With the state in a housing and homelessness crisis, Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed budget for the 2021-23 biennium aims to help Oregonians with more affordable housing options.

“2020 has challenged Oregon in unimaginable ways. We have been tested to the core, and the most vital needs of Oregon families — health, safety, education, housing and the ability to learn a living — have all been challenged in new ways,” Brown said.

The proposed budget includes an investment in housing and homelessness that’s nearly $66 million more than the historic 2019-21 investment levels. The increase in funds provides capital construction investments to create new affordable housing for low income and chronically homeless.

Funds have been allocated to finance the construction of 500 units of permanent supportive housing. These units will be for chronically homeless individuals, who include formally incarcerated people reentering the community, people with severe and persistent mental illness or substance use disorder, and chronically homeless veterans.

An additional $350 million has been proposed for rent assistance and $250 million for affordable housing development funds.

The budget includes plans to construct an estimated 2,168 rental units for low-income Oregonians. Funding for housing development continues to advance the state’s goal of developing 25,000 units of new housing.

The governor’s recommended biennium budget spending plan is $100.2 billion in total spending, including $25.6 billion in General Fund and Lottery Funds. It will be considered by lawmakers when they convene in Salem in January. The Legislature is controlled by Brown’s fellow Democrats.

Brown’s proposed budget also attempts to mitigate the effects of the global pandemic, forest fires and protests on the state.

While COVID-19 has put economic stress on Oregonians, Portland has also been rocked by ongoing protests over police issues. The governor is calling for reforms in the justice system, from expanding police accountability measures, reforming courts and stabilizing the Department of Corrections budget going forward.

In addition, the pandemic has exacerbated disparities in education. One of the largest challenges for rural and impoverished students is access to the Internet. Brown is proposing an investment of $118 million in broadband expansion statewide to connect an additional 50 urban and rural communities that currently lack access.

The governor’s budget also provides for capital construction, seismic and facility upgrades to schools and classrooms, including $3.5 million for a statewide assessment of the highest-risk facilities.

Lastly, the governor is working to tackle the issues of wildfires, which burned a million acres, destroyed hundreds of homes and killed at least nine Oregonians this year.

Brown’s budget dedicates $189.5 million to rebuild communities impacted by the fires. In addition, the governor’s Wildfire Economic Recovery Council will also have access to an additional $170 million of community development resources. Funds will support debris cleanup, tree removal, sheltering and housing, food assistance and community infrastructure.

The proposed budget invests $30 million in the Oregon Department of Forestry and sets aside $40 million to address recommendations from the Governor’s Council on Wildfire Response. The budget also invests $73.7 million in fire preparedness, response and prevention resources.

Sara Cline from The Associated Press also contributed to this report.

The post Gov. Brown’s proposed budget plan includes money for affordable housing, school construction appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed budget includes more than $247 million for rural infrastructure projects in Oregon and other increased spending to benefit rural residents.

The Daily Astorian reports there’s enthusiasm from observers about Brown’s spending plans for rural Oregon, from dams to housing to high-speed internet.

But some advocates and lawmakers worry about other parts of her budget that cut fire protection on forestland, hold steady on money for community colleges and increase taxes by $2 billion.

Despite the state’s robust overall economic growth, rural Oregon has yet to fully bounce back from the Great Recession.

Rural unemployment has been declining since its peak in 2009, and the state’s rural economy is less diverse, making it more vulnerable to shocks. And the populace and workforce in rural areas of Oregon are aging, according to a report last year from the state Employment Department.

Brown wants to boost funding for loan programs and for public-private partnerships to build housing for people who can’t find affordable homes in the communities where they work. Brown wants the state to borrow $130 million through bonds to build up to 2,100 affordable homes for communities of color and in rural areas.

The governor has also proposed millions in water projects.

Brown’s budget allots $16 million to replace the Wallowa Dam, which is more than a century old and whose operators keep less water than it was built to hold to avoid a failure.

Brown’s wish list includes an agricultural workforce center at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton and an industrial trades center at Klamath County Community College in Klamath Falls.

