An aerial photo of the Beachie Creek Fire in the Willamette National Forest taken Sept. 9, 2020. (Mark Turney/U.S. Forest Service)

With time running out, lawmakers debate redirecting $1 billion to wildfire prevention while keeping rebates for low- and middle-income earners

A late-in-the-session Hail Mary proposal to redirect the bulk of the state’s “kicker” tax rebate to fund statewide wildfire work would still kick some of the rebate back to most Oregonians.

Under a forthcoming amendment to Senate Bill 1177 — still a placeholder bill for some mechanism to fund wildfire prevention and response work in the state — Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, proposes the Legislature move $1 billion of the expected $1.64 billion state tax rebate to an interest-bearing wildfire account.

“The notion of walking into every session with $100 to $150 million waiting for us for wildfire, is really attractive, as opposed to starting from scratch every two years,” Golden said.

The remaining nearly $650 million, he proposes be doled out to single Oregonians making less than $95,000 in pre-tax income and joint-tax-filing Oregonians making $190,000 in pre-tax income.

Golden is hoping the proposal represents a middle ground that can meet the state’s wildfire needs, appease Republicans who insist the kicker is not for the Legislature to spend and placate Oregonians who’ve come to rely on the regular rebate. In recent years, the state has sent billions back to Oregon taxpayers every two years when it collects personal income taxes that exceed what budgets call for by at least 2%.

Redirecting the money would require a two-thirds supermajority vote in each chamber, meaning at least two Senate Republicans and four House Republicans would need to approve along with all legislative Democrats.

But getting Republican support is easier said than done, and some are accusing House Democrats of delaying a vote to repeal the state’s unpopular Wildfire Hazard Map as a bargaining chip in negotiations over redirecting the kicker for wildfire funding.

“It’s sad to see a group of representatives, so beholden to their liberal bosses committed to stealing our kicker, not care at all about the will of the people they represent,” state Rep. Boomer Wright, R-Reedsport, said in his May constituent newsletter.

Golden has said he does not agree with delaying a vote on the wildfire map.

Under his proposal, $1 billion from next year’s kicker would be put into an interest-bearing account that could, if earning 5% each year, send $100 million each biennium to the state for wildfire — covering about one-third of the total $300 million the state hopes to budget each biennium.

“The other options really have big problems,” Golden said.

Gov. Tina Kotek asked the Legislature for more than a year to come up with a reliable and consistent funding mechanism to support statewide wildfire work but has so far not received any proposals that come close to meeting her desired target of an additional $150 million per year.

She recently began signaling her support for Golden’s proposal, despite declining to consider touching the kicker in the past. At a news conference Monday she said a one time redirect of the bulk of the kicker to wildfire, coupled with targeting what’s left to middle- and low-income Oregonians was “a good thing to do” and that she was frustrated with legislators for taking so long to come up with a wildfire funding package.

“I’m going to continue to work with legislators. I’m looking for bipartisan solutions here. It would be a terrible thing to end this session without dedicated funding,” she said. “The bottom line is, I’m still working on it.”

Golden said the idea is long overdue.

“Its viability grows as other options fade, so I knew it was going to be a late-game discussion,” he said.