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Oregon News
POLITICS
Oregon Senate Rejects Amended Bill Granting Striking Workers Unemployment Benefits
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
A surprising vote on the Oregon Senate floor Tuesday morning saw four Democrats join with Republicans to reject Senate Bill 916, the controversial bill that would have allowed striking workers to collect unemployment benefits after two weeks of a work stoppage.
The Senate previously passed SB 916 in late March on a narrow vote of 16–12 (with two senators excused, both Republicans). It came back to the Senate on Tuesday for a concurrence vote after it was amended and passed the House on a party-line vote. The bill is not dead; with the rejection comes a requirement to form a concurrence committee, which will try to resolve differences between the two chambers’ versions of the bill.
Still, its rejection in the Senate, by a vote of 15–14, shows growing skepticism of a bill that’s being watched closely nationwide.
In March, two Democrats, Sen. Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro) and Sen. Jeff Golden (D-Ashland), both voted in opposition to the bill. They kept their votes consistent, but were joined by two more senators. Sen. Mark Meek (D-Gladstone) flipped his vote from yes to no, and Sen. Courtney Neron Misslin (D-Wilsonville), who was appointed to the Senate in May to replace late Sen. Aaron Woods, also voted against the bill.
There was no discussion of the bill on the Senate floor before the rejection.
SB 916 has been one of the most controversial bills of the legislative session, with wide support from Oregon’s unions, which say it will help even the playing field between employers and employees. The bill has met broad opposition from public and private employers. As the bill has gone through heated discussion over the past few months, there’s been an emerging conversation on its consequences for school districts, which have said its logistics could spin them into crises as they’re already facing budget deficits. In states where similar bills have passed, teachers are barred from striking.
Oregon transportation bill gets panned by Republicans – even those who negotiated it
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
Oregon Republicans who’d spent weeks negotiating a transportation funding proposal with majority Democrats came out forcefully against the bill Monday.
“This Republican is not going to just be a stamp of approval on a partisan tax increase without additional collaboration,” said Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, one of four GOP lawmakers who had been hashing out the particulars of a transportation bill. Starr said he was hopeful that “we can get back around the table.”
Starr wasn’t the only Republican negotiator disenchanted with a Democratic proposal that would raise gas taxes and roughly 10 other taxes and fees, simplify how heavy trucks are taxed, create more oversight of the Oregon Department of Transportation, and more.
Each one of the four Republicans who’d worked to negotiate a package with Democrats — sometimes earning the ire of their party members — voted Monday against introducing that bill in the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee. All voiced concerns similar to Starr’s.
The Republican objections were largely symbolic. Democrats on the committee unanimously voted to introduce the massive transportation bill. Some of them highlighted a massive funding need they say the state has ignored for too long.
But the Republican opposition — including from those members who theoretically would be most inclined to support the proposal — raises questions about the bill’s path forward. Reaction from the party to the bill has so far been universally critical.
Kotek Vetoes Bill to Conduct Audit on Oregon’s Kindergarten Assessments
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
Gov. Tina Kotek’s first veto of the legislative session saw her break with Democrats on a bill that would have directed the Oregon Department of Education to conduct an audit on kindergarten assessments.
Senate Bill 302, which came from Sen. Lew Frederick (D-Portland), was an attempt to learn whether assessments were useful for some of Oregon’s youngest learners. Frederick said he brought the bill forth after hearing concerns from kindergarten teachers that students were spending hours on various assessments, some on screens, instead of learning experiences or playtime.
Kotek vetoed Senate Bill 302 on Thursday, mostly on grounds that an audit would create more work for school districts. The veto comes as Kotek herself is pushing an education accountability bill through both chambers of the Legislature in hopes of streamlining grant reporting, tracking more student metrics, and strengthening ODE, allowing it to intervene and coach struggling districts.
There was limited discussion about SB 302 in the Senate, but House Republicans banded together against it during a May 27 vote.
Oregon ‘freedom to read’ library bill heads to governor’s desk
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
A bill to protect access to school library books that discuss different religions, sexualities, disabilities and a number of other topics, and to ensure they are not banned on the basis of those themes, is headed to Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk, where she’s expected to sign it.
