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MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm Michael Dunne. The old expression that money makes the world go round is cynical, but nevertheless true. Pretty much nothing gets done in a world without funding. And these days, funding, or lack of it, is a top story at every level of daily life. Today on the show, we're going to bring you three voices and three stories about money, where it's coming from, why it's needed, and where it's going or not. First, you'll hear from the Oregon House Minority Leader and her caucus efforts to rein in billions of transportation funding. Then you'll hear from one of our reporters about an Oregon Community College president who is literally running across the state to raise money for students. Then we'll finish the show about one of the few federal funding sources that is still paying out for Oregon seniors and airports. Oregon House Leader, Christine Drazan, always appreciate you coming on.
CHRISTINE DRAZAN: Thanks so much for having me.
MICHAEL DUNNE: So, the session wrapped up recently, I would just love for you to tell listeners, from your perspective and your caucus perspective, how did it go?
CHRISTINE DRAZAN: This legislative session had a few wins for Oregonians that I would specifically say repealing the wildfire Maps was just a very important bipartisan accomplishment that I'm incredibly proud to have supported. And I would also say that the opportunity to be able to call on the legislative branch to provide more oversight and more accountability, specifically around some of the issues we saw in registering folks that were not actually proper, voters in our state, and to apply pressure the Secretary of State's office to do a better job through the DMV on that was important, and I would just say lost opportunities. We didn't have the opportunity to work together like I would have hoped on resolving our transportation budget issues that we have in the state that has that's something that we're going to continue to talk about and continue to work on, but Republicans actively engaged all session long, knowing that that department needed to be able to refocus and identify some funds, or, frankly, tighten the belt and cut non-essential programs to be able to balance its budget. And unfortunately, we weren't able to get to a bipartisan solution on that one.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Could you remind listeners about the wildfire map and why that was important?
CHRISTINE DRAZAN: Yeah, absolutely in. It's been just following the 2020 wildfires. There was a bill at that time. It was Senate Bill 762 that provided a bunch of funding for wildfire activities and provided additional support for prepositioning of resources, things we really need when we're when, when we're in the middle of wildfire season, like we are right now. But at the same time, embedded in that bill was a requirement that the state map every single tax lot across the entire state and identify whether or not that tax lot was a high-risk tax lot or a low-risk tax lot for purposes of natural disasters, specifically wildfire. As it turns out, that process was a complete and total debacle. They ended up using computer modeling. The first map that came out, people were horrified with how bad it was. They came out with a second map. It was also terrible. And when I say it was terrible, I'm saying for properties that were actively irrigated for properties that were on waterways there would be deemed high risk for so they would have, in some cases, your next-door neighbor could be low risk and you would be at extreme risk. It was just, in a lot of cases, people just felt like it was so irrational, and it was because they didn't have the capacity to have people actually visit those homes. And it wasn't based on whether or not that home or that location actually was at risk. It was based on modeling. And so even if your house has a metal roof and you keep all of your shrubbery away from the structure, even if you are very careful about what you know, maintaining all those spaces and keeping things free from debris and hanging limbs and all those things, it was still deemed an extreme risk. So and even after the fact, once property was identified, here was the thing that was crazy was that then you were suddenly required to do all these things and remove trees within 10 feet of your home, and change your siding and change your roofing and all of these mandates that people just could not afford, and in a lot of cases didn't make any sense for where their property actually was, so I was really thrilled to see that repealed.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Let's talk about the transportation issue, because obviously that was a big priority, certainly for the Democrats, it didn't pass. And so that you're going to roll into a, I feel bad for you all, you have to roll into a special session talk about how that sort of, how that went from your eyes.
