www.ohca.com FALL/WINTER 2024 The Oregon Caregiver 17 PUBLIC POLICY 2025: New Year, New Legislature By Libby Batlan, Oregon Health Care Association January is a time for beginnings; a new year brings a fresh perspective and a recommitment to goals. For some, this means the perennial task of upholding new year’s resolutions, but for Oregon Health Care Association’s (OHCA) government relations team, the start of 2025 means one thing: Oregon legislature will be in session soon. After another general election that resulted in Democrats retaining legislative control, lawmakers will convene in Salem for a “long” session. They will have six months to complete their work, including the consideration of thousands of bills and finalizing the state’s budget for another two years. OHCA Priorities OHCA will center its legislative agenda on three pillars: 1. Protecting and enhancing Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing facilities, community-based care facilities, and in-home care agencies. 2. Defending against harmful policies that drive up costs to deliver care and reduce access to care. 3. Supporting workforce initiatives that funnel more nursing staff to postacute and community-based care settings. Understanding the upcoming session is directly tied to understanding the state’s current budget climate. Unlike the federal government, Oregon’s legislature must begin and end each biennium with a balanced budget, just like any other business. This means that when the economy is strong, lawmakers can spend more on important services or start new programs. But when money gets tight, they are forced to make hard choices and prioritize where to spend Oregonians’ tax dollars. Despite volatility over the last five years with the pandemic and record-high inflation, Oregon’s economy has experienced significant growth, buoyed by massive influxes of one-time federal funds flowing to state coffers. But that is changing, and a more constrained budget climate will have a significant impact on state funding for services next session. Budget Shortfall The cause of the potential budget shortfall is complicated. The basis for Oregon’s budget is the state economist’s quarterly revenue forecast, which provides the Governor and legislators projections about the funds that will be available to pay for state services. The latest forecast, released in September 2024, showed that despite growth in short-term revenue, the longer-term outlook is bleaker, and it is expected that General Fund revenue will experience a sharp decline. If there are insufficient revenues during the 2025–2027 budget years to meet the predicted needs for services, this could mean cuts depending upon how deeply the legislature wants to dip into their budget reserves. The other problem is the legislature needs more money than ever before to keep all its programs afloat. The state’s overall budget has grown from just under CONTINUES »
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