LOC News
E-Board Approves $105 Million in CRF Funding
On Monday the legislative Joint Emergency Board (E-board) had just enough votes to reverse its previous decision and authorize the expenditure of $105 million of CRF funds. You will recall from an August 7 Bulletin article that the LOC and the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC), along with our collective partners, had a brief win denying the state authority to allocate what may be the remaining balance of uncommitted CRF funds to PPE. The decision by the E-Board fell along party-lines, with all Republican members supporting local government’s argument for sending additional resources to cities and counties. Senator Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) was the only “no” vote from the Democratic committee members. The LOC raised the stakes in this debate with the addition of a bi-partisan, bi-cameral letter. It was signed by 47 legislators, more than one-half of the Legislature, who agreed with the League’s position to share more CRF funds with local government. This effort did not happen overnight, and included the outreach from many of the LOC’s city lobbyist partners and city leadership from across Oregon.
While we are disappointed with the E-board’s decision, there are some important lessons. The first is that our call-to-action effort generated a significant amount of legislative communication with committee members, to the point that the vote was delayed, and the final vote was not an easy one for those supporting the expenditure. This response is critical, as your LOC government affairs team gears up for the 2021 session. We have advocated for legislative contact before, during and after session, so we are happy to see the engagement.
The second is that LOC Legislative Director Jim McCauley, along with his counterpart at the AOC, met with House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) and Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) the morning before the E-board vote. It was clear the outreach from LOC member cities was having an effect, based on our dialogue and the time the presiding officers gave us. The LOC and AOC were given an opportunity to make the case for additional resources, and the response back from the presiding officers was to effectively show the local government need. From their perspective, if cities and counties want additional resources, they need to see more data on why the funds are needed and how they will be spent. The speaker committed during the E-board hearing to listening to future requests as cities exhaust their current CRF allocations.
As we pivot to our continued advocacy, cities may be receiving some additional outreach form the LOC’s government affairs team so we can identify what the need is, where the funds can be spent, and what city priorities are. This will allow us to join forces with the AOC and make a data-driven needs based case for additional resources.
Contact: Jim McCauley, Legislative Director - jmccauley@orcities.org
Last Updated 8/21/20