Unexpected revenue could be used to fix struggling services

We are now well past the halfway point of the Oregon
Legislative Session. These final six weeks will be primarily focused on budgets
and a few outstanding policy items. On Thursday, May 16, the Legislature
received the final revenue forecast of the session. This is the last piece of
information that Legislators need to make budget decisions – the revenue
forecast gives them the official amount of revenue that will be available to
balance the budget for the next two years.

The news on Thursday was good — the Legislature has just
over $270 million in additional revenue that they weren’t expecting to have.
So, what does this mean?

Everything gets talked about in the context of the current
proposal from the Co-Chairs of the Legislature’s budget writing committee, the
Ways and Means Committee. Senator Devlin and Representative Buckley’s budget
proposal assumes a few things: it assumes some savings from changes to the
Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) which have already been approved by
the Legislature; it assumes the Legislature will find $275 million in new
revenue by cutting tax credits or raising existing taxes; and it assumes $135
million in additional cuts to health and human services, which have already
been cut dramatically since the recession started.

The new revenue could mean a range of things, good and bad.
The good news is that it is likely that there aren’t more severe cuts to the
programs Oregonians with low incomes depend on to help them meet basic needs.
The bad news is that it doesn’t necessarily mean the proposed $135 million in
cuts won’t take effect, or that new money will be reinvested in critical
services.

We know that too many of our neighbors and families here in
Oregon are struggling, and the systems and structures that help us find the
assistance we need when times are tough are stretched to the limit. We also
know that the critical and life saving services provided by the Department of
Human Services, Oregon Health Authority, and Oregon Housing and Community
Services aren’t meeting the needs in our communities. The budget cuts of the
past three years have meant that too few Oregonians are getting the basic
services they need including: emergency rent assistance to prevent or end someone’s
homelessness, domestic violence shelters to help women seeking safety from
violence, and child care or transportation to help a family receiving temporary
assistance look for work.

Here in Oregon, we have worked hard to come together and to
build the communities and public systems that sustain us. As a community and as
a state, we can make choices that reflect our priorities. We can live in a
state where everyone has access to opportunity, and a decent, stable and
affordable place to call home. We can live in a state where families and
neighbors are supported in times of crisis.

So let’s choose that future
together. If you believe, as we do, that as a state we’re better and stronger
when everyone has a place to call home, then take a few minutes to do something
about it – call your Legislator and ask them to reinvest in the critical
services that help meet people’s basic needs and let them know how important it
is to you that we come together as a community to take care of each other. Now
is the time for us to lift our voices together, and let our elected
representatives know that we want more for the people in our state. Ask them to
reinvest in opportunity. Ask them to reinvest in the programs that help meet
people’s basic needs – like the Emergency Housing Account and the State
Homeless Assistance program, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Ask
them to reinvest in our state and the people that make this place great.

Update: Since this column was published on Friday, May 24, the work in
Salem by the Oregon State Legislature has continued.  On Monday, June 3,
a Subcommittee of Ways & Means heard and approved the
budget for Housing and Community Services.
Unfortunately, there were no meaningful increases in funding for the
safety net programs, Emergency Housing Account and State Homeless
Assistance Program.  The Housing Alliance will continue to advocate for
increases to these programs in other ways, so stay
tuned to http://www.oregonhousingalliance.org/housing-opportunity-blog/ for more information and how you can weigh in!

This article appears in 2013-05-24.