Councilors praise city lobbyist; Sen. Manning backs Clear Lake project

Presenter: With the budget negotiations now taking place behind closed doors, the legislative session could end by June 19. And recognizing that the city has done everything possible to promote its top priorities, councilors praise the city’s Intergovernmental Relations Manager Ethan Nelson. On June 4, Councilor Randy Groves:

[00:00:20] Councilor Randy Groves: Ethan, you’ve done a phenomenal job keeping us up to speed. I know that this is like trying to build a house on quicksand, as fast as things change, but I think you’ve done a really good job of keeping us informed. And that is very much appreciated.

[00:00:36] Presenter: Councilor Jennifer Yeh:

[00:00:38] Councilor Jennifer Yeh: Ethan is a rock star and I appreciate him always being on top of everything.

[00:00:42] Presenter: The city’s number one legislative priority is unhoused response funding. Intergovernmental Relations Manager Ethan Nelson:

[00:00:50] Ethan Nelson (Intergovernmental Relations, manager): And so just working through unhoused response funding, it’s been a long priority. There’s been a recent call from Rep. Marsh, the importance of House Bill 3644.

[00:01:02] And so we’ve had those conversations numerous times with the speaker, going back over a year. So I feel like the speaker, Rep. Fahey, really understands Eugene’s advocacy for this, the need for it, the budgetary need, and also the practical need for the community.

[00:01:22] So my sense is not so much, ‘Is the state going to pass the policy framework?’ It’s more about how much money will be allocated. And so in the governor’s recommended budget, it’s a number of $217 million that was recommended, the May revenue forecast was not as strong as previous ones, and there’s a lot of funding requests, I think that the budget writers are currently trying to figure out what that final number is going to be.

[00:01:50] Cities have been weighing in pretty routinely across the entire session to say $217 (million) should be the floor. And if not, then there’s the likelihood that beds could be closed and that $217 (million) is the state’s allocation.

[00:02:05] But there’s more than likely from local governments at least, $150 million to match that.

[00:02:12] So we’re hopeful that that ‘skin in the game’ and the local funds will help the legislature recognize that that $217 (million) is a really good investment.

[00:02:22] Presenter: The new framework will shift more responsibility to Lane County. Ethan Nelson:

[00:02:28] Ethan Nelson (Intergovernmental Relations, manager): In years past, the funding that we would request would come directly to the city and the city would then utilize that as our funding. And where we’ve transitioned with this new framework and then with, I think, the budgetary and the programmatic negotiations and discussions with Lane County, is that a bunch of activities and investments are moving on into Lane County’s purview.

And this new framework allows for better alignment of where state resources are going to different, to the statutorily-defined, accountable parties for housing and for shelter.

[00:03:07] So I think that, whatever the number is going to be with these policy framework changes, there’s a shift in how funds will flow. And ideally it’ll be more efficient and effective, but we’ll see.

[00:03:23] Presenter: The city’s second priority is to seek funding for Clear Lake Road infrastructure.

[00:03:28] Ethan Nelson (Intergovernmental Relations, manager): We’ve done what we have been able to do in terms of advocating for this. This has been a Chamber of Commerce priority and Tiffany Edwards from the Chamber and a number of local business leaders were up and advocating for this for our delegation and also the budget co-writers.

[00:03:48] Recently, I was informed that Sen. Manning had this as one of his ‘take-homes,’ as his priority take-home for the session, which is great. We really were looking for one of our delegation to take this on as a take-home priority.

[00:04:03] But now we’ve entered the period where the budget writers are, you know, really behind closed doors working with legislators directly, to say: ‘What do you want to see funded, given the limited resources?’ And coming to terms with the choices.

[00:04:19] On the federal side, unfortunately, I did receive news last week from Rep. Hoyle’s team that they did not include the Clear Lake project. So unfortunately, we won’t see that if and when, if federal earmarks are incorporated into a federal budget process. 

