Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
In addition to a regular morning session mostly concerned with housekeeping measures, Wasco County Commissioners held a 5 pm town hall meeting at the Mosier Senior Center last night. This was the first town hall of the year and attracted a crowd of about 30 people. The hour-long meeting was scheduled to take place just prior to the Mosier City Council meeting, and council members as well as the public attended.
One of the topics that drew multiple questions was concern about an effort on the part of the Washington State House of Representatives to defund the Columbia River Gorge Commission. Under the terms of the bi-state compact between Oregon and Washington, each state is required to contribute equally to provide funding for the Commission. If one state reduces funding for the next biennium, the other state must match the reduction, even if they have budgeted more.
A couple of weeks ago, the Washington House did pass a budget that included zero funding for the Gorge Commission. The Washington Senate, however, passed a budget with full funding, which amounts to just over $2 million for the biennium. The difference will have to be resolved in a conference committee before the legislature ends on April 27th.
In response to a question about what would happen if both house agreed to defund the Commission and the Oregon legislature would have to match that, Wasco County Commission Chair Scott Hege had a response:
“The one thing that is clear is that the federal law is not going to go away, regardless of the funding. So the federal law and the Scenic Area stays, unless the federal government does something about it. It’s really an operational issue. And because the counties have signed on, as Rodger mentioned, we’re still going to be dealing with whatever Scenic Area stuff is.”
He also predicted that Washington will fund the Gorge Commission, though perhaps at a reduced level.
###