January 13, 2025
Resilience and Partnership to Solve Problems
Good afternoon. It is good to be with you in this biennial joint session of the Oregon House and the Oregon Senate, along with so many distinguished guests. A warm greeting to those who are watching online.
This new year, 2025, carries a clear charge for all of us: to summon our unyielding spirit of resilience, to tackle problems with purpose, and to embrace opportunities for change together. Oregon’s ability to move ahead is grounded in the soil from which we have grown – together.
If we stretch our minds back to five years ago, we will recall the concerning reports coming out of China of an outbreak of an unknown disease. By February 2020, we had our first case of COVID in Oregon. And later that year, we experienced the heartbreaking destruction caused by the 2020 Labor Day fires that changed the trajectories of many lives and many communities.
I bring up these enormous past shared traumas because, despite everything, Oregon is still standing, our faith in ourselves as Oregonians remains true, and we have developed new skills and insights to withstand the uncertainties of tomorrow. It is fertile soil indeed that we now take on the challenges in front of us and ahead of us.
Oregon’s fortitude was tested again last year, as wildfires roared across our landscapes with an intensity that was unprecedented in both size and scope, demanding incredible courage from thousands of firefighters who stood between flames and what Oregonians hold most dear.
And we made it through. Another recovery is demanded of us and our communities, and we will stay focused on that — but we made it through. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all the emergency responders, both paid and volunteer, who kept Oregon as safe as possible. Thank you to the legislators in the room for coming together just a few weeks ago, for the shortest special session ever, to allocate the necessary funds to pay our firefighting bills before the year's end.
And let us keep our thoughts and prayers with the people of Los Angeles, who are experiencing horrific devastation of their homes and businesses. We know what this means. We are responding with mutual aid – 440 Oregon firefighters and 235 engines have been deployed there – because that’s what Oregonians do for our neighbors.
Our resilience as a state is grounded in partnerships. Today, here in the front row, are the leaders representing Oregon’s nine federally recognized Tribal nations. Thank you for being here and for what you do as sovereign governments to help your citizens as well as the broader community of your ancestral lands.
Also here today, at my invitation, are elected leaders from our county governments, as well as leadership from the League of Oregon Cities. I am humbled and inspired by my partners in local government, public servants who are on the ground every day in their communities meeting the needs of Oregonians. Visiting all of Oregon’s counties and all nine Tribal nations in my first two years has profoundly informed my appreciation and understanding of how critical local partnerships are to Oregon’s resilience and Oregon’s ability to solve problems. Thank you for what you do.
Today, I am renewing a conversation with you about Oregon’s future and how we build shared prosperity over the next two years. We are making progress, despite entrenched challenges, but that progress is fragile and requires all of us to be persistent and not get distracted. We are beginning to see a glimpse of a brighter horizon ahead. Let’s focus on that horizon — and be sure to keep our feet firmly planted on the road of hard work and partnership.
So, where are we and what’s on the horizon?
It will come as no surprise to anyone, I hope, that I will mostly speak about homelessness and housing, mental health and addiction treatment, and improving student success. I also want to touch on resilience in the face of climate change and improving the business of state government.
HOMELESSNESS/HOUSING
Let’s start with homelessness and housing. First, I want to thank the legislature, local government, and community partners for walking side by side with me to start addressing our crisis of homelessness and our housing supply deficit at the scale that is required to make a difference.
From substantial new state investment to new coordinated systems at the community level to a gritty can-do attitude, we have blunted the humanitarian crisis on our doorsteps. By this July, the actions related to the homelessness state of emergency initiated two years ago are projected to rehouse 3,300 households and prevent another 24,000 households from experiencing homelessness in the first place. Our state shelter program now supports over 4,800 shelter beds to help people stay off the streets and have access to transitional stability.
And we know housing supply is the long-term solution. Together, by July, the state will have financed 2,800 affordable housing units and provided infrastructure for over 25,000 affordable and market rate housing units. The Housing Accountability and Production Office is now up and running to reduce barriers to production, and there are new tools for local jurisdictions to get more housing into production faster.
It’s a strong start, but only a starting point.
According to the most recent federal Point in Time count data, homelessness has continued to increase across the nation. Recent federal data show that, on average, the United States saw an 18% increase in homelessness between 2023 and 2024. Oregon came in below the national average increase at 13%. Our prevention efforts are making a difference, but I extended the homelessness state of emergency again last week because we still need an “all hands on deck” urgency and administrative flexibility to meet the moment.
I was in Astoria this past November. When I took office, Clatsop County had the highest unsheltered homelessness rate per capita in the state and virtually no capacity to meet the need. Now, the county has eighty (80) 24/7 shelter beds, tighter coordination between its housing service providers, behavioral health providers, and law enforcement, and they are on track to produce 83 units of new affordable housing.
