Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek struck notes of frustration with the enormous problems facing Oregon and optimism that the state can fix them in an address to the Legislature focused on resilience on Monday. Kotek’s first State of the State address was delivered to a joint session of the House and Senate, with Attorney General Dan Rayfield, Secretary of State Tobias Read and Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson listening, as well as more than a dozen judges and the leaders of Oregon’s nine tribal nations. It came two years after she took office and began with a reminder of the challenges Oregon faced five years ago: 2020 began with reports of a mysterious disease outbreak in China, and the resulting COVID pandemic upended everything. That fall, the 2020 Labor Day fires burned more than 850,000 acres and destroyed more than 4,000 homes. As she spoke Monday, more than 400 Oregon firefighters and 235 engines were at work fighting another fire in California. That, Kotek said, is what Oregon does for its neighbors.  “I bring up these enormous past shared traumas because, despite everything, Oregon is still standing, our faith in ourselves as Oregonians remains true, and we have developed new skills and insights to withstand the uncertainties of tomorrow,” she said. “It is fertile soil indeed that we now take on the challenges in front of us and ahead of us.” The former high school track athlete shared her main takeaway from running the 400-meter relay, where a team of four sprinters pass a baton amongst themselves. They might miss their mark and drop the baton, but she learned on a track in Pennsylvania that the only thing to do was to practice harder and eventually something good would happen.  “The choices we make as leaders will have a ripple effect on generations to come, and the good choices will yield health, prosperity and community resilience,” Kotek said. “We do not always agree on what those choices are, but I encourage each and every one of us to rise above the maze of politics — its false starts, circles and dead ends — and see the path forward, with one voice, speaking one unifying idea into existence: improve the everyday lives of Oregonians in every part of the state.”  Focus on housing Her speech, like the first two years of her administration, focused primarily on housing, homelessness, mental health and education, with nods to climate change and speeding up the work of government.  “We are making progress, despite entrenched challenges, but that progress is fragile and requires all of us to be persistent and not get distracted,” Kotek said. “We are beginning to see a glimpse of a brighter horizon ahead. Let’s focus on that horizon — and be sure to keep our feet firmly planted on the road of hard work and partnership.” The hundreds of millions of dollars and increased focus on homelessness as part of a state of emergency Kotek declared on her first day in office are expected to result in 3,330 families moving off the streets and into permanent homes, 24,000 families receiving state aid to keep them from becoming homeless and 4,800 new shelter beds by the end of June, Kotek said. But that hasn’t been enough to stem increasing homelessness: Data released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last month confirmed that 22,875 of Oregon’s roughly 4.2 million residents were homeless in January 2024, up about 13% from 2023.  Republicans also focused on housing in a five-minute rebuttal to Kotek’s address, saying there are too many without homes in Oregon and young people are giving up on ever buying a home.  But Kotek said she’s seen signs of progress, including during a November visit to Astoria where she met with a single father living in a homeless shelter. Clatsop County had the highest rate of unsheltered homelessness in the state and no dedicated shelter when she took office, but it now has 80 shelter beds and 83 affordable homes under construction.  Still, the father she met in Astoria — and Oregonians across the state — don’t want shelter. They want to work and be able to pay for homes of their own, which are hard to find and afford everywhere in the state.  “I am impatient about the pace of progress, and some days just pretty angry that we’re in this predicament at all and that we can’t move faster to get more housing built,” Kotek said. “So please, my friends, let’s do more. Let’s be bolder. Let’s build more housing.” Other concerns She described similar frustrations with the state’s mental health and addiction treatment systems, saying that there is far too much pain on Oregon’s streets, schools and homes.   “We didn’t get here overnight, and it’s complex. In my visits around the state and through many conversations with people doing the work, it’s clear there are things that are making a difference — we just need more of them in more places,” Kotek said. “I know the herculean efforts that community providers are making to meet the health care needs of Oregonians with serious mental illness.”  Her budget proposal, released late last year, includes $90 million to add 363 treatment beds and $50 million for worker retention and recruitment. She referred to that as a floor, urging lawmakers to try to raise the ceiling as they spend the next five months working out the state’s budget for the next two years. She said better coordination between shelter services and mental health providers will help reduce a logjam at the Oregon State Hospital, the state-run psychiatric facility. Most current patients are there facing criminal charges and receiving mental health care to help them assist in their own defense, leaving other people who need long-term hospital-level psychiatric care nowhere to go.  She’s also focused on education, with a plan to change the way the state calculates base funding for schools, but Kotek said she won’t treat that money as a blank check. Instead, she said she’ll request legislation to collect data and require increased accountability for school districts and the state Department of Education — though she gave few details in her speech.   “The bottom line is this: When a district’s numbers show failure for their students, there will be help and attention — not voluntarily requested but required, direct assistance to make sure all resources are pointed toward better student outcomes,” she said.  Wildfire costs Kotek also urged lawmakers to focus on climate resilience, saying the 2024 fire season was a potent reminder of the threat of climate change. More than 1.9 million acres burned, much of it scrub and grasslands in eastern Oregon, and the $350 million cost of fighting those fires caused lawmakers to return in an one-day special session in December to approve emergency funding.  Her budget recommends setting aside $150 million that would normally go to the state’s Rainy Day fund to be reserved for wildfire costs instead — something Kotek referred to as “money for a Very Very Bad Smoky Day.” She said she ran for governor in part to help state agencies operate more effectively, as she saw them buckling under the weight of the pandemic and new responsibilities laid upon them by lawmakers.  Since she took office, Kotek said, the state is moving two weeks faster in hiring employees and reducing staff vacancy rates by one-third. Agencies are also making sure they’re implementing recommendations from audits by the Secretary of State’s Office. Now, she said, she’s working to improve transparency and consistency in state rulemaking.  She made only a passing reference near the end of the half-hour speech  to the transportation funding package that lawmakers expect will be a main focus of the 2025 session.  “Legislators are already well into their work to pass a transportation package this session, after completing an important statewide listening tour last year,” Kotek said. “Thank you for your commitment. I look forward to working with you to translate what you’ve learned into a legacy package to serve Oregon’s transportation needs for years to come.” House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, and Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, recorded a joint video rebuttal to Kotek’s speech, which Drazan called a “doubling down of the status quo and the failed policies of the past.” She and Bonham said Kotek’s administration is responsible for driving up costs of food, fuel and housing and driving Oregonians to leave the state.  “If you listen to just the words that were presented today, Tina Kotek paints a very flowery picture of Oregon, one full of hope and optimism and a bright vision for the future,” Bonham said. “But if you look at her 10 years as speaker of the House and first two as governor, what you’re faced with is abject failure.” Correction: An earlier version of this article misquoted Sen. Daniel Bonham referring to Kotek’s “first two” years as governor. Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: [email protected]. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on Facebook and Twitter. STORY TIP OR IDEA? Send an email to Salem Reporter’s news team: [email protected]. The post In State of the State speech, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek calls for resilience, optimism appeared first on Salem Reporter.