Committee advances $10 million lottery-bond request for James Beard Public Market in Portland

The House Committee on Economic Development, Small Business, and Trade moved House Bill 3377 to the floor with a “do pass” recommendation and referred the bill to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means by prior reference.

House Bill 3377 provides $10,000,000 in funding from the sale of lottery bonds to the historic Portland Public Market Foundation for construction of the James Beard Public Market in Portland. The bill includes an emergency clause making it effective on passage. Committee staff noted that there are fiscal and revenue considerations that will require further analysis when the bill reaches Ways and Means.

During the work session several committee members voiced support for the project’s potential to revitalize downtown Portland and promote Oregon products, while others said they were skeptical that state funds should finance a development they saw as primarily benefiting Portland residents. Comments recorded in the transcript include concern that the bill contains no “guardrails” to ensure benefits flow to other regions of the state, and several members said they could not support using state taxpayer dollars for a project they said did not materially benefit their districts.

Despite those concerns, committee members recorded votes on the motion and the motion passed; the transcript shows Representative Dobson and Representative Lively recorded as voting “Aye,” and the chair announced that the motion passes. The bill will proceed to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means for a more detailed fiscal review.

The committee record does not show enacted guardrails or amendments limiting the market’s geographic participation; several members asked staff and the bill’s proponents to pursue measures during Ways and Means or subsequent negotiations that would ensure participation or benefits for Southern, Eastern and Coastal Oregon producers.