Gov. Kate Brown talks in Bend of her priorities

Gov. Kate Brown brought her State of the State road trip to Bend on Friday, pitching her priorities on issues ranging from wildfire prevention to affordable housing and needed education funding.

Speaking to the City Club of Central Oregon as lawmakers in Salem settle in for business, Brown said she wants them to consider her priorities.

First, she wants to address the high cost of health care, child care and housing.

“It’s so important that every Oregonian has a warm safe dry place to call home and that place has to be affordable and accessible,” Brown said.

“Unfortunately, the federal government has pulled the rug out from underneath states across the nation at a time when we are in crisis,” she said. “So the state has to step up and be a leader and making sure we are building affordable units, providing resources to prevent homelessness, and enable folks to stay in their homes when they are struggling to make payments.”

Brown said that’s why she’s asking the Legislature for a historic $400 million investment in affordable housing across the state.

The governor also talked about the proposal from a pair of Democratic lawmakers who want to divert next year’s “kicker” tax rebate on a one-time basis to help tackle the state’s looming public pension crisis.

Oregon taxpayers are currently on track to receive $724 million worth of kicker rebates when they file their income taxes in 2020.

Under the plan, that money would instead go into an account created by Brown to encourage local governments to pour more money into the underfunded pension system.

Brown said, “Our hard-working Oregonians, low-income families need to get their kicker payments back. In terms of pension reform, it’s an ongoing conversation. My focus is on making sure that we are stabilizing PERS rates for K-12 schools so more dollars are going into the classroom.”

She said she wants to make sure every child graduates high school with a plan for the future. So s he’s asking the Legislature for a $2 billion investment in the education system.

The governor also is working on plans to i ncrease the school year to 180 days, to be at the national standard.

Brown also talked about the executive order she signed earlier this week creating a new council that will examine the effectiveness of the state’s response to wildfire.

She said it’s time to consider new approaches, as we’ve been fighting wildfires the same way for the last century — and they are now more fierce, more frequent and more destructive.

Brown said we have to look at just how we are fighting wildfires, and that’s one of the primary goals of the council.

The governor said the state also needs to take a look at new techniques and methodology regarding firefighting.

“The second piece is around suppression,” Brown said. “Making sure we prevent wildfires before they become enormous catastrophes. That means a higher level of thinning, maintenance on our public lands. That means a higher level of prescriptive burning. How do we get the resources? That’s what the council’s going to be talking about.”

One possible option Brown is looking at is allowing some fires to burn in more remote areas and focusing on keeping them away from populated areas.

Wildfire experts say fires can make forests more fire-resilient and healthy. Suppression can create overgrowth that makes small fires grow big, fast – as was seen tragically in Paradise, California, late last year

The council has been charged with reporting its findings and recommendations no later than Sept. 30.