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Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Joint Committee on Ways and Means hears testimonies in Astoria
Ways and Means The Oregon Legislature's Joint Committee on Ways and Means listens to public testimony on Friday at the Liberty Theatre in Astoria. On Friday evening, The Liberty Theatre in Astoria was filled with people seeking to testify — and to hear testimonies — in front of the Oregon Legislature's Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which determines state budget policy. As of that morning, 130 people had signed up to testify about funding needs for programs at the local and state levels. Though not everyone who signed up got the chance to speak, a clear emphasis on funding for education and infrastructure projects became apparent throughout the two-hour hearing. Jarrod Hogue, the president of Clatsop Community College, asked the committee to support a federal investment of $920 million in the Community College Support Fund, which is the primary source of state funding for Oregon's 17 community colleges. 'Some folks here might be surprised to learn that the Community College Support Fund accounts for just about 5.5% of the state's total education spending,' he said. 'Yet, investing in a community college delivers in one of the highest investments, producing skilled workers who become the backbone of our workforce and the taxpayers of tomorrow. 'Today, we're facing rising operation costs. Labor, benefits, insurance, utilities, technology continue to climb ... This investment is critical to keeping tuition affordable, filling workforce gaps and producing more taxpayers.' Students and education advocates also asked that the committee support House Bills 3182 and 3183, the Student Basic Needs and Workforce Stabilization Act. If passed, the bills would make an investment of about $22 million toward basic needs support programs, affordable student housing and textbook initiatives. Funding requests also came from representatives for K-12 education programs, who pivoted to disability resources for students. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek recently proposed a State School Fund allocation of $11.4 billion from the Legislature for the next two years, but some are concerned it's not enough. 'Please know that the $11.4 billion budget proposal should be a starting point for the State School Fund, but education in Oregon deserves more funding,' said Craig Hoppes, the Astoria School District Superintendent. 'Another priority is adequate funding for special education services. Currently, 17% of our students in the Astoria School District have been identified as special education.' Since just 11% of students with disabilities are entitled to specialized funding from the state, he said that the district has had to seek out more special education and support staff to fill the gap. The issue is a statewide one. Tyler Reed, the Neah-Kah-Nie School District Superintendent, told The Astorian that 30% of the district's incoming kindergartners had been identified as students with disabilities. In addition to supporting the State School Fund allocation — though the Neah-Kah-Nie School District does not qualify for those funds — Reed sought to encourage the committee and legislators to do away with that 11% cap and fully fund students with disabilities. Infrastructure requests ranged from the expansion of Columbia Memorial Hospital to roads and wastewater treatment. Last October, Columbia Memorial Hospital broke ground on a $300 million project which would see the hospital designed to withstand and remain operational during a Cascadia Subduction Zone event, and could shelter up to 1,900 people in the aftermath of a natural disaster. While 97% of the project's funding has been secured, Columbia Memorial Hospital CEO Erik Thorsen requested a match of $6 million to leverage a $20 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid with the construction. 'This request represents just 2% of the total project budget, brings $14 million worth of federal funds into the state and completes the funding for this important project,' he said. Thomas Jenkins is the chief steward of a local chapter of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a union representing public and nonprofit employees. He urged the committee to see the condition of Oregon's roads as a workplace safety issue. 'Our very hardworking friends, sisters, brothers in labor at the Oregon Department of Transportation have warned us of challenges to the budget, particularly when it comes to emergency maintenance during winter months,' Jenkins said. 'For those of us who must travel to work and work with travel, I urge you to continue funding transportation and to allow Oregonians to get to work safely and get home at the end of their shift.' In addition to transportation, the discussion of sewage treatment was a recurring one. David McCall, city manager in Bay City, for just over half a million dollars for a sewer lift station, while Warrenton Mayor Henry Balensifer requested $18 million to help build a $35 million wastewater treatment plant that would support planned housing projects. Another frequent topic was wildlife preservation in the face of federal funding uncertainty — Graham Klag, the executive director of the North Coast Watershed Association, encouraged the committee to continue supporting the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. Watershed councils get the majority of their funding from the board, and 30% of the board's funding is federal. 