Medford, OR — Oregon lawmakers will convene for an emergency legislative session on December 12 to approve $218 million in funding to help cover the costs of the state’s record-breaking 2024 wildfire season. Governor Tina Kotek made the announcement on Tuesday, emphasizing the need for swift action to ensure that state agencies and contractors involved in firefighting efforts are compensated before the end of the year.
The decision follows a significant shortfall in funding for the Oregon Department of Forestry, which faces over $133 million in outstanding costs. The Oregon State Treasury recently denied a request for a $60 million loan to cover these expenses. In response, the governor and legislative leaders have called for a special session to address the immediate financial needs of the state’s wildfire response.
“The unprecedented 2024 wildfire season required all of us to work together to protect life, land, and property, and that spirit of cooperation must continue,” Governor Kotek said in a statement. “I am grateful to legislative leaders for coming to consensus that our best course of action is to ensure the state’s fire season costs are addressed and bills paid by the end of the calendar year.”
The emergency session will focus solely on the wildfire-related expenditures, a move that has received support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. House Speaker Julie Fahey, a Democrat from Eugene, emphasized the importance of paying contractors who helped fight the fires, saying, “As we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, we need to make good on our commitments and pay our bills so that the contractors who fought fires in Oregon can be made whole.”
While the session is expected to pass without significant political opposition, Republicans have expressed some concerns about the broader implications of calling a special session. House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, a Republican from Canby, welcomed the chance to address the immediate financial needs but cautioned against using the session to advance other legislation. “We are glad to hear she [Governor Kotek] is willing to allow the legislature to work cooperatively to fix her insolvent agency’s problems,” Drazan said in a statement. “Evidently, the Governor will be communicating via press release rather than a phone call.”
The call for a special session comes after months of warnings that the state would need additional funds to address the growing costs associated with wildfire seasons. In September, lawmakers were informed that both the Department of Forestry and the Oregon State Fire Marshal would require more money in December. At that time, it appeared lawmakers would use existing emergency funds and special appropriations to cover the costs, but the scale of the current shortfall made a special session necessary.
The funding request is expected to be channeled through the state’s Joint Emergency Board, which typically handles emergency spending between legislative sessions. However, the board does not have the resources to cover the full cost of the wildfire response, prompting the need for the December session.
The emergency session also highlights broader concerns about Oregon’s preparedness for increasingly severe wildfire seasons. Lawmakers have noted that both the frequency and scale of fires in the state are growing, with no end in sight. In a September meeting, State Rep. Paul Evans, a Democrat from Monmouth, suggested that the state rethink its approach to wildfire response and funding. “It’s time that we actually rethink, or at least perhaps modernize, the way in which we anticipate costs for mega-sized disasters,” Evans said.
As the state grapples with the financial fallout of the 2024 fire season, the funding discussions are likely to continue into the 2025 legislative session, where lawmakers will consider longer-term solutions for preventing and responding to wildfires. For now, the priority remains addressing the immediate financial needs of firefighting agencies and contractors who are still awaiting payment for their work during the devastating season.