By Greg Holmes
Throughout this legislative session, 1000 Friends has been working on a group of bills that would not only help Oregon’s farmers, ranchers, and forestland managers be more resilient to drought and climate change, but also unlock potentially large sums of federal funding for that purpose. With the gridlock in Salem caused by the walkout of most Republican senators, we risk losing these broadly supported bills that, together, establish voluntary, incentive-based programs:
- SB 522 would give the Oregon Global Warming Commission a refresh to keep it relevant and active: First, it would get a more appropriate name, the Oregon Climate Action Commission. The bill would also ensure the commission brings on new members whose interests are currently unrepresented, such as youth and environmental justice, and it would give the commission new direction backed by staff and budget resources to accomplish its mission.
- SB 530 would place some of the policies in the Oregon Global Warming Commission’s Natural and Working Lands Proposal into state law, and would fund efforts to attract more federal dollars to sequester carbon.
- HB 2998 addresses soil health and would help farms across Oregon fund productivity improvements and drought and environmental stress resilience.
- HB 3366 would provide funding for the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program, which would also attract federal funding, potentially for some of HB 2998’s programs.
Together, these bills enhance existing programs and provide direct funding and technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, forestland managers, and service providers, such as soil and water conservation districts and the OSU Extension Service.
Despite public hearings, these bills are all stalled in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, waiting to find out if they will get funding. Even if they were all funded in the budget process, the new programs that some of them would create still need to be authorized through legislation. If the current walkout continues, it is likely that none of these individual bills will pass.
If the legislature passes just a budget for the 2023–25 biennium by the end of this session or in a special session, existing natural and working lands programs might receive continued funding. However, most of the necessary and innovative programs described here would not be able to move forward, because they require policy-based legislation to establish, including SB 522, SB 530, and the Bipartisan Drought Relief and Water Security Package, or BiDRAWS. It is possible that some of these bills will be packaged into a "Climate Package," encompassing both policy and funding, to be voted on together. That will still require some Republicans to return to the Senate floor to form a quorum for voting.
Right now, Oregon can’t afford to not act – failure to get some of these programs in place will result in losing the opportunity to qualify for unprecedented amounts of federal funding, at least some of which is not likely to be renewed, meaning Oregon’s farmers, ranchers, and forest managers would lose out.
You can help. Write to the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, and to your legislator, and ask them to prioritize funding for SB 522, SB 530, HB 2998, and HB 3366, and to pass legislation to create and support the programs being funded. Ask them to help make Oregon’s farmers, ranchers, and forest managers more resilient in the face of environmental and climate change.