'We are in need of the continued support of OWEB in the face of some of the funding challenges that would come down the road,' he said. 'And ultimately, some of the challenges will come from not being able to implement some of our work without that funding.' The North Coast Watershed Association does habitat work for salmon and other species, as well as invasive species management. Klag said the work is incredibly important for the county's natural capital, and that the association has some crucial partnerships — Hampton Lumber, for instance, allows habitat work on their lands. Others urged the committee to support the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife with a $1 million investment in wildlife services and a $20 million investment towards their Private Forest Accord grant program, which supports projects that benefit fish and aquatic wildlife species as well as habitats covered by the anticipated Habitat Conservation Plan. Kent Doughty, a former Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Employee who works with wildlife organization Seven Capes Bird Alliance, asked the committee to support and fund House Bill 3580 for a task force on eelgrass resources and House Bill 3587 for rocky habitat management. Other testimonies throughout the hearing included a request for $1.5 million by Consejo Hispano toward a $3 million Casa Mariposa building in downtown Astoria , capacity at the Oregon State Hospital, food insecurity, better wages for healthcare and social services workers and funding programs for domestic violence survivors. Present at the hearing were state Rep. Cyrus Javadi and state Sen. Suzanne Weber, Tillamook Republicans whose districts encompass all of Clatsop and Tillamook counties. 'To my colleagues on the committee, thank you for making the trip to Astoria tonight,' Javadi said. 'I know it's a haul, but hearing directly from the people we serve is worth every mile. Nothing replaces a real conversation with real people who live with the outcomes of our decisions.' State Sen. Kate Lieber, a Beaverton Democrat and a co-chair of the state Joint Committee on Ways and Means, said the committee would focus on aiding crucial organizations and initiatives that will be hit hardest by cuts to federal funding. 'So much of our budget is tied to federal funding, and it is, slowly, going away right now,' Lieber told The Astorian. 'And I think those things are really, really going to affect the ability for the state, because you're going to feel it — Oregonians on the coast are going to feel that federal funding going away, and our budget is not made to backfill the federal funding.' The committee recently released a budget framework for the 2025-27 biennium that emphasized uncertainty surrounding federal funding and projected a budget of $987.5 million to support key investments. Ways and Means State Rep. Tawna Sanchez, right, and state Sen. Kate Lieber, co-chairs of the state Joint Committee on Ways and Means, open up a hearing in Astoria on Friday. 'To those of you who maybe paid attention to that framework we put out, we have just under a billion dollars,' said state Rep. Tawna Sanchez, a Portland Democrat, the committee's other co-chair. 'And if you were doing any math doing these last two hours, you might notice that the asks are a lot more ... they're more like two or three billion.' The commissioners said the committee will do its best to provide for core mandatory state services in the face of potential federal cuts. 'We do our best to tell our own folks in the Legislature, there's no bright and shiny new objects, there's no fluffy stuff,' Sanchez said. 'We're just going to try and make sure that Oregonians have what they need as much as possible.'
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ways and Means to gather budget feedback through April 8
BOSTON (SHNS) – The Joint Committee on Ways and Means will hold seven hearings over the next month on the fiscal year 2026 budget, after kicking off the series of budget hearings earlier this week. Gov. Maura Healey, Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz, and constitutional officers offered testimony at the first hearing at the State House on Thursday. The next hearing, Monday in Gloucester, will cover topics related to economic development, housing and labor. The third week in March won't have any hearings. During the last week of the month, committee members will travel to three communities to hear testimony on different areas of the budget. On Monday, March 24th, they'll be in Amherst to hear about education and local aid; the next day lawmakers will be in Worcester to ask questions about health and human services, and on Friday they'll travel to Clinton to hear about public safety and the judiciary. Monday, March 31st's hearing is on the environment, energy and transportation in Barnstable. In Attleboro on Tuesday, April 1st, the committee will hear from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services on more health-related matters. All but the final hearing will feature testimony by invite only and will largely feature elected and appointed officials, according to House Ways and Means. A hearing at which anyone from the public can testify will be held Tuesday, April 8, at the State House. Once that hearing notice is posted on the Legislature's website next week, the committee said, details on how the public can submit written testimony to the committee will become available. The House Ways and Means budget is targeted for release the week of April 14, with budget debate in the House the week of April 28. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