CHRISTINE DRAZAN: Yeah, we, you know, I started off saying that was a missed opportunity to work together in a bipartisan way. And I really feel strongly that Oregonians deserve better. We have an agency right now that, you know, spends like a drunken sailor. I heard someone say that that's not very kind to drunken sailors, because they eventually run out of money, but the state doesn't ever seem to but I but that's the challenge we have. Is that the reason that this agency is is strapped for cash isn't because there aren't billions and billions of dollars going in to fund the Department transportation. It's because they're trying to be all things to all people, and they're spending money on, frankly, DEI they're spending money on climate they're spending money on wildlife, wildlife crossings. They're spending money on bike lanes. What they're not spending money on are enough people to fill potholes and plow our roads. And that philosophical difference between Republicans and Democrats was really a divide that we weren't able to cross this session, Republicans proposed a solution that would have redirected some existing taxes to maintenance, making sure our roads are safe, making sure they're passable, and making sure you know when, when we are in wildfire season, that they're clear and brush, and when we're in the winter, that they're plowing our roads, the Democrats wanted to raise taxes to get that done because they weren't willing to give up on anything else. They weren't willing to cut anywhere in that budget. That is something I don't believe that Oregonians can afford, and I heard from Oregonians all session long, saying Oregon is so insanely expensive right now. Please help. Please don't make it worse. And when we're talking about transportation, they wanted $15 billion with a B in new taxes. And we always look at these taxes over the course of about a 10-year time frame. So, in any given single year that's, you know, anywhere between one and a half and $2 billion depending on what part of that roll out of those taxes you're in. That's a lot of money. That is a lot of money out of the pockets of Oregonians, not just for a gas tax increase, but title registration. The original proposal included a tire tax. It's like road user charges, which is code for paying by the mile, like a really dramatic change to how we approach paying for our roads, and a really, really expensive one. And there were alternatives there, there was money available, there's existing revenues that you can direct to try to cover those costs. You can trim some of these, some of these open positions that have been open for more than six months, and not, you know, not build those into the budgets moving forward, but just cut those open positions so people don't lose their jobs. There was a lot of things you could do. We even have money sitting in what's called our emergency board where, you know, as a fallback position, you can fund these positions to get us to the short session so we don't come in in this in a special session, and we can have time to have a bipartisan conversation where we include accountability, make sure we don't raise taxes. That was not something the governor was up for. She said, No. We asked her directly, are you willing to negotiate with us? And she said, No, and she's, she's determined to raise the largest tax increase in Oregon's history, six cents in one fell swoop, plus, you know, 40 bucks, plus for title and registration, 140 and then I think it's closer to 140 for each of those, plus road user charges and all those things is going to be in this new bill. It is, to me, tone deaf, and Oregonians, I think, are the ones that should have the final say. I think that this should go to the ballot. I think Oregonians should decide if this is a priority for them and if this is how they want to solve this problem.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay. My last question for you, leader Drazan, is this? How do you think this special session is going to go?
CHRISTINE DRAZAN: Well, we're going to continue to fight for Oregonians. We're going to continue to propose amendments to this bill that put this agency back on track to spend within its means, to not demand more taxes from Oregonians and get back to core essential services. We're going to keep pushing on that.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Oregon Republican House Leader, Christine Drazan, thank you, as always, for coming on and talking with us.
CHRISTINE DRAZAN: Thank you so much.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Our reporter Karen Richards caught up literally with a college president running across the state to raise money for his students. Karen Richards, a reporter for us here at KLCC. Thanks so much for coming in and talking with us.
KAREN RICHARDS: Absolutely.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I really enjoyed your story about the president of Clackamas Community College. Why don't you tell our listeners who maybe haven't seen it yet or heard it yet, talk about this story and talk about what he's doing.