This is incredible progress. And a testament to what our local leaders are accomplishing.
But I will not be satisfied until the job is done.
When I was in Clatsop County, I met with a single parent, a devoted father of two school-aged children, who is living in the Columbia Inn, the motel-turned-shelter in Astoria. He is so thankful to have a roof over his head.
You see, he was evicted without cause, his lease wasn’t renewed, even though he’d been paying his rent. Facing the possibility of living outside with his kids, he fortunately was referred and had access to the Columbia Inn.
He is grateful. But that’s not what he wants. He can work. And he wants an affordable home of his own for his family. But that is so very hard to find in his community, and almost every community throughout our state.
I would bet that every person in this chamber knows where they will sleep tonight, safely and comfortably.
I want that for every Oregonian.
I am impatient about the pace of progress, and some days just plain angry that we’re in this predicament at all and that we can’t move faster to get more housing built. Please, my friends, let’s do more, let’s be bolder.
To our local leaders, thank you for strategizing how to bring more land to the table and additional resources for planning and development. Like the conversation happening in the Metro area, resources must both support homeless services and facilitate more production of affordable housing.
In the weeks ahead, you’ll hear more about my priorities for the legislative session to serve our unsheltered neighbors statewide and make even more progress on housing production. I implore you to take my budget recommendations and policy proposals seriously, keep our collective foot on the pedal of progress, and not deviate from the path to success that we have built together.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Now to Oregon’s mental health and addiction treatment system. We have to push harder to get Oregonians the treatment they need and deserve. There is simply too much pain on our streets, in our homes, in our schools.
When it comes to the connection to homelessness, it’s important to recognize that not everyone who’s experiencing homelessness is dealing with a mental health or addiction challenge. But many are. Someone’s ability to get and maintain treatment directly impacts their ability to get and maintain housing. And let’s remember that the trauma of extended homelessness is devastating to a person’s health and well-being.
Although there’s much yet to do, we have made some progress:
Last year, after the finalization of a study I commissioned to understand regional treatment gaps, I identified a target of adding 465 new treatment beds by the end of 2026. There’s now a public online dashboard so we can track our progress with the investments already in the pipeline.
To strengthen the workforce needed to help more people, I have focused on eliminating the backlog at Oregon’s health licensing boards so qualified counselors and social workers can get to work. My agencies have implemented the vision lawmakers put forward to fix Measure 110 with precision and intention, helping communities set up evidence based deflection programs across the state. And I continue to support the Oregon State Police’s efforts to get illicit drugs off of our streets and hold drug dealers accountable.
But there has to be more done to meet people’s needs. My recommended budget for the next two years continues to deploy a dual strategy of increasing treatment capacity and strengthening the available workforce, with $90 million for another 363 treatment beds and $50 million to bolster the provider pipeline and stabilize worker retention.
And it’s not just about money. Complex problems rarely are just about the money. I want Oregon to do more intentionally and strategically to help individuals living with serious mental illness. Why is it ok that we watch very ill people harm themselves because we are unwilling or unable to get them the health care they so desperately need?
There is significant interest in improving access to the Oregon State Hospital for individuals who are accused of crimes – most often misdemeanors – but who are unable to help in their own defense because of mental illness. Today, unlike in the past, the vast majority of Oregon State Hospital patients are now there for treatment so they can go back to court to “aid and assist” in their own defense. It is nearly impossible to get long-term psychiatric hospital-level care through civil commitment or voluntary commitment because of the needs of the judicial system filling up Oregon State Hospital beds. We have to change this.
Nearly 3 out of every 4 individuals at the Oregon State Hospital for “aid and assist” treatment were either homeless or in shelter at the time of their arrest. And 6 out of 10 “aid and assist” patients are diagnosed with schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder.
I believe we can do a better job of coordinating shelter services with access to mental health care, and by doing so help people stabilize before they decompensate, and a crime is committed. By doing so, we will keep our communities safer, reduce the logjam at the Oregon State Hospital and, most importantly, meet the needs of our neighbors more humanely.
Our systems of care need so much work. We didn’t get here overnight, and it’s complex. In my visits around the state and through many conversations with people doing the work, it’s clear there are things that are making a difference – we just need more of them in more places. I know the herculean efforts that community providers are making to meet the health care needs of Oregonians with serious mental illness. Thank you and please keep going.
So, how about we renew our efforts on what can be and should be?
My recommended budget to improve access to mental health care is a floor – let’s try to raise the ceiling as you go through the budget process. I believe we need to humanely improve criteria for civil commitment, make sure community options exist to serve a larger civil commitment population, and dedicate permanent supportive housing dollars to expand housing with enhanced on-site services so more people have long-term living options that can support their health status. I have directed my team to develop a new model of permanent supportive housing – what we’re calling “intensive permanent supportive housing” or PSH double plus plus – that can more effectively serve people with serious mental health needs who can live independently.
