Local Legislators Address Health Care, Education, Wildfires and Other Concerns at Town Hall

Central Oregonians packed the seats at Oregon State University-Cascades on a snowy Sunday to hear from local legislators about state efforts around health care, education, public safety, wildfire and more. The March 16 town hall included state Rep. Emerson Levy (D-OR53) and Rep. Jason Kropf (D-OR54), along with Sen. Anthony Broadman (D-OR27).

Answering questions submitted by the audience ahead of the event, legislators discussed issues important to Central Oregonians, while also addressing state responses to federal decisions and prospective budget cuts.

Regarding health care and federal threats to Medicaid, Levy assured people that, as of today, there are no changes to Medicaid in the state. However, when it comes to federal decisions around Medicaid, legislators are still unsure of what’s to come.

“We know that Medicaid is not being touched right now… When we leave in June, we won’t know the status of Medicaid. So, it is likely that we’re coming back for a special session to figure out what that all looks like,” said Levy.

On reproductive care, Broadman assured residents that the state is committed to fighting for maintaining Oregon’s current reproductive health care.

“We have an attorney general, a legislature and a governor who are committed to standing up for Oregon values, despite any of the federal chaos,” said Broadman. “We are not going to back down.”

Levy also spoke about the education and budget discussions happening in the current legislative session, which concludes at the end of June. According to her, the state is set to pass the highest budget it’s ever had, at $11.3 billion, but emphasized that the state still needs to make strides in student performance.

“You have the legislature — we can provide money, but we also need to work as a team to make sure that the standards are being met for our kids… we know it’s not just a funding issue,” she said.

While the Bend-La Pine Schools district is doing better than a lot of the state, according to Levy, kids are generally not reading at the level they should be. Gov Tina Kotek, she said, is investing more in accountability, which includes pushing school districts to adopt state programs that help students with literacy.

“I would say in education, really, the focus is just reading, math and our special ed, and we’re really working on all of those things right now,” Levy said.

Another big discussion centered around wildfire prevention, mitigation and preparedness.

Kropf highlighted a recent special session, in which $200 million went toward paying back Oregon fire employees for remaining firefighting costs from the summer. Moving forward, Kropf emphasized the importance of a budget helping to prepare for the wildfire season.

“We’re trying to figure out: How do we fund wildfire suppression costs? What is the revenue stream for that, in the face of growing wildfire fighting costs? That’ll be a conversation, I guess, that will go on the entire session,” Kropf said. “But the goal we’ve identified is: What is the consistent, ongoing funding going to be for fighting fires moving forward?”

When it comes to federal budget cuts, the legislators mentioned a series of impacts to local communities, and how the state plans to address them.

“The impacts that we see on the news of federal budget cuts seem pretty theoretical sometimes, but they’re real,” said Broadman. “I think people are recognizing the impacts that’s going to have to our safety, to the affordability of our communities and the future of making sure that this is a disaster-resilient state.”

Last week, Oregon saw a significant cut to its CORE3 Coordination Center in Redmond, which would be the only emergency coordination hub for Central and Eastern Oregon. According to Broadman, it will still be built.

Kropf added that legislators are trying to prepare for organizations and projects losing federal funding.

“We are going to try our hardest within our budget means to provide a level of stability and consistency, but I think that is going to be the overarching big challenge in this legislative session.”

Despite a series of uncertainties, Broadman said he’s hopeful that the state will continue fighting to protect its values.

“We have a governor whose proposed budget sets forth the resources that the Oregon Department of Justice needs in order to protect us. You have a legislature who’s not going to back down when it comes to attacks on our values and our way of life,” said Broadman.

“Americans are being tested by the Trump regime, and we will continue to rise to the challenge and give ourselves the resources we need to defend each other, to keep each other safe and to stand up for human rights and what is good and what is right.”

Town halls across the state have seen unusually large crowds in recent weeks, filled with residents calling for answers regarding actions from the Trump administration. While the event in Bend was relatively calm, other Oregon town halls have been more contentious, with constituents voicing angers and concerns about federal impacts.

This article appears in The Source Weekly March 13, 2025.