KAREN RICHARDS: Sure. So, his name is Tim Cook, and he was noticing around his college that there were a lot of students who were either living in their cars or he'd heard tales that they weren't able to pay for books, and were deciding whether to buy food or pay for their utility bills versus, you know, covering the cost of college. And so, they had a study done, actually, in 2022, and they found, you know, one out of five people had been without a home, and, you know, something, that 40 percent of Mark had had other insecurities. And he said, I just want to do something about this. So, he came up with this, this wild idea for what to spend his summer doing, and what is that? So, he's decided to run, and he has done many marathons, and some back-to-back, but nothing like this to run to all of Oregon's 17 community colleges which span from the Far Eastern Treasure Valley Community College to, you know, the coast, 1500 miles to go to each community college to raise awareness.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Wow, wow. So, I imagine he set up a website where people can fund and stuff like that.
KAREN RICHARDS: Absolutely. So, I think you can choose which community college you want your donations to go to. He has a goal of raising $150,000. It's 100 miles, $100 per mile that he's running. And I think he's somewhere between 55 and 60% of the way to that.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I know when he was here locally, you got a chance to talk with him. I'm interested in terms of, you know, obviously being a runner, and somebody who runs marathons like he does. I imagine it probably sounded like, Oh, I could do this. But did he have some doubts when you were talking with him?
KAREN RICHARDS: I did ask for some highlights and low lights and low lights, he said it was heat and hills and heat and hills and heat and hills. I know he also had blisters on his feet. The first thing he did was take his shoes and socks off and soak them. He's kind of past the roughest part of that. But yeah, he was in Southern Oregon, and some of those days where it was in the high 90s and trying to get things done early in the morning, that kind of thing.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Yeah, yeah. It's, it's a fun story, but at the same time, and we, we hear so much about, you know, teachers who have to use their own funds to pay for supplies and, and just, obviously, we're living in an era where education seems to be this target for any kind of a cut. You know, it's really fascinating that he took it upon himself. Talk about your impressions of his emotions of, hey, I really want to do something that's a bit unconventional, but necessary.
KAREN RICHARDS: Absolutely and what you're saying is absolutely true. They've been losing money so that they can each school have a fund then, so this money will go into that fund, and they can distribute it as each school decides. But yes, it is a huge issue. And I think he is feeling a lot of encouragement, because at every stop he meets people, or even along the roads and these smaller roads that he's running on, who will say, Hey, what are you doing? Or they'll read his signs and they'll say, Hey, I went to a community college. I know someone, my son went to a community college. And he just, you know, hears constantly on this, on this statewide journey about how valuable they are and how much they really need support.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm a product of a community college myself, and you know, we are in this era of tremendous cuts. And I'm wondering too, you know, even though this is kind of a little zany, if you will, I think that was part of your headline. The idea is we all might need to be more creative when it comes to funding things that perhaps we sort of took for granted.
KAREN RICHARDS: I think that's a really good point. And I've heard a lot of people talk about that in all kinds of different places that are losing funding right now, about looking for other ways to get the jobs done. And so, yeah, this is one way. He did say, this is a onetime deal, and so, you know, he would love to have some other longer-term solution that would keep bringing the money in instead of this onetime event. Yeah, yeah. Does he have support while he's out there running? Yeah, there's a van. His wife is with him. She was kind of my point of contact for where they were tracking him, so I could be there when he got there. And he also has people who are keeping track of his route, and they'll stop by and ride with him or run with him. For a while, a lot of people have been doing various legs or parts of legs with him.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Yeah, you know, I know you're a runner. I know you're very involved in track, and you sort of understand the mindset of the runner. And I'm wondering too, because in addition to just how physically challenging this is, talking about just the mental challenge of being on the road, I think he's running almost like a marathon a day or something like that. Talk about that.
KAREN RICHARDS: Yes, I think it's more than a marathon a day. He said he's averaging 32 miles a day. He's done a lot of running before, but this is another beast altogether.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I don't know. I don't know how you do that, and certainly to do it to keep yourself healthy, you know, well fed enough in the right ways, and all that kind of thing is another obstacle. Yeah, I imagine, I imagine we're talking about, you know, not, not, not hundreds of calories. We're talking 1000s and 1000s of calories a day just to keep going.
