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2025-34-Minutes for Meeting January 24,2025 Recorded 2/10/2025vi E S COG2a BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 1300 NW Wall Street, Bend, Oregon (541) 388-6571 Recorded in Deschutes County CJ2025-34 Steve Dennison, County Clerk Cornmissioners'Journal 02/10/2025 4:11 :57 PM 2,325-34 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 8:00 AM FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2025 ZOOM MEETING A legislative work session was held on Friday, January 24, 2025 at 8:00 a.m. via Zoom Virtual Meeting Platform. Deschutes County Attendance: x Commissioner Anthony DeBone, Chair x Nick Lelack, County Administrator x Commissioner Patti Adair, Vice Chair x Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator x Commissioner Phil Chang x Whitney Hale, Deputy County Administrator Kristie Bollinger, Property Manager x Tim Brownell, Director Solid Waste Sara Crosswhite, Director 9-1-1 Steve Dennison, County Clerk x Chris Doty, Director Road Department x David Doyle, Legal Counsel Charles Fadeley, Justice of the Peace x Janice Garceau, Director Health Services x Stephen Gunnels, District Attorney x Peter Gutowsky, Director Community Development x Holly Harris, Director Behavioral Health Geoff Hinds, Director Fair & Expo x Deevy Holcomb, Director Community Justice x Heather Kaisner, Director Public Health Sean Kirk, Manager Veteran's Services x Bill Kuhn, Treasurer x Tom Kuhn, Public Health Program Manager Scot Langton, Assessor x Tania Mahood, Director Information Technology x Kevin Moriarty, Forester x Elizabeth Pape, Internal Auditor x Jen Patterson, Strategic Initiatives Manager 2025 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE JANUARY 24, 2025 PAGE 1 OF 5 x Angie Powers, BOCC Administrative Assistant x Lee Randall, Director Facilities x Kim Riley, Senior Assistant Legal Counsel x Robert Tintle, Chief Financial Officer Kent van der Kamp, Sheriff x Daniel Kieffer, Budget & Financial Planning Analyst x Heather Herauf, Procurement Manager Others Present: x Doug Riggs, Director NW Policy Advocates x Corey Barber, Outreach Director NW Policy Advocates Emma Innes, Associate NW Policy Advocates 1. Welcome and Introductions Chair DeBone called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. 2. Commissioner Updates Chair DeBone began the discussion on page 6 of the weekly Bill Tracker report. 3. Updates from NW Policy Advocates Doug Riggs introduced Corey Barber (present via Zoom) and Emma Innes (absent from this meeting) as the County's NW Policy Advocates team in Salem. He reported on hearings thus far, which have mostly been overviews. One hot topic includes the heavy truck Electric Vehicle mandate. He reported there will be as many as 5,000 bills introduced this session. 4. Review Bill Tracker Report by Department Deevy Holcomb supports SB 816, which allows juvenile community justice to use an existing state grant for all youth on supervision. Board position: priority 2/support. DA Gunnels shared that his office's top priority is HB 2470 which expands the capacity of the Oregon state hospital. Their second priority is SB 773 which increases penalties for those who assault a corrections officer. Their third priority is HB 2293 which limits pretrial release for those charged with a felony or a Class A misdemeanor, and their fourth priority is HB 2142 which enhances prison sentences for those convicted of unlawful delivery or manufacture of controlled substances. Their fifth priority is HB 2494 which requires the Criminal justice Commission to study the effects of different sentences on recidivism. Responding to Commissioner Adair, DA Gunnels said it would be helpful for the Board to write a letter of support. Board position: priority 2/support. 2025 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE JANUARY 24, 2025 PAGE 2 OF 5 Chair DeBone noted that at a recent AOC conference, he learned there were 475 beds per 100,000 people in 1963 and today's figure is 15 beds per 100,000. He asked if there is a target. Garceau reported the number of beds per 100,000 has dropped 98% since the 1960s and 1970s. She doesn't advocate for how people were housed in that era noting there can be a happy medium. Behavioral Health (BH) is closely monitoring the status of this bill. Commissioner Chang is cautious of focusing on one aspect of the BH system, noting it's important to consider how funds can be used in different ways. He wishes for a systemic approach to the issue, and expanding the capacity of the state hospital is only one piece. He advocated for a system -level awareness. Garceau echoed these comments, noting a balance must be met. Commissioner Adair said that Oregon is at the bottom for mental health beds nationwide and advocated for increased capacity. Responding to Chair DeBone, jen Patterson commented that page 8 was removed from the Bill Report as it was blank. Robert Tintle spoke about three bills: HB 2088, HB 2089 and HB 2096, all of which are opposed by AOC and deal with surplus proceeds from the sale of properties delinquent on their property tax payments. Riggs noted these bills don't resemble wI lat the workgr Oupy advoocated IVr a1-1d VVIII Ileed SiglllflCalInt amendment. He suggests keeping them as a high priority because at least one will move, in highly amended form. Board's position: priority 2/oppose. 5B 675 is related to capital funding, and reduces the interest accrued from 1.33% to 0.50% thus reducing funding for local assessment and taxation. Riggs anticipates this bill will get a hearing, but he doesn't expect it to move. It would impede counties' abilities to provide services required under state statute. Board position: priority 2/oppose. Holly Harris described HB 2056 as a placeholder bill to cost out the services for the true cost of providing civil commitment, aid and assist and crisis services due to a $32 million annual funding gap. Commissioner Adair wishes to see the actual language when this evolves from a placeholder bill. Riggs expects some funding for these requests and will keep a close eye on these bills. Board position: priority 1/support. HB 2024 is another placeholder related to alleviating the BH workforce crisis. Chair DeBone asked to add this bill to the tracker. Board position: priority 1 /support. 