Senate Bill 1098 passed the Oregon House of Representatives Monday on a 34-21 vote. It would prohibit school libraries from removing books on the basis of their being about, or by, a member of a protected class as defined in Oregon’s anti-discrimination in education law. Those protected classes include: race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, age and disability.
Former school superintendent, nurse from King City tapped for vacant House District 26 seat
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
After nearly a month without representation in the Oregon House, Oregonians in Clackamas, Washington and Yamhill counties have a new state representative: former nurse and school district superintendent Sue Rieke Smith.
Oregon law requires county commissioners within a legislative district boundary to appoint a new representative within 30 days of an unexpected vacancy. The appointee must be from the same political party as the outgoing legislator.
Bill enacting nation’s strictest limits on corporate health care influence signed by Gov. Kotek
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
Corporate investors hoping to take over local health care facilities in Oregon could soon face one of the hardest markets nationwide.
Senate Bill 951, which was quietly signed into law by Gov. Tina Kotek on Monday, sets the strongest regulations on private and corporate control of medical practices in the nation, according to industry lawyers. A similar effort failed in the Legislature last year amid pushback from Republicans that prevented the bill from meeting key legislative deadlines.
Environment, social justice groups withdraw support for governor’s key groundwater protection bill
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt
Groups that helped champion one of Gov. Tina Kotek’s key groundwater protection bills this session are withdrawing their support and asking the Legislature to let it die for now, following a last-minute amendment they say effectively neutralizes the intent of the legislation.
Senate Bill 1154 as first proposed in February would provide long overdue updates to the state’s Groundwater Quality Protection Act first passed in 1989, giving state agencies more authority to coordinate and to intervene early in Oregon’s contaminated groundwater areas.
Groups heavily involved in addressing water contamination issues in northeast Oregon — including the nonprofits Oregon Rural Action, Center for Food Safety, Food & Water Watch of Oregon, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Friends of Family Farmers — consulted with Kotek’s environmental advisers on the bill and offered testimony supporting it in recent months.
But in advance of a public hearing and vote on Monday in the Senate Committee on Rules, the groups released a statement saying they could no longer support it. They wrote that a proposed 39-page amendment posted late Friday at the request of state Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland and committee chair, “revealed the extent to which the Governor’s office had allowed powerful industrial lobbies to influence the bill late in the session.” Lawmakers have to wrap up voting on all bills by June 29.
Proposed ethics fine triples for Oregon liquor chief in Pappy Van Winkle scandal
Oregon Live | By Noelle Crombie
The former Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission director has agreed to pay a $1,500 ethics fine for setting aside Pappy Van Winkle for himself — triple a previously proposed fine that the state ethics commission shot down.
The latest proposed fine is still well below the $5,000 civil penalty that the Oregon Government Ethics Commission can impose for each rule violation.
Oregon Ethics Commission to consider higher penalty in bourbon scandal
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason
The former Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission executive director would pay a $1,500 penalty for his role in a scandal involving rare bourbon, according to a proposal the Oregon Ethics Commission will vote on June 13.
Commissioners on May 9 rejected a proposed penalty of $500 for Steve Marks after some suggested that Marks should be held to a higher standard in light of his position.
A new stipulated order, on the agenda for the commission's June 13 meeting, increases the penalty to $1,500.
The ethics commission opened investigations into Marks and five other OLCC employees after The Oregonian reported in 2023 on an internal investigation that found OLCC staff were using their positions to access bottles of rare bourbon.
Bill to make civil commitment in Oregon easier moves forward
Oregon Live | By Lillian Mongeau Hughes
An Oregon bill that would make it slightly easier to have someone civilly committed has advanced to the Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means Committee.
Civil commitment is the practice of mandating mental health treatment. In Oregon, such treatment can be ordered by a judge who has determined someone is suffering from a mental illness that poses an “imminent” threat to themselves or others. Under current state law, how immediate that threat must be remains undefined.