KAREN RICHARDS: I think if you look at his website, I think you can find it just by Googling run for Oregon community college students. It lists what he's done each day and how many calories he's burned
MICHAEL DUNNE: Well, calories out, but hopefully money in. Karen, great story. Karen Richards, a reporter here at KLCC, about this, this Oregon marathon after marathon after marathon to raise money for community colleges. Thanks so much for coming in and talking to us.
KAREN RICHARDS: You're welcome.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Now we're going to check in with an Oregon Capitol Chronicle reporter with an actual bit of good news about funding and money that is now available to help vulnerable seniors and Oregon airports. Mia Maldonado, who is a reporter with The Oregon capital Chronicle, thanks so much for taking some time out to talk with us.
MIA MALDONADO: Yeah, thanks for having me
MICHAEL DUNNE: I read your story you did a little while ago about money coming from the Department of Health and Human Services to provide emergency kits to seniors in Oregon. Talk about the articles you wrote and talk about what you know and what you found out.
MIA MALDONADO: Yeah. So, like you said, the Oregon Department of Human Services is offering emergency kits in battery packs to older adults and people with physical disabilities, and specifically to those who get Medicaid in home support. So, this is funded through the American Rescue Plan act, so federal funding and Oregon first began offering these kinds of kits during the pandemic, when a lot of older folks and people with disabilities needed that kind of help in medical and safety equipment, and so the department is offering these again, but specifically for folks to have in cases such as like Wildfires, heat waves, floods.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I was struck by this. You know, we've had so many cuts have happened from the federal government. I have to admit, reading your story. I was surprised that the American Rescue Plan was still paying out money for programs that began, you know, right during the Covid era.
MIA MALDONADO: I can say initially, the department had about 18,000 emergency kits. Now I recently checked with them, and they still have 15,000 emergency kits. So that's, you know, they still have an abundance of these kits. So, I'm not sure that a lot of people know that these are available out there.
MICHAEL DUNNE: We're in the mid part of summer. And of course, you know, for Oregon, wildfires are now something that we all fear. And it certainly seems like, you know, these kinds of kits can become really invaluable for evacuations or whatever. And I'm wondering, you know, was wildfires a big part of the impetus for these kits?
MIA MALDONADO: Absolutely. And that's something that the Department said that was the purpose of these kits, is in cases of wildfires and heat waves and floods, you know. And. Oregon, this last year, we saw several floods, and the governor declared an emergency in those areas. So, these kits, they have flashlights, blankets, first aid, items, food and other supplies, and then the battery packs, of course, in those cases of emergency, give those folks an extra option to have some power Yeah, yeah. Tell our listeners if they might be eligible, how they can go about inquiring about getting one of these kits. Adults interested must contact their APD manager or call or visit the local office where they receive Aging and Disability Services.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I want to switch gears really quickly, because you also did an even more recent story, again, with funding coming in, and it's coming from the federal government to local airports here in Oregon, talk about that.
MIA MALDONADO: Six airports are going to be receiving funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. This includes the Aurora state airport, Portland International Airport, the Newport Municipal Airport, McNary field in Salem, the Grant County Regional Airport in John Day, as well as the Brooking airport. And these funds range from the lowest to $99,000 to $3 million to fund infrastructure in the airport, such as fixing up the runway, adding lights to the runway, fixing paved pathways, and just other airport infrastructure that's essential for safe flying and safe traveling.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Mia Maldonado, she is a reporter with The Oregon Capitol Chronicle, really appreciate you taking some time out to talk with us.
MIA MALDONADO: Of course. Thank you so much for having me.
MICHAEL DUNNE: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon On The Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org Tomorrow on the show, we hit the flat track and learn about an incredibly popular and demanding sport that has deep roots in our community, roller derby. I'm Michael Dunne, and this has been Oregon On The Record from KLCC. Thanks for listening.
