NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Legislative budget writers come up with 2021-23 framework
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The co-lead-
ers of the Oregon Legisla-
ture’s budget committee have
laid out their framework for
balancing the next two-year
state budget with more than
$2 billion in federal aid
from President Joe Biden’s
pandemic recovery plan.
The framework, which
they announced Wednes-
day, March 24, will enable
lawmakers to maintain
state aid to public schools,
state-supported health care
and other services without
many of the cuts proposed in
Gov. Kate Brown’s original
$25.6 billion budget back on
Dec. 1, 2020.
The state school fund will
be at $9.1 billion, excluding
the money from the corpo-
rate activity tax that districts
get for targeted programs and
separate federal aid to enable
districts to reopen schools.
The Oregon Health Plan,
which enrolls 1.25 million
low-income people, will be
maintained without cuts.
The federal government
has raised its share of the
joint federal-state program
through Dec. 31 of this year.
The budget framework
also proposes $780 million
from Oregon’s $2.6 billion
share of federal aid for
programs and services envi-
sioned under Biden’s plan,
Andrew Selsky/Associated Press, File
The co-leaders of the Oregon Legislature’s budget committee have laid out their framework
for balancing the next two-year state budget with more than $2 billion in federal aid.
which became law on March
12. The overall $1.9 trillion
plan passed both houses of
Congress without any Repub-
lican support.
“The federal aid in the
American Rescue Plan is a
game-changer,” Rep. Dan
Rayfield, a Democrat from
Corvallis and one of the chief
budget writers, said in a state-
ment. “This support is criti-
cal to our recovery and will
help the state continue vital
programs and services for
Oregonians who have been
disproportionately impacted
by the crises of the past year.”
But the budget framework
of almost $28 billion from
the tax-supported general
fund and lottery proceeds
will leave $520 million of
that federal aid unspent until
the 2023-25 budget cycle,
when tax collections are
also projected to fall short
of meeting current service
levels.
The budget commit-
tee leaders also proposed a
record $250 million alloca-
tion to the state emergency
fund, given the continuing
uncertainties about the coro-
navirus pandemic and wild-
fires. (The Legislature gave
more money to the Emer-
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
| Go to AccuWeather.com
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
gency Board, which decides
budget matters between
sessions, but only after two
special sessions in 2020.)
“Our
f ramework
addresses unprecedented
challenges as we await
further federal guidance
with respect to the Amer-
ican Rescue Plan money
designated for Oregon,” Sen.
Betsy Johnson, a Democrat
from Scappoose and a budget
co-leader, said. “Our docu-
ment is sufficiently flexible to
respond during budget nego-
tiations. However, it also
prudently anticipates poten-
tial challenges for the 2023-
Winds becoming
strong; a shower
66° 43°
70° 33°
An a.m. shower;
some sun, windy
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
51° 31°
55° 32°
66° 39°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
70° 47°
72° 37°
57° 34°
59° 33°
OREGON FORECAST
68° 37°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
50/43
55/41
67/40
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
63/47
Lewiston
58/41
69/51
Astoria
53/42
Pullman
Yakima 69/46
54/39
62/43
Portland
Hermiston
61/42
The Dalles 70/47
Salem
Corvallis
61/38
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
63/37
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
63/40
70/43
63/38
Ontario
65/36
Caldwell
Burns
61°
39°
60°
36°
82° (1960) 20° (1955)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
62/37
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
73/41
0.02"
0.11"
0.76"
1.19"
0.48"
3.00"
WINDS (in mph)
65/36
64/31
Trace
0.30"
1.18"
3.32"
4.67"
3.69"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 59/35
61/39
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
66/43
65/42
57°
36°
57°
37°
73° (2015) 21° (1913)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
55/40
Aberdeen
55/41
62/42
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
54/44
Today
Sun.
WSW 6-12
W 6-12
WSW 10-20
WSW 12-25
67/31
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
New
First
Mar 28
Apr 4
Apr 11
Apr 19
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
70s
East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,
by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals
postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Copyright © 2021, EO Media Group
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high low
Circulation Dept.
