Back in January, before the 2025 Legislature convened, I asked Gov. Tina Kotek what she had learned from her previous two legislative sessions while governor.

She replied that she was looking forward to being present, having now completed her visits to Oregon’s 36 counties and nine federally recognized tribes.

“My goal this session is to make more time to have personal conversations with legislators. They have very difficult jobs,” she said. “As governor, one of the things I would like to do this session is just free up time in my calendar to have just more personal conversations with legislators to talk about whatever they want to talk about, so we can build the relationships again.”

On Monday, I again inquired about her involvement with the Legislature. Her April and early May calendar had shown few meetings with individual lawmakers. What was she doing to  encourage, cajole, lobby or inspire legislators?

“I rely a lot on my policy advisers who are having regular conversations with legislators. So, when you see things on my calendar – working on our education initiative or behavioral health initiative or housing/homelessness – they often revolve around conversations with staff about legislation,” she said. “I’m paying very close attention, mostly with conversations with my staff.

“… I continue to meet regularly with the House Republican leader, the Senate Republican leader and the presiding officers on a regular basis. So, it’s not like we don’t talk.”

Under the Oregon Constitution, the session must adjourn by 11:59 p.m. June 29. With the Legislature entering the serious horse-trading stage, what role – and what impact – will Oregon’s governor have?

“I am going to be picking up the pace,” Kotek said. “I had a meeting at 8:30 this morning with the co-chairs of Ways & Means to talk about my budget and where they are going in terms of making final decisions.”

During Monday’s media availability in Salem, she also urged legislators to pass bipartisan HB 22531, which bans most student use of cellphones during the school day. On Wednesday, the bill died in a Senate committee. Unless the legislation is resurrected in a different bill, Kotek might act through an executive order.

Also on Monday, Kotek endorsed talk of withholding much of next year’s $1.64 billion personal income tax kicker, diverting the money to wildfire to prevention and response instead of sending it back to taxpayers.

“I do think this conversation on a one-time basis, supporting rural Oregon by potentially using a portion of the kicker tax break would be a beneficial approach,” she said. “If you take a billion dollars and dedicate it to suppression and mitigation, that would be very helpful for the state. And most of the folks who are going to be paying that are folks who do not live in fire-prone areas.”

Kotek followed up at a Tuesday press conference in Southern Oregon. She contended most Oregonians would still get their kicker, saying nearly a billion dollars could be raised by capturing the tax refunds that would have been headed to the highest-income households.

Republicans trashed the idea.

 “The kicker is written into our constitution for a reason: to protect taxpayers from government that always finds a new way to spend,” Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham told his Senate colleagues Tuesday. “We all want stronger wildfire prevention. But the problem isn’t a lack of money; it’s a lack of priorities. Oregon’s budget is larger than ever, but somehow core services still get ignored.”

Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, a leading advocate of the kicker proposal, was undaunted. He told constituents Wednesday: “Nobody sees repurposing the kicker as a done deal, but it’s definitely gaining strength as other options for steady wildfire funding run into rough ground. We might actually be able to do this.”