Deschutes County hears 2025 legislative review; transportation funding, wildfire and water rules flagged as priorities

Doug Riggs, speaking on behalf of Deschutes County, reviewed major outcomes of the 2025 Oregon legislative session during the Board of Commissioners’ Aug. 4 meeting.

Riggs told commissioners that the dominant theme of the session was ‘‘current service level,’’ meaning the Legislature largely maintained the status quo instead of approving broad reforms. He said that produced mixed results for county priorities: some targeted successes and several significant outstanding questions.

Riggs said transportation was the session’s high-profile failure. Negotiations collapsed late in the process over tolling authority, project labor and other items. He described House Bill 2017 (the 2017 transportation package) as a key antecedent and said proposed changes to tolling authority prompted strong local opposition. He said one near-term proposal would increase the gas tax by 6 cents per gallon, raise base vehicle registration by about $42, add roughly $30 for electric vehicles, and create a payroll tax increment for statewide transit; if enacted in the form discussed, counties statewide would receive roughly $97.5 million annually and Deschutes County would receive about 6% of that—about $5.6 million a year, an approximate 25% increase over current county receipts. Riggs said that without a bipartisan path forward, the package risked referral to voters, which he warned could set transportation funding back years.

He also said the session set aside substantial wildfire suppression funding through a special-purpose appropriation (SPA) intended to let the emergency board allocate funds as expenses are incurred. Riggs estimated roughly $205 million for shelter and wildfire-related appropriations in the biennium; he added that the SPA funds are general-fund dollars and meant to ensure contractors can be paid as costs appear. Riggs said one objective—reducing reliance on the general fund for wildfire suppression—was not achieved.

On health funding, Riggs said the Legislature created a behavioral-health funding ‘‘bucket’’ for residential and housing supports that Oregon Health Authority (OHA) will allocate; counties must track OHA rulemaking to learn local allocation formulas. He also flagged two federal-facing questions with large budgetary risk: whether enhanced Medicaid matching will revert from the current level and whether the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will allow Oregon’s higher hospital-provider tax rate to be matched as submitted. He said a change to either could reduce federal matching dollars substantially.

Riggs summarized several other outcomes relevant to the county: Senate Bill 1154 passed and will affect parts of south county; Senate Bill 1153 (a broader package that would have expanded review opportunities for water-right transfers) did not pass; a Water Bank-related measure passed; Senator and stakeholder negotiations on groundwater rulemaking and mitigation continue. Workforce and contracting changes included passage of Senate Bill 916 (unemployment insurance changes) and House Bill 28688 (as discussed in the meeting, participants said new prevailing-wage definitions will move through rulemaking and could affect contracting costs; the transcript indicates the final rule definitions were to be determined by ORS guidance). Housing measures that passed included expanded use of modular housing (House Bill 3145 as cited in discussion) and a bill permitting local improvement districts outside urban growth boundaries (Senate Bill 967).

Riggs warned of near-term action: the governor called a special session expected for Aug. 29 and a revenue forecast due in about three weeks. He said a February short session remains on the calendar and that counties should prepare possible concepts now because bill filing deadlines for a short session typically arrive in November.

Commissioners and staff asked questions about how proposals would allocate funds to counties and about ODOT operations. Riggs said ODOT regional staffing and operations would be disproportionately affected in eastern Oregon (Regions 4 and 5) under the agency’s current shortfall. He pointed to lingering debt-service obligations from the 2017 package and repeated that the session left unanswered governance and oversight questions for ODOT and for large capital-project cost control.

Why it matters: county road maintenance, wildfire response, behavioral health facilities and potential shifts in Medicaid or provider-tax matching would affect county budgets and services. Riggs urged active engagement with the county’s legislative delegation during the coming special session and rulemaking processes.

Looking ahead, Riggs recommended that commissioners prioritize local outreach to delegation members on transportation allocation language, monitor OHA rulemaking on behavioral-health housing allocations and track OWEB/BLM grant opportunities that could support watershed and community fuel-reduction projects.

The presentation drew extensive discussion but did not include a formal board vote; the meeting moved on to separate agenda items after the briefing.