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Senate committee hears proposal to fund AGRISTRESS helpline with $2 million endowment
Summary
Lawmakers, county commissioners and Oregon State University extension officials urged the Senate Committee on Early Childhood and Behavioral Health to advance Senate Bill 779, which would appropriate $2 million to an endowment to sustain the AGRISTRESS crisis helpline for Oregon agricultural and forestry communities.
Chair Tara Reynolds opened a public hearing Tuesday on Senate Bill 779, which would appropriate $2,000,000 in general fund money for the 2025–27 biennium to support an endowment for the AGRISTRESS helpline.
The bill’s sponsors and supporters told the Senate Committee on Early Childhood and Behavioral Health that the helpline — launched in September 2023 — has filled a gap in mental-health access for farmers, ranchers, loggers and other natural resources workers and that a $2 million endowment earning 4% interest would generate enough annual revenue to operate the line in perpetuity.
Senator Todd Nash (R–SD 29), one of the bill’s sponsors, described the helpline’s start-up funding history and shortfall. "The 300,000 that went into an endowment, was just that. It earned 4% interest and that 4% interest wasn't enough to run the helpline that cost approximately $68,000 a year," Nash said, and credited private donations for covering operations…
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