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 800-781-3214
ADVERTISING
Regional Sales Director (Eastside) EO Media Group:
• Karrine Brogoitti
541-963-3161 • kbrogoitti@eomediagroup.com
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
EastOregonian.com
In the App Store:
80s
Advertising Manager:
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
• Angela Treadwell
541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com
Local home
delivery
Savings
(cover price)
$10.75/month
50 percent
• Kelly Schwirse
52 weeks
$135
42 percent
541-564-4531 • kschwirse@eastoregonian.com
26 weeks
$71
39 percent
• Audra Workman
13 weeks
$37
36 percent
EZPay
Single copy price:
$1.50 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
than 90%.
In the past two decades,
$17 billion in improvements
to the dams have done little to
help fish, which are largely cut
off from thousands of miles of
spawning habitat upstream.
The dams slow the water, caus-
ing it to heat up to levels that
can kill the fish and forcing
juvenile salmon to swim harder
and to become more exposed
to predators on their journey to
the ocean.
The plan calls for the
removal of the Lower Granite
Dam near Colfax in 2030, with
removal of three other dams
— Ice Harbor, Little Goose
and Lower Monumental — in
2031. The dams were built in
the 1950s and 1960s to provide
power and irrigation and to
make navigable a portion of the
Snake River from Lewiston,
Idaho, to the Tri-Cities of Rich-
land, Kennewick and Pasco in
Washington, and downriver to
Pacific Ocean ports.
IN BRIEF
SALEM — Another week and another big
promise from the Biden administration has
Oregon speeding up its coronavirus vaccine
timeline once again.
Gov. Kate Brown’s office announced Friday,
March 26, that frontline workers, as defined by
the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion, and all adults 16 and older with underlying
health conditions will be eligible for vaccine
appointments starting April 5. That’s a full two
weeks earlier than the previous timeline, which
was announced on March 19. All Oregon adults
will be eligible for vaccines by May 1.
The announcement comes after President
Joe Biden said he wants 200 million COVID-
19 vaccines administered by his 100th day in
office.
“With so many counties across Oregon
ready to begin the next phases of vaccination,
I am accelerating our vaccination timelines
statewide rather than proceeding county-by-
county,” Brown said in a press release.
Twenty-two counties wrote to the Oregon
Health Authority in the past week, saying that
they’d largely finished vaccinating all seniors
who wanted shots. That allowed those counties
to move onto the next priority group — which
includes adults 45 and older with underlying
health conditions, pregnant people, people
Full
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
-0s
Republican Rep. Mike Simp-
son called for spending $33
billion to breach the dams and
to replace the transportation,
irrigation and power genera-
tion the dams provide.
The letter was signed by
members of the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation (CTUIR), Lummi
Nation, Makah Tribe, Swin-
omish Indian Tribal Commu-
nity, The Tulalip Tribes and
Yakama Nation.
“Salmon are inseparable
from who we are,” they wrote.
“Even as our ancestors’ lives
and homelands were threat-
ened, they made sure to protect
within the treaties our ancestral
salmon lifeway. Those treaties
were promises made by the
United States government.
Those promises must be kept.”
Conservationists say since
construction on the dams was
completed in the 1970s, wild
Snake River salmon popula-
tions have plummeted by more
Oregon speeds up COVID-19
vaccine timeline — again
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 93° in Zapata, Texas Low 5° in Antero Reservoir, Colo.
The state’s new, two-year
budget cycle starts July
1. Instead of field meet-
ings, which the pandemic
precludes, the budget
committee will schedule
virtual hearings soon on the
framework.
“This is just the begin-
ning of the process,” House
Republican Leader Christine
Drazan of Canby said in a
statement. “We look forward
6:45 a.m.
7:17 p.m.
6:11 p.m.
6:42 a.m.
