Subcommittee advances Secretary of State budget with new internal auditor, elections staffing and cybersecurity funds

SALEM, Ore. — The General Government Subcommittee on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, voted to move Senate Bill 5537, the Secretary of State’s budget, to the Ways and Means full committee after approving a dash‑1 amendment that makes staffing and program funding changes across the agency.

The Legislative Fiscal Office recommended budget adjustments that include funding to continue implementation of House Bill 4,024; an internal auditor position for the agency; added elections staff to handle complaint investigations; $500,000 in general fund for cybersecurity improvements (including $165,000 one‑time); and new money for voter pamphlet translation and production.

The budget matters because the Secretary of State oversees statewide elections administration, campaign finance implementation and public records — functions that affect the conduct of elections and public access to government information.

LFO’s presentation laid out several packages that together change the agency’s current service level. An Emergency Board package continued House Bill 4,024 implementation with $2,727,296 general fund and two positions. An Elections Division package tied to the May 2024 Emergency Board added $2,255,481 general fund and seven FTE to support implementation of the campaign finance reforms. A Translation Advisory Council package adds $619,723 general fund and one limited‑duration position to support translated voter pamphlet costs. The recommendation also reduces return‑postage funding by $750,000 general fund because actual postage costs for mail ballots have run below earlier projections.

The dash‑1 amendment also includes a Constitutionally Elected Officials Adjustment that adds an internal auditor position funded with other funds from administrative indirects and $500,000 general fund for cybersecurity infrastructure improvements; the LFO noted $165,000 of that cybersecurity funding is one‑time and will not be in the base for the next biennium.

On federal funding, committee members asked about $5,202,599 listed as federal funds. LFO said those are primarily Help America Vote Act (HAVA) federal funds used in recent years for election costs, including work on the voter registration system. Representative Reschke asked whether the seven elections FTE are ongoing; LFO replied that most positions in the Elections Division are expected to be permanent and that some roles are election complaint investigators intended to address a backlog.

The subcommittee also approved a new key performance measure for the Elections Division: “percentage of investigations opened that have a finding within 120 days,” with an initial target of 80 percent. As presented by LFO, “The target we’re starting out with is 80 percent of the cases.” The measure was proposed in direct response to concerns about timeliness of election complaint investigations.

Debate included both support for beefing up elections staffing and reservations about placing performance measures on statewide elected officials. Representative Reschke said she would vote no on the final subcommittee action, citing what she called a 37 percent increase in general fund for the office over four years. Other members expressed support for the staffing to address complaints and for tracking performance.

Mr. Cochair moved the LFO recommendation on SB 5537 and the dash‑1 amendment; the motion passed on a roll call. Recorded votes in the transcript include Representative Gombert (aye), Representative Reschke (no), Representative Chi Chi (aye), Representative Trent (excused), Representative Smith (aye), Senator Anderson (aye), Senator Manning (aye) and Senator Gorsek (aye). The committee named Representative Chai Chi and a cochair to carry the measure to the respective floors and closed the work session on SB 5537.

The action sends the amended budget bill to the Ways and Means full committee for further consideration.