Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue opened a public hearing April 7 on Senate Bill 1177, which would redirect a pending personal income tax "kicker" to a permanent fund managed by the Oregon State Treasury to generate ongoing revenue for wildfire mitigation and suppression.

Senator Jeff Golden, a sponsor and member of the wildfire funding work group, said the proposal would invest the full kicker — the most recent estimate cited in testimony was $1.73 billion — as principal and use only investment returns to fund wildfire programs. "A 5% return on that investment ... would yield between 170 and $180,000,000 per biennium for wildfire programs," Golden said, describing the design as a "one-time investment" to provide long-term revenue.

Supporters included wildfire work-group members, conservation and fire-safety organizations, and the state firefighters council. Casey Kula of Oregon Wild said a one-time redirection would "provide stable dedicated funding that doesn't require tax increases into the future." Ralph Bloemers (testimony transcribed as Bloomers), director of Fire Safe Communities for Green Oregon Alliance, warned that insurance markets are already tightening and said investments in community hardening could stabilize premiums.

Opponents included Oregon Business and Industry, which argued SB 1177 would diminish the "kicker" rebate that helps offset Oregon's high tax burden and remove a check on general fund growth. Derek Sangston, policy director at the Oregon Business & Industry, said the bill "would decrease the effectiveness of one of the few provisions of Oregon's tax policy that mitigates the growing tax burden" and warned of potential long-term impacts on competitiveness.

Committee members asked procedural and policy questions during the hearing. The chair clarified that redirecting the personal kicker would require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature (40 House members and 20 senators) to enact. Representative Mark Gamba and others debated whether general fund priorities could or should cover wildfire costs instead of redirecting the kicker.

Witnesses referenced recommendations from the Fire 35 work group and offered implementation priorities including community mitigation (home hardening, defensible space), forest and landscape investments, and suppression capacity. Several witnesses urged the committee to weigh this bill in context with other pending proposals from the work group and the House.

The committee closed the public hearing without a committee vote; testimony and written material were submitted for the record.