NATIONAL EXTREMES
-10s
SEATTLE — A coalition of
Northwest tribal leaders called
on President Joe Biden and
Congress on Thursday, March
25, to remove four massive
dams on the Snake River to
help restore salmon runs.
In a letter to the admin-
istration and to members of
Congress from Idaho, Oregon
and Washington, the members
of the Northwest Tribal Salmon
Alliance called the poten-
tial extinction of the salmon a
“moral failure of the highest
order.”
Northwest Republicans
generally oppose remov-
ing the dams, saying they
are economic engines for the
region and it makes little sense
to abandon a source of hydro-
electric power in an age of
climate change. Furthermore,
they argue, there’s no guaran-
tee removing them would save
the fish.
But last month, Idaho
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Shifting millions
to hearing from our commu-
nities and working with our
colleagues to determine
how we can provide ongo-
ing support for recovery and
continue the programs and
services important to fami-
lies and children.”
Awaiting votes in both
chambers is a continuing
resolution that keeps agen-
cies funded past June 30,
if lawmakers have not yet
approved their budgets.
Unlike the governor, who
proposes a single budget,
lawmakers approve indi-
vidual agency budgets and
other bills that fit into the
co-chairs’ framework. The
Legislature’s budget analysts
keep track of the bills.
Budget subcommittees
have heard agency presen-
tations, but still have to do
much of the detailed work
on individual agencies. The
first agency budget emerged
from the full committee on
March 19.
Brown’s budget proposes
a shift of $280 million into
programs intended to over-
come the effects of discrim-
ination against Oregon’s
racial and ethnic minorities.
The budget co-leaders said
they are continuing discus-
sions with lawmakers of
color — who now hold 12
of the 90 House and Senate
seats — and others about how
to incorporate those changes
into the budget.
Tribes call on Biden, Congress to
remove four Snake River dams
Associated Press
Partly sunny and
pleasant
25 budget.”
Counties and cities also
will get share of federal aid
under Biden’s plan. Cities
with populations of 50,000
and up, and all counties, will
get their money from the U.S.
Treasury. Smaller cities will
get theirs through the state,
based on population.
Unlike Brown’s budget,
which proposed tapping the
state education reserve fund,
the legislative framework
would leave both the educa-
tion and general reserve
funds untouched. Lawmak-
ers did draw $400 million
from the education reserve
fund last year, cutting it in
half.
The state budget spends
more money than the
tax-supported general fund
and lottery proceeds. But
most of that money is in the
form of earmarked federal
grants or other sources, such
as fuel taxes.
Multimedia Consultants:
541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com
Business Office
• Dayle Stinson
541-966-0824 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
experiencing homelessness and others — ahead
of schedule.
The governor’s office did not specify how
this decision would affect when COVID-19
vaccines will be available to the general public.
The president and Oregon leaders previously
set a target of May 1 to have vaccines avail-
able to all.
Rocket debris lights up skies
over the Pacific Northwest
SEATTLE — Burning debris from a rocket
lit up Pacific Northwest skies Thursday night,
March 25, the National Weather Service in Seat-
tle said.
“The widely reported bright objects in the
sky were debris from a Falcon 9 rocket 2nd stage
that did not successfully have a deorbit burn,”
the service said in a tweet about the astral occur-
rence that the Seattle Times reported was seen
shortly after 9 p.m.
There were no reports of damage or other
impacts on the ground.
The rocket delivered Starlink satellites, built
in Redmond, Washington, into orbit earlier this
week, the Times reported.
SpaceX said Wednesday, March 24, that
the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth and
landed as planned on its ocean-going barge off
the coast of Florida.
— Associated Press and
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Classified & Legal Advertising
1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678
classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com
NEWS
• To submit news tips and press releases:
call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com
• To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News:
email community@eastoregonian.com or call Renee Struthers
at 541-966-0818.
• To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries:
email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit eastoregonian.
com/community/announcements
• To submit sports or outdoors information or tips:
541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Commercial Print Manager: Holly Rouska
541-617-7839 • hrouska@eomediagroup.com