[00:04:39] Presenter: The city’s third priority is funding for the behavioral health stabilization center. Ethan Nelson:

[00:04:46] Ethan Nelson (Intergovernmental Relations, manager): Once again, it’s in a really tight budget cycle. And so will they be able to secure the full $ 15 million? I’m not sure. Potentially.

[00:04:53] Additionally, there’s a new item that in House Bill 2480, which is a behavioral health omnibus, which has got a lot of different pieces in it, there’s been a supersiting component that would exempt some of local governments land use authorities related to the siting of residential treatment facilities as well as behavioral health centers.

[00:05:23] And so I’ve shared the drafts with our land use team and city attorney’s office to understand what the impacts are as drafted and then be able to provide feedback in terms of implementability and also if there’s any unintended consequences that we want to highlight and be able to address.

[00:05:46] Presenter: Oregon is also on track to study property tax reform. Ethan Nelson.

[00:05:51] Ethan Nelson (Intergovernmental Relations, manager): We have a vehicle for the interim session that will have legislative support and support from the Legislative Policy Research Office, Legislative Fiscal Office to be able to put together recommendations for the next long session related to property tax reform. We’re glad to see this thing moving.

[00:06:11] Presenter: He said the session is rapidly coming to a close. Ethan Nelson:

[00:06:16] Ethan Nelson (Intergovernmental Relations, manager): So Sine Die, which is the legislatively mandated deadline for the Legislature to finish activity, adopt a budget and move forward, that is June 29 this year. There’s a sense that more than likely the sine die will be around the 20th, the 19th to the 20th.

[00:06:35] In the past, there’s been legislative walkouts by, we think historically by both parties, but of recent history by the minority party. And with new laws related to unexcused absences and a legislator’s ability to run for that seat, there’s nine unexcused absences. And so you kind of do the math and you say, okay, June 29, you go back nine days, June 20 is deadline or else you could potentially have a walkout if there’s items that are still not have not been addressed that are hard politically for either caucus to work through.

[00:07:17] Sine die is around the 19th or the 20th. The budget bill, once it’s kind of cooked, it’s going to get run through. It’s not going to get amended much at all, if any at all, and so that process takes a few days. And so we’re thinking the 14th, 15th of June, you’re seeing that bill, it takes a few days to run through, do a public hearing, board session, and then move it through the chambers. So we’re two weeks on out.

[00:07:43] Presenter: Councilor Greg Evans asked about the status of Lane County’s efforts to bypass all land use laws and require approval of the IMERF (Integrated Materials and Energy Recovery Facility) site. Ethan Nelson:

[00:07:54] Ethan Nelson (Intergovernmental Relations, manager): When we looked at it, initially, city staff, it was outside of the UGB and it was focused in on a very, very narrow type of land use. And so from our standpoint, it was something that we were not going to track, and because it was outside the UGB, it didn’t have impact on us, on cities. It was pretty tight in regards to the supersiting authority.

[00:08:17] Presenter: Councilor Evans predicted the county’s actions would impact city residents.

[00:08:23] Councilor Greg Evans: I know that whatever the county does will ultimately affect us in our garbage rates. Our garbage rates will probably increase over the next five to six years. So.

[00:08:36] On the airport what’s going on with the feds on that. I’ve heard a couple of different wild rumors with regard to what’s happening with the funding for the baggage claim area and also with the third concourse. Are there any updates on that, Ethan?

[00:08:56] Ethan Nelson (Intergovernmental Relations, manager): Councilor Evans, thanks for the question. I think that that is going to be part of (City Manager) Sarah (Medary)’s discussion with full Council on the work session scheduled for June 9. So on 6/9, her update is focused on federal items and I know that I’ve talked a little bit with (Assistant City Manager) Matt Rodrigues about that and the intention is to bring some evolving awareness to Council related to the impacts of the federal actions.

[00:09:24] Presenter: City councilors praise the city’s lobbyist, Ethan Nelson. And the Intergovernmental Relations Committee hears more good news June 4: One of the city’s top legislative priorities this year, Clear Lake infrastructure, was selected by Senator James Manning as his top take-home priority.  The project could bring 6,600 jobs to Northwest Eugene.