Oregon Legislative Assembly Office of the Senate President Office of the House Co-Speakers

News Release

Contact:  Robin Maxey                        Steve Lindsley                      February 18, 2011

            (503) 986-1605                           (503) 986-1210

robin.maxey@state.or.us steve.lindsley@state.or.us

Rebalance Plan Completes 2009-11 Budget

(SALEM) – State Legislative Leaders announced today a plan to appropriate $77 million to complete the rebalance of the 2009-2011 budget.

The plan maintains $5.756 billion funding level for K-12 schools for the current biennium and protects the services outlined by House and Senate leaders at the last meeting of the Legislative Emergency Board in December.

“We need to fulfill the promises to our schools and our communities to protect vital services to keep our communities healthy and safe,” House Co-Speaker Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) said. “With this latest revenue forecast, we now know we will make it through this current biennium without any more cuts. Then, the next phase of our work begins as we craft the 2011-2013 budget.”

“Getting through this rebalance allows us to focus on the much bigger task of the 2011-13 budget,” House Co-Speaker Bruce Hanna (R-Roseburg) said. “We’re committed to creating a bipartisan budget for the next biennium, and this rebalance demonstrates that we are capable of getting there. Our job is to use the funds we’ve got in the best possible way so that vital services are protected.”

“We’ve done what we said we would do in this current budget. We kept our schools open. We took care of our senior citizens. We kept the bad guys behind bars,” said Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem/Gervais/Woodburn) “We did it by working together and we did it without a special session. Now it’s time to do it all again for 2011-13.”

The budget rebalance is contained in four house bills, which were considered and passed out of the Joint Ways and Means Sub-Committee on Capital Construction Friday afternoon. The measures will go before the full Joint Ways and Means Committee next week before moving on to the full House and, later, to the Senate.

Highlights of the budget rebalance include appropriating:

· $35.5 million to the State School Fund;

· $22 million to the Department of Corrections;

· $4.2 million to the Department of Human Services to pay for services for Senior Citizens, Mental Health treatment and the Developmentally Disabled;

· $3.7 million for Fire Severity and Insurance;

· $3.2 million for the Oregon Youth Authority;

· $2 million for the Department of State Lands;

· $1 million for Head Start;

· $1 million for Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education;

· $900,000 for Public Defense Services Commission for trial level public defense;

· $900,000 to the Department of Human Services and Oregon Department of Education for costs associated with the closure of the Oregon School for the Blind;

· $800,000 to the Department of Education for Local Option Equalization Grants;

· $800,000 to Legislative Administration to fund the costs of redistricting;

· $500,000 to the Department of Justice for defense of the tobacco master settlement agreement;

· $300,000 to the Oregon Military Department;

· $100,000 to District Attorneys;

· $80,000 for the Oregon Board of Parole and Post Prison Supervision;

· And $23,000 for the Employment Relations Board.

Passage of the rebalance bills will complete the legislative effort which began in May 2010 when the quarterly revenue forecast revealed a sudden $577 million drop in expected revenues. In the intervening months, former Governor Kulongoski used his allotment authority to make across the board cuts to state agency budgets while Legislative Emergency Board made use of limited reserves to protect vital services.

As a result of the Great Recession, Oregon state revenues have decreased more than $1 billion since lawmakers passed the 2009-2011 Biennial Budget at the close of the 2009 session.