LOC News
Lottery Bond Appropriations Pending
One of the last bills considered by the Legislature each session is the lottery bond appropriations bill. HB 5030 provides: $30 million to recapitalize the Special Public Works Fund (SPWF); $25 million for affordable housing preservation; $15 million for the Water Supply Development Account; $15 million for an affordable market rate housing acquisition loan program; $15 million for levees; $5 million to recapitalize the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund; and $5 million to recapitalize the Oregon Main Street Revitalization Grant Program. The LOC supported investments in each of these funds, as cities across the state can access them for crucial infrastructure and land development projects. The rest of the more than $270 million in lottery bond appropriations was allocated to specific projects around the state. View the full HB 5030 list.
The Legislature clearly focused its resources on funding housing and community/wellness facilities this session. This is laudable as the needs are indeed great. However, the LOC is concerned that more investments weren’t made in infrastructure that will make housing development more feasible. The LOC and the Oregon Economic Development Association had asked for a large investment - $80 million - in the Special Public Works Fund (SPWF). Administered by Business Oregon, the SPWF provides grants and below-market loans to cities, counties and ports for infrastructure projects (e.g. water, wastewater, roads, rail, emergency services, airports, fiber, etc). The SPWF is also the revenue source for the state’s Water/Waste Water Fund, and the required state matching funds for several federal grants (CDBG, FEMA emergency, and the Safe Drinking Water Fund). These funds are crucial for cities needing to finance costly projects and pay for planning and the LOC remains concerned that the fund is running low.
In addition, no new allocations were made to the Connect Oregon program, and no funding was allocated to the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) in this year’s lottery bond bill. Investments were made in 2017 to Connect Oregon, but most of those funds are dedicated to four ongoing projects. RIF is one of the tools that Regional Solutions uses to advance projects and address regional priorities; defunding this flexible tool is also a disappointment.
Lottery bonds are used generally to fund community projects that will facilitate and promote economic and community development and growth. HB 5030 passed out of the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday and then passed the full House on Wednesday through rules suspension; the lottery bond bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate before passage. Note that the lottery bond revenues are not available right away as the bonds are not scheduled to be issued until the spring of 2021.
Contact: Wendy Johnson, Intergovernmental Relations Associate – wjohnson@orcities.org
Last Updated 6-28-19