Committee hears overview of House Bill 5014, Oregon Department of Justice budget request

The Senate Committee on Public Safety held an informational hearing Monday on House Bill 5014, the Department of Justice’s primary budget bill for the 2025–27 biennium.

The presentation laid out the department’s spending mix, key budget pressures and the governor’s recommendations, including continuing the Legal Tools Replacement project, backing federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) shortfalls with state general fund, increasing in‑house litigation capacity to reduce outside counsel costs, and paying LTR debt service from the Protection and Education Account.

The Department of Administrative Services’ policy and budget analyst Stacey Chase provided the opening overview. Chase said the agency’s current service‑level budget for the 2025–27 biennium is presented across general fund, other funds and federal funds and that other funds — largely legal billings to client agencies — are the department’s primary revenue source. Chase noted the governor’s budget assumes a legal billing rate of $322 per hour for the biennium and…