Republicans Criticize Oregon Governor’s Recommended Budget

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek published her 2025-27 recommended budget earlier this week, but opponents have criticized the proposal.

Oregon Recommended Budget 2025-27

Gov. Tina Kotek proposed government spending of $39.3 billion over two years and made a roadmap available for lawmakers to facilitate negotiations around the details of the 2025-27 state budget.

She indicated that this is a ‘stability budget’ as Oregon anticipates modest revenue growth as federal pandemic relief funds start exiting. Kotek said, “We’re not talking new, folks. We’re talking about staying the course on the stuff that works.”

The spending priorities include homelessness, housing, education, and mental health, with several more significant items that may prove contentious. These include:

• Protecting Oregon’s values: Kotek proposed spending over $40 million, including $2 million for attorneys to defend progressive health, environmental, and civil rights policies. The proposal also includes grants for expanding access to reproductive health care, with  $2.5 million allocated to a reproductive health reserve fund should the Trump administration decline federal funding. $7 million is also penciled in for legal help for immigrants, and a bias response hotline would get $2 million.
• Targeting fentanyl distributors: $700,000 in funding is proposed to investigate overdose deaths and target fentanyl distributors with a pilot program set to start in 2025. The state aims to create a team of detectives who will focus on investigating overdose deaths and hold suppliers of deadly drugs accountable.
• Significant Labor Bureau Budget Increase: A $22 million increase- up 36% from the current budget, to address backlogs of worker complaints is proposed. Agency leaders indicated they would have to dismiss hundreds or thousands of claims, including potential child labor law violations or allegations of employers paying less than the minimum wage without additional funding. The budget does not apply to the Bureau of Labor & Industries, which an independently elected leader labor commissioner heads.

Pushback Against Gov Kotek’s Proposed Budget

Oregon Republicans responded to the proposed budget, saying it lacks new ideas or vision. Medford Republican State Representative Kim Wallan is concerned that the budget requires more spending than the state is forecasted to collect.

Wallan noted that transportation is missing from the proposed budget and observed that legislative intent fulfillment has not been prioritized.  Wallan said, “Because there’s a super majority of Democrats in both chambers, that tax increases are on the table.”