Mar 30, 2026 | AOC Business Partner
Sponsored content contributed by AOC Business Partners: NACo and Nationwide
For the 26th consecutive year, the National Association of Counties (NACo) Deferred Compensation Program, in partnership with Nationwide, is offering a remarkable scholarship opportunity for high school seniors. This initiative aims to support the educational aspirations of the children and grandchildren of county employees who participate in the NACo Deferred Compensation Program.
Scholarship Details
The NACo Deferred Compensation Program is awarding four $2,500 college scholarships to high school seniors. This initiative underscores NACo and Nationwide’s commitment to supporting the families of county workers.
Applications for this scholarship will be accepted between March 1st to April 30th, 2026 so make sure you check your Plans website after March 1st, 2026 for submission details. There, you will find comprehensive information on the application process, ensuring that all potential candidates have the necessary details to apply.
Investing involves market risk, including possible loss of principal. No investment strategy or program can guarantee to make a profit or avoid loss. Actual results will vary depending on your investment and market experience. Neither Nationwide nor its representatives give legal or tax advice. Please consult with an attorney or tax advisor for answers to your specific questions. Nationwide Retirement Specialists are Registered Representatives of Nationwide Investment Services Corporation, member FINRA, Columbus, Ohio.
Mar 30, 2026 | AOC Business Partner
Sponsored content contributed by AOC Business Partner: CIS
(Photo: CIS Executive Director Patrick Priest congratulated Wallowa County Commissioner Lisa Collier for the County winning the CIS Excellence in Safety Award.)
County leaders from across Oregon gathered in Eugene on Nov. 20 for the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) Annual Business Meeting, where CIS honored three counties for exceptional safety leadership. As a member-owned risk pool, CIS operates solely for Oregon cities and counties — not shareholders — and for 45 years has stood alongside local governments like family, offering unwavering support in good times and challenging ones. These awards celebrate how counties are turning that partnership into real-world improvements that protect employees and strengthen communities.
“Creating safer workplaces means creating stronger communities,” said CIS Executive Director Patrick Priest. “These counties set the standard for what it looks like to lead with intention.” AOC President and CIS Board Chair John Shafer joined Patrick in presenting the honors.
Wallowa County — Excellence in Safety
Wallowa County earned the Excellence in Safety Award for its outstanding record in reducing injuries and preventing hazards. Over the past four years, the county logged just nine time-loss days and $60,960 in total paid workers’ compensation claims — an exceptional achievement for any local government employer.
The Safety Committee, led by Ashley Immoos, drove improvements that focused on rapid response, preparedness, and access to safety resources. Safety kits and grab-and-go first aid supplies in county vehicles support faster response to injuries in the field, while escape ladders and emergency paging improve evacuation and communication during emergencies. A centralized SharePoint site ensures employees can quickly access safety procedures and training materials, reinforcing consistent practices across departments. Commissioners Lisa Collier and John Hillock accepted the award. Wallowa County sets the standard for safety leadership, proving that proactive planning pays off.
Umatilla County — Excellence in Best Practices
Umatilla County earned the Excellence in Best Practices Award for transformational progress in reducing claims and strengthening safety systems. The county scored 82% on CIS’ Best Practice Survey and cut workers’ comp losses dramatically: paid claims dropped from $229,176 in the 2022-23 coverage year to $83,225 in 2024-25, and time-loss days fell 75%, from 425 to 108. Key initiatives focused on preventing injuries and strengthening day-to-day safety practices. Ergonomic assessments helped identify and correct workstation hazards, lowering the risk of repetitive-motion injuries and strains. Expanded CIS training reinforced safe work practices across departments. Upgraded building security — including fob access and cameras — reduced the risk of workplace incidents, while an electronic hazardous materials system ensures employees can quickly access critical safety information during emergencies. The County also installed an air-filtration system to help alleviate smoky indoor air caused by a nearby building fire. Director of Administrative Services Dan Lonai played a pivotal role for the County’s improved safety efforts, and Commissioners John Shafer, Cindy Timmons, and Dan Dorran accepted the award. Umatilla County’s results show what happens when prevention becomes a priority.
