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Blog: Legislature to reveal proposed budget today.

Photos and story by Dana Haynes

Today is the day of the “co-chairs’ budget.” In Salem parlance, it’s a game-changer.

Briefly, here’s how it works: Every two years, the governor of Oregon proposes a budget for all state agencies (community colleges aren’t technically an “agency,” but the Guv proposes our budget as well).

Then, usually around May, the Legislature’s budget-writing body, the Ways & Means Committee, offers up its budget. It’s crafted by the people who chair the bipartisan, bicameral committee, which traditionally includes one senator and one member of the House.

This year, it’s one senator (Democrat Richard Devlin of Tigard) and two House members (Republican Dennis Richardson of Central Point and Democrat Peter Buckley of Ashland). That’s because the House is evenly split, 30-30, between the two parties.

Three is more complicated than two, but somehow these three managed to release a co-chairs’ budget in March, not May. That’s good news, because the rest of the session – which is expected to end in June – is a tug-of-war centered around the competing budgets.

So: Context. Two years ago, Oregon’s 17 independent community colleges and the Office of Community Colleges and Workforce Development were funded at a total of $500 million. That shrank to $450 million, then to about $417 million. Gov. John Kitzhaber has recommended a budget of $410 million. And we were in Salem all last week lobbying for $425 million.

Stay tuned: I’ll post something once the co-chairs’ budget is released.