NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: “A comprehensive freaking uproar.”

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By State Representative David Gomberg, House District 10

12/5/2025
Dear Friends and Neighbors,

“A comprehensive freaking uproar.”

That’s how the response to the loss of our rescue helicopter and the possibility of an ICE transfer prison here is being described in the national news.

Last week, I reported that we are winning the helicopter fight as a federal judge had ordered it to be returned to Newport while lawsuits continue. At the same time, our congressional delegation, Merkley, Wyden, and Hoyle, had secured a commitment from Coast Guard leadership that the helicopter would stay. But I also shared that explanations from the Coast Guard continue to shift. First they told us the helo was removed because of a personnel shortage. Then they told our US Senators it was a temporary shift to allow for maintenance. And now, in Court and under oath, they are saying that air assets were being reallocated to immigration patrols in Southern California and that they planned to close the Newport facility permanently this Spring.

In the news this week, our federal delegates secured written promises that the air rescue operation would stay in Newport. Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, the U.S. Coast Guard’s acting commandant, told Senators Merkley and Wyden that it was always his intent to return the helicopter to Newport in December, and that he will visit the area within a year. “The Coast Guard will do better to communicate and be transparent with you and the Newport community in these situations.”

Merkley, in a social media post Friday, wrote that he had “temporarily held up” Lunday’s confirmation as a U.S. Coast Guard commandant in the Senate “while we waited on this news.”

Meanwhile, the court deliberations continue. It is important to be clear that despite these latest commitments, the Coast Guard and Homeland Security Secretary Noem continue to oppose the state, county, and Newport Fishermen’s Wives in federal court.

Congresswoman Hoyle was in Newport Saturday to share her concerns about the helicopter and a proposed ICE detention prison.
The future of air rescue on the Oregon Coast and a possible ICE detention prison remain necessarily intertwined. A national news story this week shed more light on these secretive plans.

Previously unreported federal contracting documents obtained by NOTUS reveal plans for a 200-person detention center in Newport. Immigrants arrested in Portland, and in a 350-mile radius from Newport, could wind up at the facility, according to answers ICE provided in a document to potential contractors. The government has indicated most ICE detainees in the planned Oregon facility will be held for less than 72 hours to avoid triggering heightened standards of care — which require more space and services — under the federal rules.

Soft-sided tents would be acceptable temporary structures, ICE said in a document provided to contractors. The facility, located at the end of an aircraft landing strip, would be located in a relatively secluded area off a two-lane road. ICE plans to bring planes directly up to a hangar on-site to load people on and ship them out.

During an October tour of the site, government officials indicated to the contractors that they would consider waiving certain requirements to keep the project on track.

In addition to joyful protests on the streets and impassioned testimony at town halls and public meetings, the Coast has vocally and constructively discouraged these developments.

The City of Newport has declined to lease more space to the federal government at the airport. Local businesses have declined lucrative contracts to deliver water or remove sewage. Local hotels have decided against housing federal employees. Cities from Lincoln City to Philomath are preparing resolutions of solidarity.

This week in Waldport, I was one of many who spoke with the city council regarding concerns that DHS wanted to base employees there. “This community is rightfully concerned about the evolving evidence that ICE wants to use this town as a bedroom for a large-scale detention facility just south of Newport at their airport. This will not be good for Lincoln County or Waldport and its tourist industry, the workforce our economy relies on or your public safety budget if the city is forced to respond to the protests that will inevitably arise with an increased ICE presence in the community.” I also asked the Council to consider the loss of local revenue since transient lodging taxes do not apply to people in hotels for more than 30 days.

The city ultimately succeeded in discouraging a local hotel from contracting with ICE.

Wednesday I joined a hundred local Waldport citizens to meet with the City Council.
I’m particularly disappointed that the Federal government has been unwilling to act in an open, honest and transparent way. And instead, we’ve been forced to ferret out the information of what’s going on and what is planned in our very own communities.

I will continue to be on the front lines working to preserve our air rescue resources and not turn Lincoln County into a detention destination. As I have said before, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is more concerned with detaining people than saving people here. Evidence of those plans continue to evolve.
A mountain of earth has buried a stretch of OR 229 in rural Lincoln County, transportation officials said Friday. The state highway, which follows the bends of the Siletz River between Lincoln City and Toledo, is closed between milepost 14 and 15 for an indefinite period.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said the landslide took out a two-tenths-of-a-mile section of the highway. Three homes were substantially damaged, and two others suffered lesser impacts. The residents of the homes are safe and accounted for, deputies said, and two evacuees were provided services by the American Red Cross.

That section of the highway is the link between the community of Siletz and rural areas around it to Gleneden Beach and Lincoln City to the north. Area residents now will have to backtrack into Siletz, go west on Highway 20, and then north on U.S. Highway 101.

To see an ODOT drone video of the slide area, go here.

Earlier this year, the Oregon legislature approved a measure to provide funds to ODOT for maintenance, snow removal, fog lines, and landslides. That tax increase was substantially reduced from earlier proposals and would have resulted in a 6-cent addition to a gallon of gas – about two dollars a month for average drivers. Following legislative approval, signatures were gathered to refer the matter to voters in November 2026. And when those signatures are validated this week, new funds for ODOT will be put on hold until the election a year from now.

What that means is that ODOT doesn’t have the money to deal with problems like the one on the Siletz. Nearly 300 ODOT employees quit between July and the beginning of December.

A statement from the governor’s office said, “The emergency funding that the legislature provided to keep Oregon’s roads, bridges, and transit systems safe and working will be suspended immediately. This means ODOT has a significant budget deficit that must be urgently balanced. Cuts to crucial transportation programs are financially unavoidable, and the Governor will need to review a potential layoff process again.”