Wasco County — CIS Innovation Award
Wasco County received the CIS Innovation Award for its creative, collaborative approach to safety. Since joining the CIS Servicing Group powered by SAIF, the county has kept workers’ comp losses exceptionally low — just 22 time-loss days and $15,515 in total paid workers’ compensation claims over the two most recent coverage years. It also scored 92% on the Best Practice Survey and cut its experience mod from 1.31 to 0.70. Innovations included department-level safety committees, biannual safety reports, a new Health and Safety Manual, countywide safety bulletin boards, quarterly in-person training, and a formal Fleet Management Program. Together, these efforts embedded safety into daily operations, improving hazard recognition, reinforcing accountability, and reducing preventable injuries across departments. HR Director Fiona Ferguson accepted the award, reflecting a culture that prioritizes employee well-being — even in collective bargaining agreements. Wasco County’s innovative approach reflects a culture of resilience and care for its workforce.
Congratulations to Wallowa, Umatilla, and Wasco counties. These achievements show that safety leadership isn’t just compliance — it’s about building resilient organizations and stronger communities. CIS is proud to stand with AOC and its members in this work, continuing a partnership built on trust and shared responsibility. Together, we’re building safer, stronger, and healthier communities.
Mar 30, 2026 | AOC Business Partner
Sponsored content contributed by AOC Business Partner: Covenant Technology Solutions
Most county incidents start the same way: a login that shouldn’t have worked. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is essential—but it’s no longer the finish line. Counties can reduce account takeover risk significantly by adding a few practical identity controls that fit real-world staffing and budgets.
Here are five high-impact improvements to layer on top of MFA:
1) Conditional access (smart sign-in rules)
Block or challenge sign-ins from risky locations, unknown devices, or impossible travel.
2) Least privilege (limit admin power)
Make sure admin access is rare, time-bound, and tied to role—not convenience.
3) Separate admin accounts (no daily work as admin)
Administrators should have a dedicated admin account, not “one account that does everything.”
4) Reduce legacy authentication
Disable older login methods that bypass modern protections.
5) Monitor risky sign-ins + create a simple response routine
Set a cadence to review risky sign-ins and respond quickly (reset credentials, remove access, verify device health).
Quick win: run a 30-minute review of “Who has admin access today?” and remove anything that doesn’t match current responsibilities.
Want a structured way to implement these controls over time? Explore Fortify or start with a Security Score Assessment to baseline your current exposure.
Want to go deeper? Read the full guide at https://covenant-tech.net/blog/identity-controls-county-government-microsoft-365/
Mar 16, 2026 | AOC Advocacy
The 2026 short legislative session adjourned Friday, March 6, with the passage of many bills that will benefit Oregon’s counties. The Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) played a key role in these outcomes, working closely with legislators and partners to ensure that county perspectives were represented.
Throughout the session, AOC members and staff actively engaged with nearly 130 of the 300 total bills introduced this session for their potential impact to county budgets, services, or governance. In addition, our team analyzed and submitted fiscal impact statements on behalf of counties for nearly 140 bills and amendments, at the request of the Legislative Fiscal Office.
AOC staff, alongside county commissioners statewide, invested countless hours in the Capitol — submitting letters, providing testimony, and meeting with legislators. Their efforts were focused on protecting county budgets and services, maintaining local control, and ensuring the Legislature recognized the essential role counties play in serving all Oregonians.
AOC’s advocacy was critical given the numerous bills introduced that directly impact counties, the efforts to rebalance the state’s general fund balance, and the fast pace of session deadlines.
AOC specifically lobbied legislative budget writers in the months leading up to session, advocating for the preservation of core services by seeking savings through the least disruptive measures and avoiding cuts that reduce funding for mandated state-county shared services or shift cost burdens to county governments. The Legislature ultimately mitigated state general fund budget gaps through state agency vacancy savings and cuts to services and supplies. Consequently, county budgets avoided direct cuts or cost shifts from state agency budget rebalances.
“This session delivered serious wins for counties, a direct result of partnership and relationship-building over the last several years, strategic and thoughtful messaging, the tireless efforts of our dedicated AOC staff, and the steadfast engagement of our commissioners, chairs, and judges,” commented AOC President Erin Skaar.
The following bills passed during the short session will empower local governments to better fund core services, invest in vital infrastructure, and reform behavioral health and veterans services.
