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Oregon News
POLITICS
Oregon lawmakers weigh increased oversight of state's embattled transportation department
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
A powerful committee tasked with creating the Legislature’s newest attempt at a transportation investment package faced growing calls Tuesday to hold Oregon’s imperiled Department of Transportation accountable for funding future projects and regulations aimed at restoring the state’s infrastructure.
Testimony from Oregonians on House Bill 2025, a 102-page piece of legislation that would institute dozens of taxes including a 15-cent raise to the gas tax and higher fees for electric vehicle drivers, lasted for about an hour and a half. It’s the latest in a series of proposals Oregon lawmakers have put forth this session to address longstanding concerns over issues like crumbling roads and weakened bridges throughout the state.
Many speakers pressed lawmakers to ensure that they consider vulnerable communities throughout the state and the growing effects of climate change while deciding funding for roads and bridges.
Other speakers on Tuesday said they would like to see further accountability from the department beyond what lawmakers have proposed so far.
The department’s challenges merit “bold changes,” said Kirsten Adams, director and counsel for policy and public affairs for the Wilsonville-based Associated General Contractors. The joint committee in May reviewed findings from an independent investigative firm that attributed the agency’s plight to dated financial software, surging costs, turnover, and “workflow bottlenecks.”
“We also appreciate the efforts to bring more accountability to ODOT,” Adams said during her testimony. “However, we think these provisions could have gone farther, particularly in light of the work done this session by the committee on accountability issues and significant feedback received there.”
Lawmakers on the committee did not engage with speakers or ask questions, but they will likely do so in a work session that has not been scheduled yet. There are two more public hearings on the legislation: one on Wednesday regarding transit, rail and bike safety alongside public transit, and another on Thursday involving operations, maintenance and preservation.
The bill would also give Gov. Tina Kotek the authority to choose the director of the department in consultation with the Oregon Transportation Commission, a move Kotek supports. The governor currently appoints five commissioners from different areas of the state who must be confirmed by the Senate. The bill would extend the Senate’s mandate to also include a vote on the governor’s choice for director.
“At this point I’m not looking at any changes in the agency,” Kotek told reporters Monday. “But everything that I can have for stronger tools to hold that agency accountable will help me do my job and serve Oregonians better.”
The bill’s cost has been a point of contention and uncertainty among lawmakers, raising questions for several in attendance Tuesday who said they were unable to comment in further detail without more official analysis about the bill’s fiscal impact. At a Monday informational hearing, two lawmakers on the joint committee – Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, and Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale – agreed the cost to taxpayers would likely generate at least $1 billion in revenue.
Editorial: 4 Democrats engineer a surprise in the Oregon Senate
The Oregonian Editorial Board
The quick passage of Senate Bill 916, which allows striking workers to collect unemployment pay, was not a done deal, after all.
Despite our fears that the Oregon Senate would once again approve SB 916 – senators had already passed an earlier version in March – a Tuesday vote to accept changes made by the Oregon House narrowly failed.
The union-backed bill, which now goes to a conference committee of legislators from both chambers, is still very much alive. But Oregonians should be grateful that four Senate Democrats broke ranks with their party and voted with Senate Republicans to tap the brakes on this deeply flawed bill.
The bill now goes to a conference committee made up of six legislators – four Democrats and two Republicans. With only a few weeks left in the legislative session, committee members should consider whether they can make the changes needed to genuinely fix this bill. A proposed change, posted on Tuesday afternoon, would limit unemployment to 12 weeks, rather than 26 – hardly a sufficient revision considering the magnitude of the flaws. And there’s no shortage of urgent matters for legislators to focus on – the just-dropped $1 billion-plus transportation package, the lack of a wildfire response funding plan and other crises that should take center stage. The committee should wrestle with the wisdom of forcing through such a massive change that carries such potential for harm.
Senate refuses to OK bill to allow unemployment for striking workers
Oregon Live | By Sami Edge
The bill has already been okayed by both the Oregon House and Senate. However, the House made some tweaks after the Senate approved it, so Senate Bill 916 had to again earn a yes vote from the Senate in order to proceed to Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk.