Finally, before I move on to education, I want to emphasize that we cannot overlook our children and youth. Too many of Oregon’s kids are struggling with things they shouldn’t have to deal with. From homelessness to acute mental health disorders to addiction, we have to help our children and youth now, so they have a better, healthier path to their future. That means painting with a broad brush for better outcomes in every aspect of a child’s life, including improved access to behavioral health care, working toward better outcomes for children in the state’s care, and working to address youth homelessness.
Ensuring that Oregon’s students have adequate access to behavioral health services in and out of school settings is critical to supporting Oregon’s children and their families. That includes specific supports for mental health and substance abuse, including targeted residential and community-based treatment capacity, and suicide prevention programming. When a young person develops an addiction, we need residential facilities that can care for them and help them manage the factors that led them to substance use in the first place.
I know there are many leaders here working on these issues, and I look forward to partnering together for more progress.
EDUCATION
Now, let’s turn to K-12 education.
We all know it’s been a turbulent five years for our K-12 schools. Parents, students, and educators are truly the rock stars of resilience. To them, I say thank you. Thank you for your perseverance.
In my first two years as Governor, my goal has been twofold: focus on the fundamentals of what will improve student success – from birth through graduation – and create as much fiscal certainty for school districts as possible. For the fundamentals, I thank the legislature for being a partner with me in early literacy and summer learning investments. I really believe these solutions — retooling the way school districts teach our students how to read through incentivizing evidence-based practices and reducing learning disruption through reliable summer education programs — will make a difference in the future trajectory of our children and youth. And my recommended budget asks you to stay on this path with me.
As for improved certainty as the largest funder of K-12 education, my team has worked diligently with education stakeholders to propose changes to the way Current Service Level funding for the State School Fund is calculated. There will be a bill to codify some of that work, and my recommended budget takes a big leap forward to help school districts with their base funding.
But this is not a blank check. I believe increased investment must come with deeper accountability, which is a focal point of my 2025 education agenda.
I will be bringing forth a plan that will emphasize stewardship of resources, measurable outcomes, and transparency. It is way past time to untangle and reimagine a system that can serve every student seamlessly. My goal is to develop a clear continuum of support for improved outcomes at the district and school levels, which should include increased transparency by exploring a single, statewide, publicly accessible student information system, and streamlined processes by consolidating operations for new programs into existing reporting and the corresponding data collection to reduce administrative burden and duplication of efforts.
My legislation will run in tandem with a set of administrative actions to ensure that the Oregon Department of Education holds up its end of the bargain on accountability.
The bottom line is this: When a district’s numbers show failure for their students, there will be help and attention – not voluntarily requested, but required, direct assistance to make sure all resources are pointed toward better student outcomes.
CLIMATE / RESILIENCE
I’d like to return to the focus on resilience.
As stewards of our air, water, and landscapes, we must rise to the challenge of fighting climate change, both by continuing our efforts to reduce carbon emissions and by taking strong action to enhance the resiliency of our natural resources and communities. Our most vulnerable communities, our working and natural lands, our wildlife, and our rivers, lakes and streams all face an existential threat, as the relentless march of climate change tests our resolve to protect that which sustains us.
Last year, my administration focused on bringing in as much federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding as possible for Oregon's priority natural resource needs. State agencies submitted or collaborated on 23 applications, and Oregon was awarded more than $43 million for habitat restoration, wildfire mitigation, water management, and species conservation. Oregon was also awarded nearly $90 million to expand Solar for All.
Oregon also won the largest award in the Pacific Northwest from the Environmental Protection Agency – nearly $200 million – to fund resilient communities, accelerate the clean energy transition, modernize the energy grid, and help lower residential energy bills. And Oregon received $52 million through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program to create a better network of public fast chargers throughout frequently used highway corridors. This is the kind of teamwork and success that happens when we get down to brass tacks, focus on what works, and refuse to waiver in our commitment to a cleaner, sustainable future.
We must continue to fight climate change – and we also need to strengthen our defenses for the changes that are upon us. Last year’s wildfire season was another potent reminder of the threat.
The historic 2024 wildfire season burned over 1.9 million acres and cost a record $350 million, over twice the highest fire costs in our history.
Oregon needs two things to be better prepared. First, we need dedicated reserves to manage for substantial wildfire suppression costs in the future, and second, we need ongoing dedicated funding for wildfire mitigation and readiness programs. That’s why my budget recommends $150 million from the ending fund balance to go to reserves instead of the normal allocation to the Rainy Day Fund. Call it money for a Very Very Bad Smoky Day. Additionally, we need at least $130 million every two years to follow the guidance of the Wildfire Programs Advisory Council – to provide resources for hazard reduction strategies, like prescribed fire and preparing homes to withstand fire damage, to responsibly fund ongoing firefighting resources, and to stabilize the partnerships that are the backbone of the state’s wildfire protection system.
