Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek says her efforts to ease a housing and homeless crisis, boost lagging educational achievement, and better help people with mental health and addiction challenges are bearing fruit. She just needs state lawmakers to agree to keep the pressure up.
So in a recommended two-year budget unveiled Monday, Kotek is asking the Legislature to boost spending on her three core issues, even if that crowds out other priorities they might see.
“I passionately believe the Oregon Legislature needs to pass budgets for the next two years that build on the progress we have achieved together,” Kotek wrote in a letter accompanying the budget proposal.
The document is a starting point for lawmakers, who will convene in January for a six-month session in which passing a two-year budget is among the only imperatives. It will be up to Kotek and her staff to sell the Democrat-led Legislature on the governor’s vision.
Highlights of the proposed $135 billion biennial spending plan include around $1.8 billion for building affordable housing units, running shelters, helping Oregonians pay their rent, and transitioning people from the streets to housing, among other things.
Kotek is also calling for a boost to K-12 school funding, to $11.36 billion, a more than 10% increase from the $10.2 billion lawmakers allocated in the current budget. The governor has argued this amount more fully reflects the needs of school districts.
And Kotek wants lawmakers to route $140 million in federal COVID stimulus payments to build hundreds of new beds for addiction treatment and mental health. She’s asking for $40 million to continue funding county “deflection” programs that work to route people caught with small amounts of drugs toward treatment.
The governor, like Democratic executives around the country, is also proposing money that might temper the potential impacts of President-elect Donald Trump’s impending second term.
A 24-page document summarizing major pieces of Kotek’s plan mentions a $4 million boost to the office of Attorney General-elect Dan Rayfield. Half of that money would fund attorneys to “defend statewide policy” on things like abortion, immigration and trade.
“These funds will directly support our state’s ability to be a stronghold for progressive policy, even when the landscape ahead is uncertain,” the summary document says.
Among Kotek’s health care proposals is $5 million to “increase and protect access to reproductive health in Oregon.” And the governor highlighted more than $40 million she wants to spend to help Oregonians transition to renewable energy and better respond to climate-related emergencies, along with a series of criminal justice initiatives that include money to quickly train police officers and boost drunk-driving patrols.
But for all that it proposes, Kotek’s budget summary leaves some big questions unanswered, such as how much lawmakers should spend preparing for wildfires that have posed higher and higher costs for the state — a problem which led Kotek to call a special session later this month so the Legislature could pay outstanding bills.
The governor also did not offer thoughts on how lawmakers might find billions in new money to pay for road maintenance and major highway projects the state has signaled it wants to complete. That question is slated to be a major focus of next year’s legislative session, though whether lawmakers can come together on it remains unclear.
Housing and homelessness
Kotek has staked her gubernatorial legacy on making it easier for Oregonians to find and remain in housing. Among her first acts in office were setting an ambitious goal of building 36,000 new units of housing per year — well above historical averages — and taking steps to get people off the streets at a higher clip.
The best data available to date shows that Oregon’s housing crisis is far from over, and the issue gets top billing in Kotek’s budget proposal.
“People who are currently experiencing homelessness or who may be on the verge of becoming homeless and neighbors impacted by the crisis on our streets are counting on elected and community leaders to stay the course through continued prioritization and coordination,” the document says.
Among expenditures Kotek is proposing around housing and homelessness are:
- $218 million to maintain existing homeless shelter beds
- $188 million to help Oregonians transition out of homelessness into housing
- $173 million on short-term rent assistance for people at risk of becoming homeless
- $105 million for longer-term rent assistance
- $880 million to pay for new affordable housing
- $100 million for a new program to build roads and utility hookups for new housing
Behavioral health
Building out Oregon’s threadbare mental health care and addiction services system is another key focus of the budget. Early on in her term, Kotek directed the Oregon Health Authority to figure out how many inpatient treatment beds the state has, and how many it needs.
“In many parts of the state Oregonians who need help have to travel long distances to get care or are turned away from the care they need due to gaps in the system,” the governor’s budget summary says. “Meanwhile, people considering a career in behavioral health care face a lack of access to educational opportunities to enter the field.”
Among the governor’s spending proposals in behavioral health are:
- $90 million in federal stimulus funds to pay for 336 new treatment beds
- $50 million in stimulus funds to boost training opportunities for behavioral health providers and help them pay for their education
- $40 million to help counties continue “deflection” programs, created after lawmakers recriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs. That two-year sum is double the allotment lawmakers OK’d earlier this year — an amount some officials complained was too meager.
- $15 million to help county jails provide medication-assisted drug treatment
- $16.5 million for community mental health programs
- $32 million for harm reduction strategies like distributing Naloxone statewide
Education
Crafting the state’s K-12 budget is always a battle during budget season, with government budget writers typically disagreeing with school administrators about how much is necessary to keep districts from being forced to cut services.
That tension was on full display last year, when Portland teachers went on strike for more pay the district said it did not have — and some in school leadership blamed the state budget.
Earlier this year, Kotek recommended three tweaks to school budgeting she says will smooth out the process, and her recommended budget asks for a record $11.3 billion for the state’s school fund.
Among other education asks by Kotek are:
- $127 million in grants to school districts and community organizations to help with early childhood literacy
- $78.5 million for summer learning programs
- $25 million for behavioral health services addiction treatment for young people and expanded mental health services in schools
Other stuff
There are a lot of proposed expenses beyond Kotek’s big three issues. The span from legislation to battle climate change, to new money for the state Department of Justice, to paying for stepped-up policing.
Among other proposals Kotek highlighted in her budget are:
- $25 million for planning and construction of renewable energy or energy resilience projects
- $7 million to help the state better to respond to emergencies
- $7 million to support women involved in the criminal justice system
- $700,000 for a state police pilot project to investigate overdose deaths and “hold those responsible for supplying drugs accountable”
- $9.1 million to help the state’s police academy graduate new officers without long delays for training
- $14.3 million in federal Medicaid funding to help formerly incarcerated Oregonians transition to freedom
- $5 million to help expand access to abortion and other reproductive care, and backfill some federal funding if it is threatened under President Trump
- $7 million to continue services and legal representation for Oregonians on immigration issues
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