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Oregon Institute asks MLAC to back bill to raise base funding from about $4M to $6M
Summary
Leaders of the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences told MLAC the institute's base funding has not kept pace with inflation and asked for committee endorsement of a legislative concept to increase state base funding to about $6 million per year and to help identify a legislative champion.
Stephen Shea, director of the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences at OHSU, told MLAC the institute leverages state base funding to secure federal research grants and that base funding has fallen substantially in inflation‑adjusted terms. He asked MLAC to endorse an upcoming legislative concept that would change the workers' benefit fund allocation and raise the institute's base funding from approximately $3.8–4.0 million to $6.0 million per year.
"We would like to propose a file legislation, a new funding formula via the workers benefit fund to increase our base funding from approximately 4,000,000 per year to 6,000,000 per year," Shea said, outlining an ask to restore and grow the institute's capacity for research-to-practice translation. He described a conservative request for the current cycle while acknowledging earlier ideas to double the funding were still under consideration.
Presenters described institute finances (roughly $11 million in total annual income including federal grants), staffing (about 70 FTE research staff and 13 primary faculty after recent retirements) and a recent Department of Defense $5 million grant for leadership training in the Oregon National Guard. Shea said the institute has cut back pilot projects and recruitments and that indexing the base funding is under discussion with DCBS and legislative staff.
Committee members asked for an impact assessment to the workers' benefit fund and suggested the institute outline tiered funding scenarios and indexing options when the legislative concept is returned for MLAC consideration. Presenters agreed to provide statutory language and to continue outreach before a planned MLAC vote or endorsement this fall.