Oregon lawmakers pass bill to keep medical debt off credit reports
Oregon Live | By Kristine de Leon
A bill aimed at preventing medical debt from impacting patients’ credit scores won final approval in the Oregon Legislature Monday.
Senate Bill 605, which the House passed with revisions last week, cleared the Senate on an 18-12 vote. The legislation would remove medical debt from credit reports and bar debt collectors, hospitals and clinics from reporting unpaid medical bills to credit agencies. It applies not only to debt owed directly to providers but also to credit cards issued solely for covering medical expenses.
Medical debt is widespread in Oregon and across the country. According to a November survey by the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center, about 1 in 3 Oregonians reported carrying some type of medical debt within the last two years.
Oregon among states suing US government over ‘forced-reset triggers’
OPB | By Bruce Shipkowski, Conrad Wilson
Oregon and 14 other states have sued the Trump administration over its plan to allow the sale of forced-reset triggers that make semiautomatic rifles fire more rapidly and to return devices already seized to their owners.
The suit announced Monday argues that returning the triggers would violate federal law, pose a threat to residents and law enforcement and worsen gun violence. It was filed in federal court in Maryland.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield signed onto the lawsuit, joining 14 other states and the District of Columbia.
$4M for sobering center fuels quarrel between Portland and Multnomah County
Oregon Live | By Austin de Dios
Multnomah County expected to receive nearly $4 million from Portland to help cover the costs of current and future sobering services in the city. Portland officials are now saying they won’t pay up.
Portland spokesperson Cody Bowman said the city isn’t making the payments because the county’s permanent sobering center was delayed, with an opening date now planned for 2027 instead of 2026.
Marion, Polk counties propose smaller budgets, fewer positions
Statesman Journal | By Bill Poehler
Many counties in Oregon, including Polk County, are facing budget deficits, but Marion County is not.
Both counties, however, are proposing cuts for the budget year that begins July 1.
Marion County has one of the highest permanent property tax rates in the state at $3.03 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Protests against ICE span the Portland-metro area
KATU | By Tanvi Varma
In South Portland on Monday, some folks have been camping outside the ICE building for multiple days. Others are beginning to trickle in as each day passes. Some say they are joining the picket line because they are personally impacted by deportations.
Portland police clear blockade of ICE office; chief says it was for safety not immigration enforcement
Oregon Live | By Zaeem Shaikh
At least six Portland police officers cleared a barricade set by protesters early Sunday at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, raising questions about police cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The police actions come as tensions around immigration enforcement have surged across the country.
Portlanders rally after arrest of California union leader
KOIN | By Ariel Jacobazzi
Union Portlanders are still “fired up” after the arrest and most recent release of California’s SEIU president. David Huerta was arrested last week during what’s being called a peaceful anti-ice protest in Los Angeles, California. He has since been released but still faces felony charges.
ICE says it used 'expedited removal' process to arrest asylum seeker in Portland
KATU
Federal agents arrested a 24-year-old asylum seeker last week because it placed her on what’s called “expedited removal,” which is a faster deportation process, according to court filings filed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump has no right to deploy Oregon National Guard against protesters in Portland, Kotek insists
Oregon Live | By Sami Edge
Gov. Tina Kotek told reporters Monday that she has no plans to deploy the Oregon National Guard to protests planned for Saturday in Portland and other locations in the state and that President Donald Trump doesn’t have the authority to override her.
She chastised the president for sending California National Guard troops to pro-immigrant rallies in Los Angeles over the weekend without the consent of Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying it represented “an alarming disregard for the safety of Americans and their ability to govern themselves.”
LA protests prompt concern, preparation among Oregonians scarred by 2020
OPB | By Troy Brynelson, Bryce Dole, Alex Zielinski
For Oregon, the stark images emerging from L.A. held a familiarity.
In 2020, the deployment of federal officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as other agencies, led to heightened clashes with Portland demonstrators and helped fuel more than 100 days of protests through that spring and summer. An inspector general’s report eventually found the federal officers lacked training and strategy when they came to Oregon.
