County prepares for 2025 Oregon Legislature session
By Terry Murry on Friday, November 8th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – Every odd-numbered year sees the Oregon Legislature preparing for the budget making process for the coming biennium. Umatilla County Board of Commissioners Chairman John Shafer says there is a reason for concern among the state’s rural counties.
“The thing that scares me the most is in the Senate there is a supermajority,” he said. “They will be able to push through whatever agenda they want. Fortunately, the House of Representatives does not have that supermajority.”
A supermajority means the party in power, Democrats, have enough votes to approve any legislation unless Republicans (mainly from rural areas) can bring votes to their side. One Democrat senator who has shown understanding of Eastern Oregon issues won’t be back in 2025. Elizabeth Steiner of Beaverton has resigned her seat. She was elected to serve as state treasurer earlier this month.
Shafer is not without optimism though. He said Gov. Tina Kotek’s major priorities for the upcoming session match with those of the county. When the session begins, Shafer will have begun his term as president of the Oregon Association of Counties and he said he will be working on legislative answers on issues that affect all counties in the state.
“Luckily, what the governor has as her priorities kind of line up with the associations’ priorities,” he said. “One of those is transportation. That’s probably going to be the biggest big-ticket item going forward in this long session.”
He added that housing, homelessness, and mental health are other priorities. “Those topics are going to be huge,” he said.
