Deschutes County review of 2025 legislative session highlights transportation funding failures, Medicaid and wildfire risks

Doug Riggs, speaking on behalf of Deschutes County, told the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners on Monday, Aug. 4, that the 2025 Oregon legislative session produced mixed results for county priorities and left several major issues unresolved.

Riggs said the session’s dominant theme was a focus on “current service level,” meaning most committees favored status quo spending rather than new reforms. “The theme of this session was what they called current services level. Current service level basically means status quo,” he said. He warned the board that unresolved federal and state questions could reduce revenue available to counties.

Why it matters: County staff and commissioners said the session’s outcomes could materially affect county roads, behavioral-health services and wildfire response budgets. Riggs highlighted two near-term fiscal risks: a possible reduction in the enhanced Medicaid match and uncertainty about the scope of the hospital provider tax, both of which could reduce state funding available to counties.

Most prominent among the session’s failures, county officials said, was a transportation package that collapsed in the final days of the session. Riggs described long negotiations that fell apart after late changes related…