Homeless, tech, guns and abortion rights top priorities in OR legislature

Four months into the 2023 Oregon legislative session, lawmakers have prioritized addressing the homelessness and affordable housing crises with a $200 million package and are on the hunt for an economic boost after passing the $210 million Oregon CHIPS Act. With these bills signed into law, the legislature is setting its sights on tackling gun violence and enshrining abortion rights.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Four months into the 2023 Oregon legislative session, lawmakers have prioritized addressing the homelessness and affordable housing crises with a $200 million package and are on the hunt for an economic boost after passing the $210 million Oregon CHIPS Act. With these bills signed into law, the legislature is setting its sights on tackling gun violence and enshrining abortion rights.

Homelessness and affordable housing

On March 29, Governor Tina Kotek signed the $200 million homelessness and affordable housing package.

The package, which includes HB 2001 and HB 5019, fully funds Kotek’s Homelessness State of Emergency and aims to shelter and prevent homelessness and boost housing production — including for middle-income earners.

The package includes $54 million in rental assistance and rehousing programs for those who are homeless, $33.5 million for eviction defense and $23.8 million towards adding 600 shelter beds in metro areas.

“Housing and homelessness are the top priorities of the Oregon legislature this session and they’re bipartisan priorities. We know that homelessness affects every community around the state, so we took very rapid action early on in session to pass our Affordable Housing and Emergency Homelessness Response package," Democratic House Majority Leader Julie Fahey told KOIN 6 News.

Fahey, who represents west Eugene and Veneta, says the package includes both investments and policy changes.

“The funding and the policies that we passed will help get people off the streets on the path out of homelessness into shelter, it will find shelter beds, outreach workers and rapid re-housing funding for people who are living on the streets," Fahey said.

The representative added, “importantly, it will also address some of the root causes of homelessness, including youth homelessness, evictions and making housing production one of our top priorities in the state.”

“Our communities around the state are working very quickly to develop plans for how to use the funding. They submitted plans to the governor’s office about how many shelter beds they will be able to create, how many people they will be able to serve with the rapid re-housing funds. Those plans are being considered by the governor’s office and she’s already announced funding going to specific areas,”

Gov. Kotek has announced she will withhold millions of dollars to Multnomah and Clackamas counties and to the cities of Portland and Gresham after she says Multnomah County and Portland did not do a good job explaining what their plans for the funding.

The governor is calling for more accountability.

“I was disappointed that they didn’t have more clarity,” the governor said. “I sat through several meetings trying to understand existing capacity, who’s paying for what, where does the money come from, what’s the city committed to, what’s the county committed to? They need to get their stuff together.”

Fahey told KOIN 6 News she agrees with the governor's decision to withhold the millions of dollars.

“I think it’s great. One of the things I like about the governor’s approach to her emergency declaration for homelessness is that the approach we’re taking is focused on outcomes and accountability. We all know that the status quo is not working on addressing homelessness in the state, we can’t just keep continuing to do the same things that we are doing," Fahey said.

In Fahey's view, both the funding approved by the legislature and the governor's approach will require communities to commit to specific plans -- including how many shelter beds they will add, how many people are moved off the streets and how many evictions will be prevented.

Fahey is hopeful the governor’s plans and the funding will make a difference for people on the streets.

The Oregon CHIPS Act

On April 13, Kotek signed the $210 million Oregon CHIPS Act into law -- a bill that intends to lure chip manufacturers to the state and allows the governor to expand the urban growth boundary for businesses.

“Oregon has been at the center of the semiconductor industry in the United States for decades,” Kotek said in a statement after the signing. “This bill is an absolutely essential tool for leading a coordinated effort with the private sector to ensure we can compete for federal funds to expand advanced manufacturing in Oregon.”

The CHIPS Act includes $190 million to support Oregon businesses applying for federal investments in the federal CHIPS and Science Act along with a $10 million investment to help public universities receive federal grants.

Fahey emphasized the significance of the semiconductor industry in Oregon, noting, “the semiconductor industry is incredibly important in the state of Oregon. We are the number three producer of semiconductors, chips in the entire world."

Fahey says the land-use piece could draw in more jobs to the state.

“Industrial land is something that some semiconductor companies are looking for. So, giving the governor some time-limited authority to help make that land available – if a company needs it for its application with the federal government to be successful – is very important," Fahey said.

Fahey noted that the land-use provision in the law gives the governor limited authority.

"The authority that we gave to the governor has very important sideboards on it. For one, it is time limited. It’s only for a relatively narrow period of time in order to help the companies be successful with their applications to the federal government," Fahey said.

Fahey explained that if the governor expands the UGB for a company that does not secure federal funding, the land then comes out for the UGB again.

The Oregon CHIPS Act also limits the total number of sites that will be allowed statewide -- allowing the governor to expand the boundary eight times, Fahey said.

“There was a very significant back and forth between our land-use advocates, our economic development folks and the semiconductor industry about what do we really need and how can we do this in a thoughtful and deliberative way. And I think the bill that we passed threads that needle in an effective way," Fahey said.

Abortion rights

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, some states have further challenged the right to abortion.

Oregon House Bill 2002 aims to solidify abortion rights in the state.

Fahey is in favor of Oregon House Bill 2002 which aims to solidify abortion rights. The representative says in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, Oregon lawmakers took steps to ensure abortion rights and affordable and accessible.

“What we’re seeing is an increasing number of people coming to our state to access abortion care,” Fahey said -- noting this can make it more difficult to get an appointment as providers struggle to keep up.

"House Bill 2002 will help protect our medical providers and our health care facilities given this new legal environment. It will ensure that the rights we had in Oregon before Roe was overturned are protected and it will help make sure Oregonians have access to care given the changing landscape in other states," Fahey stated.

Gun laws

With Measure 114 still wrapped up in legal challenges, the Oregon legislature has other gun measures its considering during this legislative session.

“In this session, a top priority for us is to make sure that our communities and our schools are safer and a part of that is taking on gun crimes and violence," Fahey said. "We are going to be investing in violence prevention efforts in the legislature, making sure the police have the resources they need to do their jobs. But we are also considering a bill, the Gun Violence Prevention Bill -- House Bill 2005 -- that offers some commonsense solutions to help keep guns out of the wrong hands, what’s so-called “ghost guns.”