Critics respond that ODOT has plenty of money. They are largely correct but do not account for the complexity of the Department’s budget. Most of those funds come from designated sources committed to specific uses. For example, the payroll tax goes to public transit. Federal dollars are designated for particular highway or bridge projects. Most cannot simply be “swept” to maintenance or other uses. And if we wanted to, we could only do so by rewriting a number of statutes during a regular or special legislative session.

ODOT crews deserve credit for responding quickly to the landslide. I’m relieved no one was hurt. But I regularly drive that road and well understand what losing it indefinitely means. Responding to the largest landslide ODOT officials have seen is going to take a while. And it is going to require Democrats and Republicans to work together to find a solution.

Read more here.
On Monday, economic and political leaders pitched their vision for a path forward to steer the state’s economy back to relative stability when they gathered for the annual Oregon Leadership Summit. This year’s event took place in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center. I was there.

Leaders from major Oregon industries — such as health care, computer chips and artificial intelligence, and food and agriculture — made presentations to lawmakers and other attendees. Top officials from Oregon schools and universities also discussed their ideas for training workers in high-paying industries that leaders hope will power the state’s future.
There is no question these are challenging times. Unemployment has steadily ticked up from 4% to 5% over the last year. The state has shed nearly 25,000 jobs, and the workforce has dropped to fewer than 2 million people. Population growth has stalled. Some Oregonians fear going to work or school due to federal immigration enforcement activity.

Meanwhile, the cost of food, utilities and housing is going up. And a stubbornly persistent housing shortage and affordability crisis continue to force a shocking number of Oregonians into homelessness or housing insecurity.

Governor Tina Kotek told the room we need to do a better job of attracting business, encouraging investment, and cutting regulatory disincentives. She told attendees that spurring economic growth was key to Oregon having a prosperous decade. Kotek also pointed to federal policies like tariffs that are driving up costs for businesses and consumers alike.

Read more in OPB and OregonLive.
One of the petitions currently making the rounds asking for your signature is a proposal to eliminate Oregon’s estate tax. I’ll provide some background as to what that actually means.

The vast majority of states have no estate tax. When someone dies, only federal taxes are imposed on their assets. The 13 states that do have an estate tax exempt a portion of those assets. And Oregon’s exemption is the lowest.
Oregon’s $1 million exemption was set in 2002. It has never been indexed for inflation (if the amount had simply increased with inflation, it would be $1.83 million today. Meanwhile, home values, the greatest sources of most families’ wealth, have more than doubled since 2002). That means more estates are paying the tax. The number more than doubled from 2012 to 2022, state figures show, and today’s total is expected to nearly triple by 2050.

If your savings and home equity total, say, $1.5 million at death, Oregon will claim 10% of the amount that exceeds its exemption, or $50,000.

State economists predict Oregon will collect $422.8 million in estate taxes in fiscal year 2025. For some context, we collect about $13 billion in personal income taxes.

As I have said on more than one occasion, a million dollars isn’t what it used to be, and I have supported legislation in recent years to raise the exemption threshold and have advocated for it to be set at $5 million. Increasingly, estate taxes are landing on middle-income families and their heirs.

The largest group of estate taxpayers fall within the group of estates valued between $1 to $1.5 million. In 2022, there were 1,012 such returns, or 46% of all filers. But not all estate tax filers end up owing tax. Estates passed on to a spouse are not taxable, nor are charitable contributions. Also, farm and natural resource assets are largely exempt. Excluding filers who did not owe tax, estates valued between $1 to $1.5 million made up 32% of filers.

That 32% of estates with up to $1.5 million in assets paid about $58 million in taxes. At the same time, 54 people died with estates valued over $9.5 million, but those estates paid $103 million in taxes.
At a time when overall tax revenues are beginning to decline and we are struggling to pay for schools, health care, roads and public safety, I don’t expect a tax cut like this to be easy to sell in Salem. But I do think it is a conversation worth having.

Read more here.
With everything going on across the district, I must tell you that after 38 years in our home, Susie and I are also in the midst of a whole-house “refresh”. Furniture is in the garage, and everything is torn up. Last week, a reporter stopped by for a quick interview on the Newport helicopter situation. She asked if she could use the bathroom.

I hesitated a moment. The main bathroom down the hall doesn’t have a toilet. Our second bathroom has a toilet but no door. There is a bathroom downstairs, but all the pets are there. And there is a porta-potty in the driveway. She decided to drive to a nearby McDonald’s…

I had the Business Summit in Portland on Monday. Tuesday I spoke at the long-awaited unveiling of plans for a new Visitor Center at the D River in Lincoln City to replace the dark, damp, and discouraging restrooms at our most popular wayside beach. Five years ago, I worked hard to get the money to start this project, and I believe that, along with the Cultural Center Plaza and Schooner Creek Park, this improvement will transform our little beach town.
Wednesday I was in Waldport with their City Council and then at a reception honoring outgoing OCCC President Birgitte Ryslinge.

Thursday I was in Salem to meet with budget leaders about proposed agency spending reductions. Friday I met with legislative leaders in Portland for dinner. And then Saturday I joined Congresswoman Val Hoyle for the No-ICE street protest in Newport, came back to Lincoln City for the Lee Freed memorial, and then returned to Newport for the Pacific Communities Health District Foundation Gala. Sunday was the Lincoln City Cultural Center Donor Reception.

My car and I are tired. But next week does not look quite so intense.

Please enjoy this holiday season and be careful on our unpredictable roadways.
email: Rep.DavidGomberg@oregonlegislature.gov

phone: 503-986-1410

address: 900 Court St NE, H-480, Salem, OR, 97301

website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/gomberg