Oregon’s 17 community colleges had about 280,000 students in the 2016-17 school year, according to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission. They primarily serve rural areas.

But unless the Legislature raises nearly $2 billion in new taxes for her major education revival plan, Brown’s budget would reduce money that community colleges say they need to continue current operations for the next two years.

It would also cut funds to Oregon Promise, which covers tuition for certain students.

The post Brown’s budget outlines her rural agenda appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order Thursday blocking offshore drilling, joining several other states trying to shield themselves from the Trump administration’s plan to drill for oil and gas off the U.S. coast.

The order directs state agencies to protect Oregon’s coastal economy by preventing activities associated with offshore oil and gas drilling. It comes as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to expand offshore drilling and has scrapped an Obama-era policy to protect oceans and the Great Lakes, replacing it with one emphasizing economic growth.

Brown, a Democrat, sought a federal exemption for Oregon but has not received one, unlike Florida’s Republican governor.

Brown said her executive order will make it clear to oil and gas speculators that Oregon is not for sale. States control 3 miles of ocean closest to shore. To deter drilling further offshore, the executive order prevents the development of any infrastructure associated with drilling.

Oregon’s coast supports 22,000 jobs in a $2 billion tourism and recreational industry and provides more than 5,500 jobs in a $320 million commercial and recreational fishing industry, Brown noted. It is also vulnerable habitat for plants and animals that could be decimated by an oil spill.

Her order comes a day after U.S. regulators announced approval of the first oil and gas production wells in federal Arctic waters. A conditional permit has been issued for the Liberty Project, a proposal by a subsidiary of Houston-based Hilcorp for production wells on an artificial island in the Beaufort Sea.

In September, California Gov. Jerry Brown, also a Democrat, signed legislation aimed at blocking new offshore oil drilling in federal waters of the state’s coast. It bans docks, pipelines or other onshore infrastructure needed to support new offshore drilling rigs. Like other states, California can’t directly block drilling in waters controlled by the federal government but hopes to make it unprofitable.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a measure in April prohibiting oil and natural gas drilling in state waters, as well as preventing infrastructure like pipelines that could support drilling in more distant federal waters.

Andy Radford, a senior policy adviser with the American Petroleum Institute, said states ought to welcome offshore drilling for the revenue it can produce. Offshore energy production in the Atlantic Ocean alone could support 265,000 jobs and generate $22 billion a year within 20 years, he said.

Associated Press reporter Wayne Parry in Atlantic City, New Jersey, also contributed to this report.

The post Oregon joins other states banning offshore drilling appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Wednesday announced legislation that would maintain Oregon’s water and air quality rules at the same level or higher than they were the day before President Donald Trump took office.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that one of the goals of the legislation is to protect public health welfare from the adverse effects of pollution and climate change.

With the new legislation, called the Oregon Environmental Protection Act, Brown said she is looking to inspire a national movement of states to oppose what she called the “unprecedented and aggressive attack” on clean air and water.

The Trump administration has undertaken several actions to overturn or delay environmental laws from taking effect, ranging from carbon-emissions goals in the Obama-era Clean Power Plan designed to help the United States meet international climate goals to protections for wildlife — and from regulations of pesticides, ozone and mercury to expanding fossil fuel development on public lands.

With the new legislation, called the Oregon Environmental Protection Act, Brown said she is looking to inspire a national movement of states to oppose what she called the “unprecedented and aggressive attack” on clean air and water.

Brown’s proposed legislation focuses on the federal Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. Both are regulated and enforced at the state level by Oregon agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality, the Oregon Health Authority and the Water Resources Department. In most instances, the federal laws allow states to establish more stringent environmental protections than required nationally.

The governor’s office said, if passed by the Legislature, the legislation would maintain Obama-era ozone emission standards, regulate methane and other pollutants from landfills, as well as mercury emissions from the state’s one remaining coal power plant and extend water quality protections to some to the state’s rivers and streams.

The state Legislature, which is controlled Brown’s fellow Democrats, has balked at some new environmental legislation in recent years.

The post Brown touts state’s environmental legislation appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.