As the 2021 Legislative Session comes to an end Senate President Peter Courtney and Speaker Tina Kotek were quick to send out a series of articles featuring how much of your money they spent.

Peter Courtney’s headlined three articles:

Lawmakers Pass Groundbreaking Package, Invest More Than $470 Million in Behavioral Health.

“The 81st session will be remembered as the one where we finally started making investments to bring about the promise of the deinstitutionalization of people with mental illness and started making community based treatment an actual reality,” said Representative Rob Nosse (D-Portland). Somewhat of a contraction since deinstitutionalization took place years ago with no help for communities faced with what to do for them.

“We must mainstream mental health. Until we treat mental health like we treat the rest of health care, we’re not doing enough,” said Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem). “This is a historic investment. It will save lives. We must help children and adults struggling with mental illnesses from falling through the cracks.”

Legislature invests over $600 million for wildfire recovery and prevention

“Last year’s fires were devastating. Oregon and her people are still recovering,” Senate President Peter Courtney said. “We made real progress this session to help our communities rebuild. We changed the way we respond to wildfires. The Legislature will help wildfire survivors get back on their feet.”

This allotment is mostly for infrastructure projects, grants and financial assistance along with $75 million for food and shelter for wildfire survivors and $23.2 million to reimburse counties for lost tax revenues.

$765 million in investments headlines legislative housing accomplishments

What became a crisis during the COVID-19 lockdown has been compensated for and then some. In the months leading up to the session, the Emergency Board approved more than $500 million in rental assistance and other housing supports.

• Homelessness received $118.8 million along with three bills providing more possibilities for shelter.
• Tenant Support received $18,3 million plus three additional bills providing assistance.
• Homeownership received $65 million and added four bills addressing disparities in home sales and ownership.
• Housing Supply received $578,45 million along with five bills easing zoning laws for affordable housing.

Speaker Tina Kotek published her own list that includes:

• $9,3 billion for k-12 schools.
• $578.5 million for K-12 education projects.
• $2.222 billion higher education
• $77.5 million early learning
• $687.2 million for transforming behavioral health.
• $816.9 million for tackling the housing crisis.
• $706.75 million investing in wildfire recovery and disaster preparedness.
• $442 million to improve water systems.
• $543.5 million supporting a strong economy recovery.
• $124.3 million improving transportation infrastructure.
• $258.9 million focusing on racial equity.

The millions for building a strong economy recovery is more like recovery for pet projects. It includes grants for movie theaters and live events, investments in emerging business with a priority on the underrepresented, grants for Oregon Main Street Revitalization, rooftop solar rebates, and several bills funding various workforces and higher wages in the healthcare field.

There remains the questionable constitutionality of some of the seventeen categories that focus on racial equity after two federal judges ruled against using race or gender as a priority.

Keep in mind that all this spending doesn’t include state agency budgets. These expenses may not all come from General Funds, but even Other Funds comes from fee payers. Despite what President Courtney and Speaker Kotek tout as an accomplishment, the money comes from us one way or the other.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2021-06-26 18:18:32

Last Update: 2021-06-27 21:24:11