Ways and Means committee approves two federal grant applications, accepts health and pension reports; schedules community budget hearings

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means on March 7 gave retroactive approval for two federal grant applications, accepted several agency reports including two from the Oregon Health Authority and two from the Public Employees Retirement System, and announced a series of community budget hearings across the state.

The committee approved a request from the Department of Emergency Management to submit an application to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Nonprofit Security Grant Program for up to $4,275,000 to fund physical security enhancements for nonprofit organizations identified as at high risk of terrorist attack. The committee also approved a retroactive application from the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training for up to $500,000 from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program to buy live training props for firefighter training; the agency said it will meet the program's 15% match requirement from its existing training budget.

Why it matters: Both grants would, if awarded, direct federal funds to state public safety programs without requiring a state match and could affect local nonprofit and training capacity. Committee members also used the meeting to receive multiple reports that bear on state behavioral-health capacity and pension-system finances.

The Oregon Health Authority's behavioral-health facilities report, covering investments from five pieces of legislation enacted between 2021 and 2024 and a total of $313,000,000, was acknowledged by the committee but drew criticism for lacking project-level detail and geographic distribution. The report, the subcommittee noted, lists capacity increases but does not clearly link those increases to the needs identified in the 2024 behavioral-health residential study. Committee members also acknowledged an OHA report on certified community behavioral health clinics; that report said outpatient services and outpatient substance use disorder treatment accounted for 63% of program funding and that utilization of available funds reached 95% during the 2021-23 biennium.

On pensions, the committee received a Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) report showing the PERS board's preliminary earnings crediting of $5.2 billion for calendar year 2024, representing a 5.54% return and lowering funded status from 77.5% to 77%. The committee also received a PERS report on employer incentive funds tied to SB 1566 (enacted 2018), which described the employer incentive fund balance and the status of school-district pooled side accounts and noted that some revenue provisions will sunset on Jan. 2, 2027.

Committee debate and objections: Several members said the OHA facilities report was incomplete. Senator Gerard (first reference: Senator Gerard, member) said he would give a "courtesy yes" but called the report incomplete. Representative Owens said she would vote no because the report provided insufficient detail about how $313 million had been distributed. Representative Drazen also voted no and urged more thorough reporting. A senator in the meeting offered a back-of-the-envelope estimate of about $231,000 per bed using the figures in the report; the committee did not adopt per-bed policy based on that estimate.

Votes at a glance: - Department of Emergency Management: retroactive approval to apply to DHS Nonprofit Security Grant Program for up to $4,275,000 for physical security enhancements to nonprofits at high risk of terrorist attack — approved (motion; no detailed roll-call recorded). - Department of Public Safety Standards and Training: retroactive approval to apply to DHS Assistance to Firefighters Grant for $500,000 to purchase firefighter training props (agency will meet 15% match) — approved (motion; no detailed roll-call recorded). - Oregon Health Authority Behavioral Health Facilities report (receipt/acknowledgment) — approved (recorded objections: Representative Owens 'no, Representative Drazen 'no; Senator Gerard '"courtesy yes"; other votes not individually recorded). - Oregon Health Authority Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics report (receipt/acknowledgment) — approved (no objections recorded). - PERS 2024 preliminary earnings crediting report (receipt/acknowledgment) — approved (no objections recorded). - PERS Employer Incentive Funds report (SB 1566) (receipt/acknowledgment) — approved (no objections recorded).

The committee also read a schedule of Joint Ways and Means community budget hearings across the state on March 22 (Gresham), March 28 (Astoria), April 4 (Warm Springs), April 11 (La Grande), April 16 (virtual, Salem prioritized for virtual participants), and April 25 (Klamath Falls). Committee members were asked to indicate which hearings they plan to attend before leaving the meeting.

The chair adjourned the joint committee following the announcements.