🎉 Happy 2023 Session!

Dear Friends and Neighbors, 

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed the holiday season and celebrated with loved ones. I enjoyed time with family and had a few days off from legislative work.

Yesterday was a momentous day. We have a new governor and a new legislature. Our 2023 swearing in ceremonies included poems, performances, speeches and oaths of office. The next 6 months will be full of committee work, policy making and days spent in Salem in person! We are ready to get to work. 

Swearing in Ceremony 

It was my deep honor to take the oath of office yesterday for a third time serving House District 26! I stand ready to do the people's work and stay focused on issues that Oregonians care about including strengthening education and early childhood opportunities, finding solutions for stable and affordable housing, and creating safer communities. 

Pablo, Sara, and I stand ready to serve HD26 together. Please reach out to our team to discuss policy, get connected to resources, and share ideas. 

The most diverse legislature in Oregon’s history was sworn in yesterday. Oregon has a historic first with 5 Vietnamese-American Legislators (more than any other state in the country) among the 19 legislators of color. Pictured here are Rep Hai Pham (Hillsboro to Sherwood), and Rep. Khanh Pham (East Portland), Rep. Thuy Tran (East Portland), Rep. Hoa Nguyen (Happy Valley), Rep. Daniel Nguyen (Lake Oswego). 

Newly sworn in Reps Bowman (Tigard) and Chaichi (Aloha) with newly sworn in Senators Campos (Beaverton/Aloha) and Sollman (Banks/Hillsboro), and me, at the swearing in of Governor Kotek. 

The song and signing of Langston Hughes Poem “It’s been a long time coming” was incredibly moving after swearing in our new Governor Kotek.

 To watch Governor Tina Kotek take her oath of office, give her first speech as governor and hear the beautiful song that followed, click here. 

Newly sworn in Senator Woods (my new SD13 Senator!), Representative Reschke (Klamath Falls) and I are all serving Oregon Institute of Technology campuses. Rep Nelson (Portland) was happy to photo bomb, so of course we recruited him to work with us representing Oregon's premier polytechnic university. 

Rep Dacia Grayber’s district lines changed considerably and her new district shifted closer to downtown Portland, but her enthusiasm lets me know she knows that once a Tigard rep, always a Tigard rep.

Senator Dembrow and I look forward to our collaborative work chairing our respective Senate and House Education Committees!

Rep. Annessa Hartman (Oregon City/Gladstone) is a member of the Haudenosaunee, Cayuga Nation, Snipe Clan and our second Indigenous woman in the legislature. Here she signs her oath of office. I look forward to serving with her as members of our 2023 Early Childhood and Human Services Committee!

2023 Legislative Session 

House Speaker Rayfield announced committee assignments and shared a press release recently. I am honored to be the new Chair of the House Education Committee and a member of the Early Childhood and Human Services Committee and the Gambling Regulation Committee this coming session. As a mother and a teacher, I am focused on strong educational pathways and stable funding for a quality education system. I will continue to serve on the School Safety Task Force and the Governor’s Fire Service Policy Council. The bills I am bringing forward cover a wide range of topics, and I plan to remain active in Housing and Homelessness conversations as well as environmental advocacy, among the many other issues of concern to my constituents. I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues in passing policies that build a brighter future for Oregonians. 

In my last 2022 newsletter I shared a summary of Legislative Days in December and gave a preview of some of my legislative priorities this coming session. My office has filed 39 legislative concepts that primarily fall under these 5 key areas: 

Upcoming Key Dates and How to Engage in the Public Process

The swearing-in ceremony marks my official representation of the new HD26 boundaries, which now include Parrett Mountain in Yamhill County, French Prairie in and around the Charbonneau District, and King City south of Fischer Road. For the next week we will be in trainings and “Organizational Days” in preparation for January 17th when we officially reconvene for our in-person 2023 session. 

While most of the Capitol building is under construction, some parts of the building will be open to the public, including committee meetings and legislative offices. All committee meetings are available (as always) for virtual viewing on the Oregon Legislative Information Site (OLIS). Members of the public can make their voices heard by submitting written testimony or by signing up for virtual or in-person testimony. You can read more about opportunities for public engagement on the Oregon Legislative website. 

Here are some important dates during the 2023 session: 

• Jan. 9th Legislators and new statewide officials will be sworn in at the Oregon Capitol 
• Jan. 10th-13th Legislator training and organizational days
• Jan. 17th Session begins 
• Feb. 22nd Revenue Forecast 
• Apr. 4th 1st Chamber Work Session Deadline 
• May 19th 2nd Chamber Work Session Deadline
• Jun. 25th Constitutional last day of Session, "Sine Die"

Congratulations to Our New City Leaders! 

We have a lot to celebrate this week, including the swearing in ceremonies of many returning and newly elected city leaders serving communities of House District 26. Tim Rosener is now officially the Mayor of Sherwood while Sherwood City Councilor, Dan Standke will be serving the remaining two years of former City Councilor’s Sean Garland’s term. 

In King City and through the district, all councilors who ran unopposed were reelected. This speaks to their stable leadership and the challenging role they volunteer their time for.

In Tigard, Heidi Lueb is now the first female Mayor to serve the city and Tigard City Councilors Jai Raj Singh, Yi-Kang Hu and Maureen Wolf have also been sworn in as the most diverse council in the city's 62-year history. 

I was able to attend the swearing in of new Wilsonville City Councilors Katie Dunwell and Caroline Berry. Together with the mayor and previously elected councilors, they make history as Wilsonville’s first all-women city council. 

I appreciate our public servants working together to solve problems and address challenges facing our communities, regardless of identity. I am especially excited, however, that we have increasingly diverse representation in decision making spaces and leadership roles. You can read more about Oregon’s women mayors in this Oregonian article.

Local leaders are key to the work that we do at the State Legislature, I look forward to partnering with them to create meaningful policy changes for our communities! 

Stay Connected! 

I will continue to hold office hours, send out newsletters, and plan monthly town halls and coffees. Please also stay connected on social media. I am on:

• Facebook @RepNeronHD26
• Instagram @repneronhd26

You can get in touch with me directly by visiting or connecting through: 

• My Legislative Website
• Email at rep.courtneyneron@oregonlegislature.gov 
• Call our office at 503-986-1426
• Visit my office, second floor, H-281 
• Virtual office hours every Wednesday from 12-1 pm. You can RSVP on Zoom here.

Cheers!

Capitol Phone: 503-986-1426
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, H-281, Salem, OR 97301
Email: Rep.CourtneyNeron@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/neron