Lodging tax reform
The bipartisan passage of House Bill 4148 is a huge win for counties, increasing local control over transient lodging tax (TLT) revenue, which has been restricted since 2003. Local governments can now redirect more of this money to public safety services – law enforcement, fire, and search and rescue – responding to rising demands and impacts from visitors. Local governments can also maintain shared assets like trails, campgrounds, and parks, which report $59 million in deferred maintenance on average. Tourists increasingly stay in short-term rentals outside traditional tourism zones, adding wear on roads, parks, and water systems. Finally, TLT is now eligible to fund critical infrastructure needs, including the transportation deficit of nearly $1.5 billion and over $5 billion in water infrastructure needs faced by cities and counties.
Oregon Government Ethics Commission package
This suite of bills provides much needed updates and clarifications to mitigate risk and confusion for local governments. House Bill 4177 clarifies that information sharing, discussions of procedural matters, and comments to the media and/or constituents are not a violation of law. House Bill 4161 clarifies food and beverage accommodations for public officials. HB 4159 requires that a local government representative is on the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.
Farm stores
Another big win for local control, House Bill 4153 allows counties to approve farm stores instead of farm stands on land zoned for exclusive farm use. Passage of this bill gives counties control over permitting processes and ensures the preservation of working agricultural land. While maintaining consistency in the permitting requirements statewide, this bill gives counties flexibility around siting standards, preserving their ability to meet each community’s unique needs.
Behavioral health care
House Bill 4070A is an important step forward in the ongoing work of eliminating needless administrative burden on Oregon’s public behavioral health system. Decades of accumulated state regulation has led to duplication and confusion of roles and responsibilities for publicly funded behavioral health care, creating costly inefficiencies and distress to community members and the professionals who serve them. We are delighted by the passage of HB 4070A, aligning our behavioral health telehealth regulations with those governing physical health and providing an essential guardrail for quality of care.
Urban growth boundaries
House Bill 4035 expands eligibility for cities to extend their urban growth boundaries. The bill builds on recent reforms designed to enhance local planning flexibility by allowing communities that demonstrate clear housing and land needs to participate in a process that increases the available land for housing development.
Veterans services task force
House Bill 4099 creates a task force on responding to veterans in crisis. As frontline service providers, counties undertake the important task of helping veterans every day. County Veteran Service Officers connect veterans to benefits, and counties serve as the Local Mental Health Authority, overseeing the community mental health programs that operate mobile crisis services. Ensuring that veterans in crisis have access to trained responders to help them through that crisis will result in better outcomes and avoid involvement in the criminal justice system. AOC eagerly awaits the ideas and solutions this task force will identify.
Emergency management
AOC strongly supported House Bill 4121, which passed with bipartisan support, creating authority for statewide emergency management coordination — a function that counties are mandated to provide by statute. This bill takes both a big picture look at the infrastructure needed at the state level and zooms down to the micro level to assist local governments and community organizations as they prepare for the next disaster. There is substantial uncertainty regarding the commitment from our federal partners to state and local governments. Instead of waiting for that uncertainty to be resolved, Oregon is focused on strengthening its own capabilities for disaster preparation, response, and recovery. This bill provides the framework for public and individual assistance grant programs to mirror the FEMA programs, which can help households and local governments recover after disasters, and includes further funding for the CORE3 project in Deschutes County
Contributed by: Mallorie Roberts, Legislative Affairs Director
Mar 2, 2026 | AOC Advocacy, AOC News
Thursday, Feb. 26 was the 2026 legislative session second chamber deadline. Bills that were not voted out of their second chamber policy committee on Thursday and referred to the chamber floor, Joint Committee on Ways and Means, or committees on Rules or Revenue will not move forward this session. Policy committees have largely closed for the session and focus has shifted to several big-ticket bills in the Rules and Revenue committees and finalizing the state budget. The session must adjourn sine die by Sunday, March 8.
A deficit in the state general fund caused by H.R. 1, the federal budget bill passed in late 2025, required the Legislature to rebalance the state budget during the 2026 short session. The Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) lobbied legislative budget writers in a series of meetings and written feedback urging the preservation of core services by seeking savings through the least disruptive measures and avoiding cuts that reduce funding for mandated state-county shared services or shift cost burdens to county governments.
