Prior to 1 pm on Thursday, February 9th, the fairgrounds industry in Oregon needs our support. Have you ever ridden your horse at an indoor arena at your county fairgrounds? Have you participated in a horse show, 4-H club event, OHSET meet, clinic, banquet, or other equine event at a local fairgrounds? Maybe you participate in your county fair or enjoy attending community events held at your local fairgrounds? Or have you relied on a fairgrounds for evacuation during one of the horrible natural disasters in recent years?
If you can answer YES to any of these – PLEASE submit a short testimony to help our fairgrounds increase their funding.
By 1 p.m. on Thursday, February 9th, please take a minute to submit written testimony in support of this bill (written testimony can be submitted for 48 hours from the start of the public hearing). Your testimony can be typed directly in to the Legislature’s system or you can upload a pdf. We ask that you submit testimony and also pass on this request to other stakeholder groups that you work with. Review our talking points for the bill, think of how the bill affects your county/organization.
Background:
- County Fairs, by statute, receive 1% of state lottery dollars but that amount is capped at $1.53 million annually. Each county receives approximately $55,000 per year.
What the bill does:
- HB 2510 eliminates the $1.53 million annual cap, giving fairgrounds a full 1% of lottery funds. Using figures from the lottery’s 2021 revenue, this would be approximately $360,000 per fair per year.
- The bill also funds a statewide capital improvement study.
How to submit testimony:
- Visit this website: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Testimony/HECDSB
- Under “Choose a meeting date,” select “2/7/2023 1:00 PM”
- Under “Choose the bill for your testimony,” select HB 2510
- Enter your First Name, Last Name, E-mail Address, Organization or City of Residence.
- Select your position as “support” (we hope!)
- Submit text by selecting “Text Testimony” or upload a PDF.
If you would like to view the hearing today at 1 p.m.,visit https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Committees/HECDSB/Overview. You will see OFA lobbyist JL Wilson, OFA President Geoff Hinds (Deschutes County), Leah Perkins-Hagele (Washington County), and OFA Area 5 Director Tamra Martin (Josephine) along with many other individuals/organizations testifying on the bill.
The Oregon Horse Council is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit that works to strengthen, connect, and represent Oregon’s equine industry.