By Ben Botkin, Julie Shumway and Lynn Terry/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Gov. Tina Kotek said she plans to sign the centerpiece bill that lawmakers passed in response to the state’s soaring drug addiction and fentanyl overdoses.
House Bill 4002, a compromise proposal that won bipartisan support, will recriminalize possession of small amounts of hard drugs, reversing part of Measure 110, which voters approved in 2020. The bill has provisions to offer drug users multiple opportunities to enter treatment after an encounter with a police officer.
“Finally, reforms to Measure 110 will start to take shape, as I intend to sign House Bill 4002 and the related prevention and treatment investments within the next 30 days,” Kotek said in a statement released late Thursday. “As governor, my focus is on implementation.”
She has 30 business days to sign or veto the 115 bills that were passed, and once that happens, the $211 million lawmakers approved can be distributed. It would provide money for outpatient clinics, residential facilities, sobering centers, opioid treatment in jail, public defenders and court diversion programs. They also allocated $18 million for recovery houses.
A new misdemeanor would take effect in September, with up to 180 days in jail if probation is revoked.
Kotek said she’ll closely monitor the rollout, specifically its impact on communities of color.
“House Bill 4002 will require persistent action and commitment from state and local government to uphold the intent that the Legislature put forward: to balance treatment for individuals struggling with addiction and accountability,” Kotek said.
Housing package
Kotek is also expected to sign the legislative housing package, split into Senate Bill 1537, Senate Bill 1530 and House Bill 4134. SB 1537, the only bill she asked lawmakers to introduce on her behalf, would give cities more leeway to bring land for housing into their boundaries and create a $75 million revolving loan fund for middle-income housing. The other two bills include more than $100 million for infrastructure funding necessary to build thousands of new homes in cities across the state.
“Senate Bill 1537 will help stabilize housing costs by increasing housing production through cutting red tape in permitting processes, establishing some of the strongest affordability standards for new construction in the country, and other critical reforms,” Kotek said. “Combined with investments in Senate Bill 1530, I look forward to ensuring that every dollar advances housing production.”
Rep. Julie Fahey, a Eugene Democrat and housing policy wonk who was elected House speaker late Thursday, said lawmakers expect to spend more money on housing in coming years.
“The projections all say we need to build half a million new homes over the next 20 years, and that’s not a problem that’s going to be solved in the next year or two,” Fahey said. “So I expect we’ll need continued investments, continued focus – this session we focused on regulatory barriers, investing in infrastructure, increasing the land supply, and investments as well – and I think those are probably still the same categories that we’ll need.”
For the complete story, see the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
