Legislative budget-writers get an earful in Redmond

From teachers, farmers and Oregon State Police troopers to home health care workers and victims advocates, the Legislature’s budget-writing panel heard plenty of pleas for support — and dollars — in a two-hour string of fast-paced, two-minute testimony at their hearing Saturday afternoon at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond.

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means has been holding similar hearings around the state on their proposed $23.7 million budget plan for the 2019-21 biennium.

It’s more than $2 billion more than the current biennium’s budget, and does keep current funding levels for K-12 schools and the Oregon Health Plan – but cuts $360 million from other programs and services.

And due to rising costs from the Public Employee Retirement System and other needs, the budget means cuts for schools as well, including an estimated 900 teachers statewide. That prompted a large contingent of teachers to attend Saturday’s hearing, and several to speak to the impacts on their classrooms and kids.

Sarah Swoffer, a teacher at Westside Village Magnet School, said the proposed schools budget would lead to losing 15 teachers in the Bend-La Pine Schools and three school days.

“We already were significantly under-funded, and I find this unacceptable,” she said.

The state must balance its budget during the legislative session, which is to end by June 30. So unless more revenue is approved, cuts are coming — and perhaps even with more funds, depending on the program.

There are funding proposals from the Democratic-majority lawmakers that Gov. Kate Brown has voiced support for, such as a tobacco tax hike or an assessment on employers who don’t provide health care for their workers. She has said she’d devote any added revenues to schools, from early childhood education to community colleges.

A full house heard two hours of testimony, with speakers limited to two minutes each — a broad picture of issues needing addressing and pleas to not make cuts in programs people say are vital to their lives, careers and families.

NeighborImpact Food Bank Manager Carly Sanders was among the many who tried to make the choices and issues very personal, noting that she recently met with a Jefferson County senior who gets just $13 a month in SNAP (food stamp) benefits.

While seeking continued funding for programs that provide fresh, healthy foods from farmers and ranchers, Sanders said the agency has brought a mobile food pantry truck to rural areas that need help.

Heidi Turner, a home care worker in Redmond, brought her son, Michael, who survived brain cancer and a host of illnesses and just last week was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

She pleaded that the home care program not be cut, saying she goes to food banks twice a week and that her landlord says she must move in August so he can raise the rent. She said her only choice may be to move to John Day, hours away from her son’s needed medical facilities.

“Oregon has a choice,” she said. “Please choose to make real investments in people like my son, Michael.”

Other touchy policy issues before lawmakers arose, including the recent debate over legislation to halt non-medical exemptions for vaccinations of students.

Shawn Blount, a retired registered nurse and mother of two teens, spoke as the regional director for the group Oregonians for Medical Freedom. She said the vaccine mandate will force many to move to another state, costing the state needed revenues.

“No law is going to convince us to risk our children’s safety,” Blount said.

Melanie Kebler, an attorney in Bend with the Oregon Crime Victims Law Center, said a requested eighth Deschutes County judge is badly needed to ease the delays in cases that can push back trials a year or more.

Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair noted the tough challenges lawmakers face and focused on the PERS debt of $26 billion, also joining others calling for the county to receive an eighth judge and easing the backlog in cases.

She also said she supports legislation to add Oregon State Police troopers, noting the state has half the troopers it did back in 1980.

“I know PERS has to be addressed, we can’t keep putting our head in the sand.” Adair said. “We have to look at it. … If we don’t do it now, it’s just going to make education, mental health funding, everything else more difficult in the future.”

You can watch the full hearing at the committee’s website.