enslaved people first brought over from Africa in the early 17th century to African Americans living in the United States today.

I am mindful today of the remarkable lives and contributions in our district of black pioneers like Louis Southworth near Waldport and Reuben Shipley and Mary Jane Holmes Shipley Drake of Philomath.

The Shipleys sued Mary Jane’s enslaver to acquire the freedom of their children and later donated land for the Mt Union Cemetery. Louis Southworth earned his freedom performing with his violin and donated land for a local school.

Visit the federal African American History Month website for exhibits and collections, teacher resources, events, and more. Learn about the origins of Black History Month on the History Channel website.

Short session means long days in the Capitol, made longer by the daily commute of one-hour each way from Otis to Salem. People ask me how things are at the coast. Dark I say. It’s dark when I leave in the morning and dark when I get home at night.

Despite the schedule, I’m still finding time to meet with the good people of our district. I had a zoom conference with local environmental advocates on Tuesday right after a Salem reception with local members of the Oregon Farm Bureau. University students from the Coast visited my office Thursday and I invited them to the House floor for photos.

A planned day with Senator Wyden on Saturday was cancelled when he was needed in Washington DC for a Senate vote. That will be rescheduled. But I did make it to Newport for the Community Valentine Dinner.

Valentines Dinner in Newport. I poured coffee and tea. The Loyalty Days Princesses served meals.

Tuesday I’ll be meeting with Oregon Cattleman in Salem. Wednesday, Susan and I will take some private time to celebrate Valentine’s Day which, coincidentally is also Oregon’s birthday. And Thursday I’ll take the long way home to stop in Philomath and the annual Samaritan Awards presentation hosted by the Philomath Area Chamber of Commerce. Sunday we’ll be at the Crab Krack in Newport to benefit the Lincoln County Historical Society’s Pacific Maritime & Heritage Center.