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Local health officials press for $25 million boost to public health modernization in OHA budget
Summary
A coalition of local public health directors, county commissioners and community-based organizations asked the subcommittee to add at least $25 million to Oregon Health Authority public health modernization funding, citing rising infectious disease rates, disaster preparedness needs and workforce shortages.
Sarah Lochner, executive director of the Oregon Coalition of Local Health Officials, asked the subcommittee to increase public health modernization funding by "$25,000,000 or more" to strengthen county public health capacity.
"Public health is a bridal, yet overlooked component of solving the many crises we face in Oregon," Lochner said. She told the committee that increased funding would support testing, treatment and outreach for communicable diseases and other public health functions.
Local health directors from Multnomah, Washington and Marion counties described recent work and threats that, they said, require more capacity. Andrea Hamburg, interim public health director for Multnomah County, said past investments funded heat-mapping, installations of heat pumps and air conditioners in vulnerable mobile homes and harm-reduction outreach that saved a life via naloxone. Washington County's Dr. Marie Bowman Davis recounted a tuberculosis investigation that identified nearly 150 contacts across counties and states and required coordinated nursing, epidemiology and lab work.
Marion County deputy director Katrina Griffith and other local leaders highlighted sharp increases in syphilis and congenital syphilis. "Our rates of syphilis have surged by 22 percent in just one year, rising to 78.5 cases per 100,000 residents in 2024," Griffith said, adding that Marion County's congenital syphilis rate rose to 2.6 cases per 1,000 live births in 2024 from 1.5 previously. Speakers argued prevention dollars are cheaper than treating severe outcomes.
Several community-based organizations and CBO partners, including Medical Teams International, East Oregon Center for Independent Living, Imagine Black Futures and Oregon Spinal Cord Injury Connection, described services funded through public health modernization grants and asked the subcommittee to support the $25 million increase rather than the $2 million in the governor's recommendation. Veronica Irvin of the public health advisory board described the funding formula and said prior increases raised every county floor to $400,000 and supported 137 community organizations.
Witnesses emphasized that investments would improve outbreak response, vaccine access, food safety inspection and preparedness for natural disasters. County leaders urged that public health and early childhood investments are prevention legs of Oregon's health strategy and can reduce longer-term Medicaid and health care costs.
The subcommittee received these public comments during the HB 5025 hearing; no vote was taken on increasing POP 410 funding during the session.
