Senator presses colleagues to create permanent wildfire trust from kicker refunds

On the Senate floor, Senator Golden urged lawmakers to support a proposal (referred to as SB 1177) that would divert a portion of Oregon's "kicker" tax refunds into a permanent trust to fund wildfire response.

Golden told colleagues that Oregon is likely to face a prolonged period of severe wildfire seasons and that a durable funding mechanism is necessary to protect communities. He described the proposal as sending kicker refunds to single filers making up to $95,000 and joint filers up to $190,000, with the remainder placed into a permanent trust whose interest would be used for wildfire response.

Golden gave numerical context for the scale he said would be needed for bare-bones adequacy — "300 to $500,000,000 per biennium" — and proposed that annual earnings of 5% on a principal of about $2 billion could yield roughly $100,000,000 every biennium for wildfire work. He framed the proposal as an opportunity with intergenerational benefits and urged colleagues to decide quickly because "the clock is ticking."

The remarks were an advocacy floor statement rather than a completed Senate action; the floor record shows Golden asked members to indicate support, but there was no recorded final vote on a specific amendment or bill text during the session excerpted. Golden said the governor had indicated the votes might not be there and asked colleagues to reconsider the political moment.

Floor clarifications included the proposed income thresholds for kicker refunds and the target annual earnings example; other details about bill mechanics — including exact draft text, fiscal analysis, or legislative committee status — were not included in the floor remarks and were not decided during the session.