QuickTake:
In December, state auditors found the Oregon Health Authority was unable to show whether access to behavioral health and addiction recovery services improved under a program that has sent about $800 million to organizations statewide. Lane County officials want lawmakers to shift the program’s oversight to a different agency.
Lane County officials are backing a bill that seeks to increase the accountability of a program that has contributed about $800 million of cannabis tax revenue to local behavioral health and drug-addiction recovery services statewide since 2021.
Senate Bill 1583 comes on the heels of a Secretary of State’s audit, released in December, that found the Oregon Health Authority cannot demonstrate whether access to care for behavioral health and addiction has increased for patients of organizations that receive the funding.
The bill would shift the state’s administration of those grant awards from the Oregon Health Authority to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. The bill also would require the commission to analyze the most effective ways to address substance abuse in the state, with the goal of awarding grants to programs that work in local jurisdictions.
The grant awards go to a variety of providers — including government agencies, nonprofits and outreach groups — that provide housing, counseling, mentoring and recovery services.
Lane County officials support the bill, telling lawmakers it’s needed to provide accountability and increase local control so the best solutions can emerge based on each county’s needs. And they want this work to go to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, which already handles grants to counties for so-called “deflection programs,” which also help people in addiction.
“We should use that agency again that knows how to get out money rapidly to counties for providing these exact services to help people get into recovery at this critical moment in time, and hold counties accountable,” Rob Bovett, Lane County counsel, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing Monday, Feb. 2, as the legislative session started.
The proposal, if it becomes law, would be another chapter in Oregon’s fight against drug addiction and overdoses. The state captured the national spotlight in 2021 when voters passed Measure 110, which decriminalized possession of small amounts of street drugs like cocaine and methamphetamines and put cannabis revenues toward recovery programs and services.
Since then, state lawmakers have changed Measure 110, to reinstate criminal penalties for low-level drug possession and help fund local recovery programs.
In 2021, state lawmakers put an Oversight and Accountability Council in charge of the program’s grants, with support and guidance from the Oregon Health Authority. After widespread problems with grant administration, the council now acts as an advisory body to the health authority, instead of the decision-making organization.
Lane County providers and organizations received nearly $46 million in Measure 110 funding between 2022 and 2025, state data show. The program, called Measure 110 Behavioral Health Resource Networks, goes to a variety of organizations in every county.
The judiciary committee, chaired by state Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, heard testimony again Wednesday. The committee hasn’t yet acted on the bill, which must have a work session and potential vote scheduled by Feb. 9.
Bovett, also a drug law and policy teacher at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, said it’s critical to have the best practices in each community. The bright spot: Oregon overdose deaths, while still high, have decreased by 22% from December 2023 to December 2024, according to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Yet the decline also provides urgency to further address the issue, Bovett said.
“We have a golden opportunity right now, and I want us to take it,” he said. “I want us to see us pass this bill.”
But the proposal has opponents, including providers who fear the change would disrupt the flow of funding and access that helps people. One group, 4D Recovery, which receives Measure 110 funding for programs and housing primarily in the Portland area, opposes the bill, saying it would make planning difficult for providers and the people they serve.
“When funding structures shift abruptly, providers cannot plan staffing, housing capacity, or long-term engagement strategies,” Tony Vezina, the organization’s executive director, said in written testimony. “Clients experience this instability directly — through service gaps, delayed access, or loss of trusted relationships. For people with substance use disorders, inconsistency in care often results in disengagement, relapse, or re-involvement with the justice system.”
Vezina said the state’s lack of data is a reflection of the state’s system, not the standards of providers like 4D Recovery.
State Sen. James Manning, D-Eugene, is a sponsor of the bill and said he’s hopeful it can pass.
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