Health & Human Services Update – Week of June 9

SB 307, which would have created a pathway for social consumption of cannabis did not receive a work session prior to the last meeting of the Joint Committee on Marijuana Regulation. At this point, the bill is considered dead.

SB 5026, the Oregon Health Authority budget bill, passed out of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Services on June 8. The bill assumes successful passage of the provider tax. With that revenue in mind, the budget allocates $5 million in new funds for Public Health Modernization. However, there is a $3.6 million reduction to Public Health from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement fund. Additionally, the budget includes a budget note with the following directive:

“The Oregon Health Authority shall work with coordinated care organizations, County Mental Health Programs, local Public Health, local mental health authorities, and others, within each geographic area, to create a single plan of shared accountability for behavioral health system coordination that builds on existing structures and partnerships and fosters further innovation and collaboration with other organizations, by July of 2018. The agency shall provide a progress report to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means during the 2018 legislative session, and a final report to the Legislature by December of 2018 on each region’s governance model and plan for shared accountability.”

Contributed by: Stacy Michaelson | AOC Health & Human Services Policy Manager