Yesterday, the Legislature announced the 2023-2025 Public Safety and Accountability Budget framework. The more than $4 billion framework represents the Legislature’s commitment to ensuring the safety of all Oregon communities.
“Public safety and crime prevention have been top of mind for my community, and top of mind for me this session,” said Representative Ricki Ruiz (D-Gresham). “That’s why I am a proud supporter of these proposed investments in critical areas such as community-based violence prevention programs and addressing the fentanyl epidemic. If approved, these investments would significantly improve livability and safety in our communities.”
The Oregon State Legislature’s Public Safety and Accountability Budget framework, if approved, would support core law enforcement agencies and make targeted investments in keeping Oregon families safe and addressing serious crime, including, but not limited to:
- $813 million to fully fund the Oregon Department of Justice to ensure the agency has the personnel and resources needed to be successful in their work in areas including:
- Human trafficking intervention;
- Community-based violence prevention programs; and
- Crime victim and survivor services like expanding victim compensation and bolstering legal and procedural protections for victims of bias crimes and sex crimes.
- $611 million for Oregon State Police. This funding would reinforce Oregon’s crisis response system by investing in wellness and accountability programming, including by:
- Improving recruitment and retention of administrative, information technology, 9-1-1 command center, and active law enforcement professionals across the state; and
- Ensuring responsible gun ownership by continuing to address Oregon’s firearms backlog; and
- Supplementing and managing essential resources.
- $2.2 billion for the Department of Corrections.
- $750 million for the Oregon Judicial Department.
- $83 million for the Department of Public Safety and Safety Standards and Training to address the law enforcement workforce shortage by increasing training capacity.
- $73.9 million for Oregon Deputy State Fire Marshalls.
The Legislature will also be directing significant resources to the Oregon Public Defense System to ensure a fair legal system, and investing in behavioral health crisis response services through omnibus legislation like House Bill 2395, which would address the fentanyl crisis in a targeted and strategic manner to reduce drug trafficking.
“The people of Oregon were loud and clear that making our streets and communities safer must be one of our top priorities this session,” said Senator Floyd Prozanski (D-Springfield & Eugene). “With this package, we are taking direct aim at the root causes of crime and improving law enforcement response to ensure every Oregonian feels safe and secure wherever they live in our state.”
This session, Oregon House Democrats have approached making Oregon communities safer from multiple angles, from passing meaningful gun violence prevention legislation, to addressing the public defense shortage, to giving law enforcement the tools they need to respond to crises appropriately. The 23-25 Public Safety and Accountability Budget framework investments continue Oregon Democrats’ work to ensure every Oregonian feels safe in their community.
The Public Safety and Accountability Budget framework is part of Legislative Leaders’ Vision for Oregon. Despite Senate Republicans’ choice to skip work, legislators have collaborated on an unprecedented budget that will help all Oregonians. If Senate Republicans don’t decide to come back to work, we can’t vote on our budget. If we can’t pass our budget, Oregon families, including Senate Republicans’ constituents, will be the ones that pay the cost of their political games.
