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Subcommittee advances $20.97 million budget for district attorneys to cover new benefits, payroll reconciliation
Summary
On May 20, 2025 the Public Safety Subcommittee advanced Senate Bill 5,513, recommending $20,970,704 in general fund and 36 positions for Oregon's elected district attorneys to cover new police-and-fire benefits required by 2024 legislation and to reconcile county-level payroll variances.
The Public Safety Subcommittee on May 20, 2025 voted to advance Senate Bill 5,513 with a recommendation to fund the elected district attorneys at $20,970,704 in general fund and 36 positions (36 FTE).
The Legislative Fiscal Office recommended the level of funding to cover two specific needs: one-time costs to reflect the addition of district attorneys to police-and-fire benefits under 2024 legislation (House Bill 4,045) and permanent funding to reconcile differences in payroll-related benefit costs across counties. "The legislative fiscal office recommendation for the district attorneys is to fund the agency at $20,970,704 with 36 positions and 36 FTE," the LFO analyst said during the work session.
The LFO broke the package into two components: a one-time adjustment of $889,250 in general fund to cover the timing-related increase in benefit costs created by HB 4,045, and $550,000 in permanent general fund to address recurring variance in other payroll expenses for district attorney health benefits across counties. The LFO described the $550,000 as a permanent change to avoid making the same biennial adjustments that had been done in prior biennia.
Committee members moved and adopted the dash-1 amendment reflecting the LFO recommendation, then moved the bill to the Ways and Means full committee with a due-pass recommendation. There were no objections recorded during the subcommittee work session. The committee assigned carriers for the bill: DBS will carry it at committee and the floor, and Representative Graber will carry it on the House floor, according to the subcommittee record.
The recommendation emphasizes that Oregon's elected district attorneys are state employees whose budgets are appropriated through the Department of Justice but are "separate and distinct" from the DOJ-wide budget, a point the LFO analyst reiterated in the presentation.
Background and next steps: the dash-1 amendment adopted in subcommittee reflects the LFO-recommended budget and the bill will be considered next by the Ways and Means full committee. The subcommittee record does not show a roll-call vote; members indicated no objections and the motion carried.
