State agencies would provide emergency grants to communities and residents

The Oregon Department of Emergency Management would run a public assistance grant program for emergency protection, cleanup and restoration work. Eligible recipients include state agencies, local governments, federally recognized Oregon tribes, school districts, education service districts and nonprofits providing critical or essential social services. The Governor may activate the program after finding that an emergency has happened or is likely and that state help is warranted, if the department recommends activation. Counties or tribal entities must submit written requests with information about local emergency actions, damage, local resources, needed state help and cost-sharing obligations. The program is subject to available funding. The Governor would inactivate the program when state assistance is no longer warranted.

The Department of Human Services would run a grant program for people with critical emergency-related needs. A qualified individual is someone displaced from a primary home, someone whose primary home is uninhabitable, or a person with a disability whose home is inaccessible or uninhabitable because of emergency damage. Grants may cover temporary rent, home repair or replacement, immediate needs, essential personal property, hazard reduction and other serious needs not covered by insurance. Aid may be paid directly to a person or to another organization on that person’s behalf. Counties or tribal entities must make written requests describing local actions, damage, local resources and needed state assistance. The program is subject to available funding. The Governor may activate the program after a department recommendation and a finding that state help is warranted, or after declaring an emergency; it must end when that help is no longer warranted.

The state would establish a regional training office and an advisory Disaster Recovery Authority, while allowing the Governor to hire temporary emergency staff when the authority is activated. The authority would coordinate crisis services, recovery work, emergency aid and help for local governments or private entities; temporary staff could serve any state agency. The Governor may activate the authority after declaring a state of emergency, and members would serve as volunteers. Temporary hiring depends on available funding, and those employees must perform emergency-related duties. Temporary employees must leave no later than the authority’s deactivation. The Statewide Regional Training Office would operate within the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. The authority may remain active after the state of emergency ends and would continue until the Governor deactivates it; the act’s stated effective date is January 1, 2027.