Rebalance proposals were made public over the weekend in several budget bills – on initial review, it appears that county budgets avoided direct cuts or cost shifts. The rebalance will be achieved largely through vacancy savings and cuts to services and supplies. Our advocacy was successful this session, but AOC and counties should be prepared for several biennia of challenging budget conversations as the overall state general fund revenue paradigm continues to shift.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 204, honoring the role of counties and AOC’s 120th anniversary, passed both chambers unanimously and now awaits the governor’s signature. SCR 204 was introduced at the request of AOC by Senate President Rob Wagner and was sponsored by House Speaker Julie Fahey, and 27 bipartisan and bicameral legislators. Unanimous support for SCR 204 is a testament to the Legislature’s appreciation of AOC’s vital role and the essential services provided by counties.
AOC is tracking around 130 of the 300 total bills introduced this session for their potential impact to county budgets, services, or governance. Our team has analyzed and submitted fiscal impact statements for about 140 bills and amendments, at the request of the Legislative Fiscal Office, on behalf of counties. As always, AOC Legislative Affairs staff continue to diligently track and defend against unfunded mandates and policy proposals with a negative impact to county governments.
Please mark your calendars to attend the March 6 and 9 AOC steering committee and legislative committee meetings – these AOC day meetings will include comprehensive debriefs of AOC’s priorities and newly passed legislation impacting county budgets, services, or governance. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to your AOC Legislative Affairs team.
Below are high level updates from AOC steering committee policy portfolios.
Governance and Revenue
AOC’s primary governance and revenue goals this session are to continue making progress on County Assessment Function Funding Assistance (CAFFA)-related objectives, including securing a statewide study from the Legislative Revenue Office and protecting against Department of Revenue agency reductions that harm local government revenues. Staff have received commitments from the House and Senate Revenue chairs to get a CAFFA study produced, and members of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means legislators have been informed about the importance of keeping DOR programs that help maintain the property tax asset.
House Bill 4148, local transient lodging tax reform, is AOC’s top policy priority this session. The bill had a very successful public hearing with many county officials testifying in person and passed the House floor with 40 “yes” votes. HB 4148 awaits a work session in the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue.
Health and Human Services
AOC’s health and human services objectives this short session are to preserve all funding for public health, developmental disabilities and behavioral health services, prevent and reduce administrative burden and liability, and maintain the local public health and local mental health authority of county governments. These objectives are well aligned with legislative leadership’s priorities to maintain or grow core community services to resolve federal court sanctions related to the Mink-Bowman lawsuit and long wait times for forensic admissions to the Oregon State Hospital. AOC is working with bill sponsors and partners to meet these policy objectives and significant progress is being made.
It appears at this time that local public health, behavioral health, and intellectual and developmental disabilities program budgets, as well as homelessness prevention and response are being held harmless. A $15.5 million reduction in Behavioral Health Resource Network funding in Senate Bill 5703-1 is simply a reconciliation of the state budget with the recent reduction in the marijuana tax revenue forecast and not a new cut.
Natural Resources
Efforts in this portfolio are focused on ensuring that natural resources state agency budget reductions do not impact county programs and budgets. Initial budget reduction proposals included potential impacts of $40 million to county programs including wildlife services, place-based water planning, invasive species, and wildfire protection. AOC’s direct advocacy for the preservation of natural resource-related programs and budgets was successful – programs and funding on which counties rely were protected and even increased. Several notable increases include direct allocation for the Land Owner Offset in the Department of Forestry Budget ($11.6 million), additional funding for the Wolf Depredation Grant Program ($1 million) and funding for the Japanese Beetle Eradication Program ($1.8 million).
Public Safety
AOC has focused on budgetary issues and protecting public safety programs from cuts – and with the release of today’s budget bills, county public safety has been held harmless. AOC has also been heavily involved in negotiations around the federal accountability agenda from the majority party. Staff worked with legislators and partners to mitigate risks and costs to counties from concepts related to employment law, law enforcement masking, county liability, and task force participation.
Transportation
AOC’s primary objective in the transportation policy portfolio this session is to ensure that the measures necessary to fill the nearly $300 million operations and maintenance budget gap at the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) do not negatively impact county road department budgets. The ODOT rebalance proposal transfers unobligated State Highway Fund dollars toward agency operations and maintenance including dollars in the Connect Oregon and Safe Routes to Schools programs, redirects some federal funding, and leaves around 100 jobs vacant.
ODOT’s budget rebalance has no impact on the 50/30/20 funding formula, Local Bridge Program, or the Fund Exchange Program. AOC also thwarted earlier attempts to address ODOT’s budget gap with measures that sweep and undermine the State Highway Fund distribution.
Contributed by: Mallorie Roberts | Legislative Affairs Director
