Subcommittee advances $17.9 million budget for parole board, approves package to clear offender-notification backlog

The Public Safety Subcommittee on May 20, 2025 advanced House Bill 5,027, the appropriation bill for the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision, recommending a 2025-27 budget that the Legislative Fiscal Office (LFO) summarized as $17,898,813 in general fund, $13,229 in other funds, and 38 positions (36.29 FTE).

The LFO told the committee the recommended increase (a 27.6% rise over the 2023-25 legislatively approved budget) reflects statewide personal-services growth and inflation, the phase-out of one-time costs tied to electronic records conversion and additional release-hearing positions from the 2023-25 biennium, and two LFO packages included in the dash-1 amendment.

The first LFO package includes $100,000 one-time general fund to update the Parole Board management information system (the system that shares supervision data with the Department of Corrections and community corrections). The LFO said ongoing license fees for that system are anticipated to be about $18,000 per year beginning in the 2027-29 biennium.

Package 801 (as described by LFO) appropriates $3,726,828 general fund for a combination of resources: one permanent hearing officer (to address Morrissey hearings), one-time funding to transition victim-notification systems (from VINE/Vynder to a shared system described in the presentation), and a larger investment of $3.1 million and nine permanent full-time positions to address an estimated SONL backlog of approximately 11,091 registrants. The nine positions the LFO described include six board assessment specialists to conduct initial assessments, two board hearing officers to review leveling objections, and one SONL operations manager. The LFO said the positions and related investments are intended to eliminate the backlog within five years, phasing out the positions by 06/30/2030.

Other clarifications provided on the record: $180,000 one-time for the victim-notification system transition, an estimated $6,500 per year ongoing maintenance beginning in 2027-29 for that system, $25,000 one-time for training, and $874,000 ongoing for legal fees and contracted evaluations tied to the SONL work. The LFO also reported a 22% increase in Morrissey hearings since 2020 and noted that Deschutes County intends to withdraw from its contract to perform Morrissey hearings as of June 30, 2025, which will require the board to absorb that work.

The subcommittee adopted the dash-1 amendment and advanced House Bill 5,027 with a due-pass recommendation to the Ways and Means full committee; members recorded no objections during the work session. The LFO also asked the subcommittee to adopt a budget note directing the board to report to the interim Joint Committee on Ways and Means no later than January 2026 on recruitment, training and retention for the SONL positions and on progress toward reducing the backlog. The subcommittee adopted that budget note.

Members expressed support for clearing the backlog and for monitoring progress; one committee member emphasized the need for benchmarks and follow-up reporting. On procedural next steps, the co-chairs agreed to carry the bill to the full committee on both the Senate and House sides as recorded in the meeting.