State Rep. Farrah Chaichi is set to take a co-chair seat on one of Oregon's key budget-writing panels, giving the Beaverton Democrat direct influence over state spending decisions heading into the 2027 legislative session.

House Speaker Julie Fahey gave notice Saturday, Aug. 15, that she would remove Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, as co-chair of the Ways and Means subcommittee on general government and replace him with Chaichi, who represents the 35th House District covering downtown Beaverton, Aloha, Elmonica and eastern Hillsboro.

The Ways and Means Committee is the Legislature's budget-writing body. Its subcommittees hold hearings on agency funding requests and set spending priorities before sending budget bills to the full House and Senate. The general government subcommittee handles state agency budgets in that policy area.

The appointment comes as Beaverton faces its own fiscal pressure. The city began its current budget cycle with a projected $16.2 million General Fund deficit and has already cut $9 million and eliminated 32 positions over two years, according to city budget documents. The long legislative session, when the full biennial state budget is written, begins in January 2027.

Smith had been the only House Republican to co-chair a budget subcommittee in the Democratic-majority Legislature. Fahey did not remove him from any committees entirely.

Why Smith lost the post

The ethics commission found Smith used his role as executive director of the Columbia Development Authority to secure a $66,000 raise on top of his $129,000 salary through a 2024 federal grant application. The commission also faulted him for approving nearly 11 weeks of paid vacation for himself between December 2024 and August 2025, costing the authority more than $51,000 over three years.

Smith agreed to the $12,000 fine in July without conceding intentional wrongdoing. The authority's board reversed the raise and ordered him to repay roughly $33,000, which he had not done as of Saturday's meeting.

"The commission identified a longstanding structural issue: The CDA board did not have written personnel policies and it did not have written policies governing hours, leave, compensation or administrative approvals," Smith said in a Facebook video posted Aug. 15. "During my time as executive director, I followed the practices of the CDA and its fiscal agent, the Port of Morrow."

The $12,000 penalty ranks among the highest in the ethics commission's history. For comparison, former Gov. John Kitzhaber was fined $20,000 and former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan paid $3,600. Saturday's action was Smith's second ethics rebuke in 2026; in January, the commission issued him a formal reprimand for failing to disclose consulting clients on his annual economic interest statements.

What's next for Chaichi

Chaichi is already active on issues that could come before the budget panel: on Aug. 4, she and Rep. Lesly Muñoz, D-Woodburn, announced plans to propose a three-year moratorium on new large data centers in Oregon during the 2027 session.

Chaichi's office can be reached at (503) 986-1435. The 2027 session begins in January.