2025 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE JANUARY 24, 2025 PAGE 3 OF 5 Heather Kaisner shared that HB 2954 and HB 5025 both appropriate money from the General Fund (GF) to support Public Health (PH) services. HB 2954 is for primary addiction primary prevention. Kaisner shared that Oregon currently spends 94% of its substance abuse dollars on addiction recovery and only 6% on addiction prevention. HB 5025 is for PH modernization, allocating $25 million for PH modernization and an early childhood package. This package would support Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) funding and nurse home visiting programs. Board position: priority 1/support. Responding to Commissioner Chang, Kaisner acknowledged PH's need for GF investment at the state level. PH modernization will support the sustainability of core PH services. This includes addiction prevention and healthy schools. Kaisner noted that in 2016-17, Oregon's PH funding was one of the lowest nationwide. Garceau highlighted record levels of unhoused people and incarceration of those with mental illness and addiction, noting that funding for prevention has been neglected. Tom Kuhn spoke about SB 702, which would ban the sale of flavored tobacco and inhalant delivery systems with the primary goal of limiting access to youth who prefer flavored products. Riggs said that many of these products contain toxic chemicals, come from China and are unregulated. Commissioner Adair advocated for a shift from priority 2 to 1 /support and Commissioner Chang concurred. Board position: priority 1 /support. Chris Doty noted the first three bills on page 15 of the bill tracker report are placeholders. HB 3175 has been put forth by county surveyors. It removes the cap on fees counties can set for maintaining public land survey corners in their county. Board position: priority 1/support. HB 3209 establishes an abandoned Recreational Vehicle (RV) program to help pay for the removal of abandoned RVs on public lands. A $25 annual fee would be attached to RV registration. It's unclear if federal lands apply. Riggs noted this is a scaled back version of a similar bill from last session, and an agreement was reached with the RV Dealers Association. Board position: priority 2/support. Commissioner Chang noted that if federal lands were explicitly included, it would rise to priority 1. There were no representatives from the Sheriff's Office in attendance, but Patterson noted that SB 773 was discussed earlier under the DA's Office. After some discussion, the Board updated its position on this bill to priority 1/support as it relates to mandatory minimum sentences for those who assault a corrections officer. 2025 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE JANUARY 24, 2025 PAGE 4 OF 5 Chair DeBone summarized HB 2581 as it expands the duties of the State Resilience Officer. Riggs said this would impact the region's CORE3 site which is key to recovery and long-term disaster planning. Board position: priority 2/watch. Tim Brownell spoke about HB 2062 which expands battery producers' responsibilities for the collection, disposal and recycling of batteries. He believes AOC supports this bill in its current form, and it has wide support across the state. This would alleviate the significant issue of expanding fires on collection sites and in collection/transfer vehicles. Board position: priority 2/support. Commissioner Chang left the meeting at 8:50 a.m. to attend another event. SB 726 requires landfills to conduct methane surface emissions monitoring. Deschutes County is currently doing this on a quarterly basis. The bill would require flyover monitoring or continuous surface monitoring which would be very expensive. Brownell advocated for opposing this bill. Board position: priority 2/oppose. Peter Gutowsky shared that Commissioners DeBone and Chang signed a letter of support for HB 2168 on Wednesday, noting that Commissioner Adair was not in attendance at Wednesday's meeting. This bill would provide resources to state agencies for domestic well challenges and septic system improvements. SB 75 is the AD:J housekeeping arnendment related to v Vildfir e haza'r d mapping vvhich ha$ the full support of the Board. Chair DeBone suggested scheduling these topics for discussion at an upcoming BOCC work session. Responding to Commissioner Adair, Riggs reported that 6 of the 7 soil and water conservation districts who received funding last session have completed their juniper work. This session, HB 3078, sponsored by Rep. Emerson Levy, includes funding for juniper removal. Next Meeting: The next virtual legislative update meeting is scheduled for Friday, January 31 at 8:00 a.m. Adjourn: Chair DeBone adjourned the meeting at 8:58 a.m. Respectfully Submitted by. Angie wer , Administrative Assistant 2025 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE JANUARY 24, 2025 PAGE 5 OF 5 DESCHUTES COUNTY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Friday, January 24, 2025, 8:00 am This meeting will be held virtually. Members of the public may access the meeting using this link: https://bit.ly/3WDZYOx Or call (253) 205-0468 Webinar ID: 879 4809 6174 Passcode: 156736 1. Welcome -Chair 2. Commissioner Updates 3. Updates from NW Policy Advocates -Doug Riggs 4. Review Bill Tracker Report by Department Deschutes County encourages persons with disabilities to participate in all programs and activities. This event/location is accessible to people with disabilities. If you need accommodations to make participation possible, please call (541) 617-4747.