I look forward to the revenue recommendations of the Wildfire Funding Workgroup, and I hope we can work together to guarantee ongoing resources for community resiliency.
STATE GOVERNMENT EXPECTATIONS
Before closing, I’d like to speak briefly about the state of state government.
One of the reasons I ran for Governor was my desire to help state agencies and their programs operate more effectively. I saw state agencies buckling under the weight of the pandemic crisis and a significant expansion in lawmaker-directed responsibilities. I believe we needed to get back to the fundamentals of good governance.
Within my first week in office, I sent a letter of expectations to our state agencies about improving our business operations. In my two years at the helm, I have hired more than a dozen new agency directors. Since setting specific expectations, agencies have made measurable progress in key areas of accountability. We now move two weeks faster in hiring, staff vacancy rates have fallen by a third, and employees are more engaged. Agencies have widely succeeded in their strategic planning around operations, emergencies, technology processes, and diversity, equity and inclusion goals, and they have developed systems to track, report, and analyze implementation of audit recommendations. And there is a dashboard to track progress on all of this.
Our current project is to improve transparency and consistency in state agency rulemaking. I’ve heard loud and clear that state government has work to do in this area. I’m listening and changes are coming.
I am thankful for all the state employees committed to these improvements. Being dedicated to excellent customer service, transparency, and tangible metrics of success will build public confidence in our efforts and ensure we have the capacity to take risks and lead courageously, together.
MORE ON THE TABLE
Without a doubt, there are many things we need to focus on to realize the progress that Oregonians are demanding. We can’t let up on the top three priorities that I started with – housing, mental health, and education. And we have to muster the stamina to find success on other issues as well.
The executive branch just welcomed the Oregon Public Defense Commission to its agency ranks, and I look forward to working with the legislature and the public defense community to succeed in our constitutional obligation to provide every defendant with an attorney in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
My administration is committed to meeting its obligations to improve child welfare outcomes at the Oregon Department of Human Services, including continuing to implement evidence-based programs to support parents and mental health and addiction prevention and treatment for families across our state.
Finally, legislators are already well into their work to pass a transportation package this session, after completing an important statewide listening tour last year. Thank you for your commitment. I look forward to working with you to translate what you’ve learned into a legacy package to serve Oregon’s transportation needs for years to come.
CLOSING
I’d like to close with some thoughts about putting hope into practice for progress.
I tend to think that a prerequisite for public service is a fundamental belief that “the future will be better” – a confidence in a brighter tomorrow, the potential for progress – basically, hope for the future.
I know my sense of hope comes from my personal faith in God, as it does for many of you. It was also reinforced practically from my experience playing sports when I was young. I ran track in high school, and one of my events was the 400 meter relay, where four athletes have to run really fast and work as a team to pass a baton between each other three times before the finish line. Well, when we missed our mark and the baton fell in a race, what I learned was – don’t worry, practice harder, you’ll get to the finish line. And we did. In playing sports, I learned that good things could happen when you practice the fundamentals and stay the course.
The choices we make as leaders will have a ripple effect on generations to come, and the good choices will yield health, prosperity, and community resilience. We do not always agree on what those choices are, but I encourage each and every one of us to rise above the maze of politics – its false starts, circles, and dead ends – and see the path forward, with one voice, speaking one unifying idea into existence: improve the everyday lives of Oregonians, in every part of the state. To move forward together, we must forge a shared path, one guided by focus, resilience, and the courage to take risks. We are all responsible for being a part of the solution.
As I cross the halfway mark of my first term and ask myself what it will take to see through the commitments I have made to Oregonians, I keep coming back to the knowledge that we can harness our resilience and our partnerships to solve problems. My work comes from a place of deep optimism that an answer actually exists for every problem – and if we just ask the right questions, listen, and adapt, we can also solve every problem. In my office, we often remind ourselves: “hope is not a strategy.” But hope is necessary to stay the course and not give up.
My focus continues to be doing the most I can to chip away at our challenges and help make Oregon a place where everyone can be successful. I hope you will walk with me on this journey – today, tomorrow, over the next two years, and past that.
I will always fight for the Oregon I know is possible. An Oregon where no one has to live in a tent on a sidewalk. Where Oregonians seeking help for a mental health concern or substance use issue can find and afford the support they need. An Oregon where every child has a safe place to receive a high-quality public education. An Oregon where everyone has financial stability and pathways to greater opportunity. And, in these uncertain times, an Oregon where we safeguard our values and take care of each other, regardless of the federal landscape.
I am so incredibly thankful for everyone in this room and every Oregonian who has and continues to contribute to this shared vision for our state. Thank you for listening. God bless you and God bless Oregon.
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