Ways and Means committee recommends five bills be reported out, including omnibus budget rebalance

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means on March 14, 2025, voted to report several measures out of committee with recommendations that they be passed as amended, including a $2.3 billion package of budget rebalance actions and multiple capital construction and bond-authority adjustments.

The actions matter because the package contains a sweeping budget rebalance (Senate Bill 5,550) that makes multi-hundred-million-dollar changes across state agencies and funds, and several bills that alter capital construction expenditure limits and bond scope for higher education and military projects.

Senate Bill 5,550 was described to the committee as an omnibus budget reconciliation bill that rebalances state agency budgets, makes statewide debt-service adjustments and provides supplemental funding. Committee presentation listed $2.3 billion in rebalance actions, including a $359 million general fund adjustment for the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Human Services, $30.92 million for pay-equity-related…