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Votes at a glance: Major recommendations the Ways and Means interim committee forwarded to 2026 reconciliation bill
Summary
The committee recommended or acknowledged numerous budget actions for inclusion in 2026 reconciliation legislation, including a $2M voter-registration stabilization recommendation, approvals of DHS/OHA rebalance acknowledgements, and several federal-fund increases; several large requests were deferred.
The Joint Interim Committee on Ways and Means considered 56 items on Jan. 15, 2026. Key recommendations and outcomes the committee forwarded as recommendations for the 2026 budget reconciliation bill include:
- Secretary of State — Centralized Voter Registration: Committee recommended including $2,000,000 General Fund to stabilize the voter registration system (Representative Gomberg presentation). Motion passed; Chair closed the work session on item 1.
- Secretary of State — Campaign Finance Implementation: Subcommittee recommended deferring the agency's $25,000,000 General Fund request to the 2026 session because procurement (no RFPs issued) and accurate cost estimates remain pending. Motion to defer passed.
- Higher Education Coordinating Commission — Workforce Training Grant: Committee recommended retroactive approval of a $2,500,000 federal grant submission; the agency later reported the application was not funded.
- Department of Human Services / Oregon Health Authority — Non-state employee collective bargaining costs: Subcommittee recommended using existing special-purpose appropriation authority and recommended appropriating $74,710,929 General Fund to DHS and other adjustments to OHA as presented.
- HR1 Implementation (DHS/OHA): The committee deferred consideration of a broad HR1 implementation funding request (LFO presented an estimated $339,200,000 General Fund request and 475 positions) pending federal guidance and further analysis.
- Fire season / State Fire Marshal: Committee recommended appropriations and SPA offsets to address 2025 net large fire costs and fire severity costs, and recommended a $7,000,000 General Fund cash-flow appropriation for 2026 preparedness. Motions passed with SPA offsets noted.
- Corrections health items: Several DOC health requests (medications for opioid use disorder; off-site specialty care backlog; staffing stabilization) were recommended for reconciliation inclusion.
Where votes were called, the record frequently shows the chair asking for objections and noting "motion passes" after recorded aye votes (Representative Valderrama frequently recorded as voting aye). Many recommendations are advisory and will become final only after introduced reconciliation legislation is debated and voted on during the 2026 short session.
All items recommended by a subcommittee are intended to be packaged into one or more omnibus reconciliation measures to be introduced in the first week of the 2026 session. Deferred items will be revisited once the Legislative Fiscal Office and affected agencies can provide further cost and procurement details.
