BEND, OR -- Deschutes County Commissioners are carefully monitoring a proposed drought relief package in the legislature. Commissioner Tony DeBone wants local experts to weigh-in, “On the topic in Central Oregon we can get a lot of people in a room that can talk about what we have done in the last 20 years. So, whatever that looks like, maybe there’s a roundtable or a hearing. Hopefully we can add some substantive information from Central Oregon on that.” Commissioner Phil Chang wants the county to lobby in support of drought relief, “I am very interested in seeing that package, or at least some key components of that package be funded. The dollar decisions are the hard part it seems.”

Drought relief is one of many proposals progressing through committees, including funding renovations at the Deschutes County courthouse, affordable housing, and homelessness.

Bend State Representative Jason Kropf says there is progress on many pieces of legislation, but lawmakers are eyeing the financial impact, “You get the governor’s recommended budget. You get the co-chair’s framework. I think it points us in the direction that we’re heading in broad strokes but we’re still waiting for that May (revenue) forecast for what those actual numbers are going to be.”

Commissioners also finalized a letter to the legislature asking for a guidance on temporary RV Parking projects.