Drug deaths plummet among young Americans as fentanyl carnage eases
OPB | By Brian Mann
This stunning drop in drug deaths among people in the U.S. is being tracked in data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies.
The latest available records found fentanyl and other drugs killed more than 31,000 people (see chart) under the age of 35 in 2021. By last year, that number had plummeted to roughly 16,690 fatal overdoses, according to provisional CDC data.
In a study published last month in the journal Pediatrics, researcher Noa Krawczyk at the NYU Grossman School of Public Health found deaths attributed entirely to fentanyl “nearly quadrupled” among people people age 15 to 24 from 2018 through 2022.
Especially among teenagers in the U.S., fentanyl deaths seemed stuck at catastrophic levels, between 1,500 and 2,000 fatal overdoses a year. Then last year, federal data revealed a stunning decline, with 40% fewer teens experiencing fatal overdoses. “We’re super heartened to finally see teens dropping,” Epstein said.
Theories include the wider distribution of Narcan, or naloxone; a trend of weaker, less deadly fentanyl being sold by dealers; more readily available addiction healthcare; and also the loss of so many vulnerable young people who have already died.
Man charged with homeless camp murder pleads guilty to lesser charges, avoids trial
KATU | By Jeff Kirsch
According to court documents, McKeever got into an argument with several people at the homeless camp just minutes before getting into a stolen vehicle and speeding through the homeless camp, running over Bentley.
ECONOMY
These 9 groups will receive Multnomah County funding to launch neighborhood events, initiatives in Portland
Oregon Live | By Austin de Dios
Multnomah County is distributing a total of $250,000 to nine small businesses and nonprofits in an effort to boost the local economy.
Complete list of 700+ Rite Aid stores slated to close in 2025
Oregon Live | By Veronica Nocera
Rite Aid now plans to shutter hundreds more locations across 15 states, according to recent documents filed in bankruptcy court — including 32 stores in Oregon and 48 in Washington.
ZoomInfo will eliminate 150 jobs after sales decline
Oregon Live | By Mike Rogoway
Online marketing company ZoomInfo said Monday it plans to eliminate 150 jobs across the company by the end of June, including 20 at headquarters in downtown Vancouver.
OR Nike: Employees from Indonesia file Oregon labor complaint for wage theft
KOIN | By Michaela Bourgeois
Three Nike garment workers from Indonesia have filed a labor complaint in Oregon, alleging wage theft, hour violations and discrimination by the apparel giant.
NATURAL RESOURCES & WILDFIRE
Elevated fire danger in Oregon amid thunderstorm and wind threat
KOIN | By Kelley Bayern
Parts of Oregon will see elevated wildfire danger today as thunderstorms and gusty winds develop this afternoon.
Scattered thunderstorms are also expected to develop throughout the hotter afternoon hours, both Tuesday and Wednesday, around central and southeastern Oregon. While some storms may bring heavy downpours, dry lightning will bring the risk of new wildfire starts.
Former dam property along White Salmon River to be sold to Yakama Nation
OPB | By Erik Neumann
Land along the White Salmon River, previously owned by the utility PacifiCorp for the Condit Dam, is on track to be sold to the Yakama Nation.
The 172 acres of ancestral Yakama territory includes forested buffers along the river and areas previously submerged by then-Northwestern Lake, a reservoir above the former Condit Dam. The hydroelectric project blocked the river and fish for nearly a century.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
City Initiative Finishes Installing 15,000 Cooling Units in Time for Summer
Willamette Week | By Asa Gatrell
Just as Portland had its hottest day of the year June 8, the city’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability announced the Cooling Portland project has hit a major milestone: 15,000 cooling units installed across the city, 18 months ahead of schedule.
Oregon lawmakers pass bill requiring Coffin Butte Landfill to invest in more emissions tech
OPB | By April Ehrlich
An Oregon landfill known for massive methane leaks may soon be required to regulate those emissions using advanced technology, like drones, planes or satellites.
Last week, Oregon lawmakers passed Senate Bill 726. Once signed by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, it will require the Coffin Butte Landfill in Benton County to expand its system for monitoring methane releases.
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