It didn’t.
The attempt to approve House changes failed by two votes. Gladstone Democrat Mark Meek, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, voted no on the bill, though he’d supported the measure when it first came through the chamber in March.
New Lawsuit Aims to Clarify Whether State Bond Dollars Trigger Prevailing Wages
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
In a state that boasts the nation’s second-highest rate of unsheltered homelessness, the largest single source of state funding for affordable housing is at the center of a bitter dispute.
That Oregon program, called Local Innovation and Fast Track, or LIFT, helps fund the construction of rental housing for people making 60% or less of median income. It has provided about $1 billion since 2015, and has subsidized housing developments from Medford to Tillamook to Ontario.
And now LIFT funding is the subject of a lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on May 21, claiming state bureaucrats are adding substantially to the costs of those projects—or, sometimes, killing them outright—in violation of state law.
The lawsuit concerns issues specific to a troubled 72-unit affordable housing project in North Portland. But the broader question at the heart of the case carries implications for subsidized housing all over the state.
That’s because, like the North Portland property, developments in dozens of instances received some of their funding through LIFT.
To fund LIFT, the state sells bonds, then lends the proceeds to developers at zero percent interest. Developers either repay the loan after 30 years, or, if they extend affordability another 30 years, the state forgives the loan.
LIFT bonds have generated about $1 billion for 85 projects containing 6,653 units, according to Oregon Housing and Community Services, which administers LIFT. Rep. Vikki Breese Iverson (R-Prineville), vice chair of the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness, calls the LIFT program “monumental legislation to spur housing production.”
But the new lawsuit, filed on behalf of Lorentz Bruun Construction against the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries, seeks to clarify a festering disagreement between developers and BOLI, the state agency responsible for determining whether projects are subject to prevailing wage rates. Some experts say the requirement to pay prevailing wages adds 10% to 20% to the cost of housing. The effect of that, since the source of money is limited, is that the state is getting 10% to 20% fewer housing units than it otherwise might.
In its lawsuit, Lorentz Bruun says state law is clear: Funding generated from bond sales and loaned to affordable housing developers is exempt from prevailing wage law. State law, specifically ORS 279C.810(1)(H), exempts “Moneys derived from the sale of bonds that are loaned by a state agency to a private entity, unless the moneys will be used for a public improvement.”
In other words, without explicitly mentioning the LIFT program, the statute regarding prevailing wage appears to exempt it.
But in recent years, as LIFT bond funding increased, BOLI has regularly ruled the exact opposite: that LIFT dollars are “funds of a public agency,” which triggers prevailing wage. Breese Iverson says many housing providers may find it less expensive to forgo state dollars: “The damage done by BOLI’s determination on prevailing wage is enormous.”
BOLI has declined to explain its reasoning to the developers. The agency says it enforces the laws the Legislature writes.
“BOLI reviews all available facts to determine in a given situation involving LIFT funds whether this exception applies,” says bureau spokeswoman Rachel Mann. “In any case where BOLI has found that LIFT funds constitute ‘funds of a public agency,’ it has been based on the particular facts of that case.”
Gov. Tina Kotek, who originally championed the LIFT program in 2015, as House speaker, has made adding 36,000 new units annually her top priority, but the state has failed to build even half that many in her first two years in office.
In 2023, Kotek tasked housing experts to help the state reach that goal—and while that group did not focus on the impact of prevailing wages, Kotek now says it soon will.
“The governor is focused on implementing the recommendations of her Housing Production Advisory Council,” says Kotek spokeswoman Roxy Mayer. “This includes having a thoughtful conversation in the future about the application of prevailing wage.”
The Lorentz Bruun lawsuit represents the collision of two principles of vital importance to Oregonians: the idea that workers should be paid fairly for their labor; and the perhaps more recent premise that housing is a human right.
Oregon passed its prevailing wage law in 1959. The idea then and now: Construction work is highly competitive and, at times, that competition motivates contractors to underpay workers to generate the lowest—that is, winning—bid.
The premise of the law is that publicly funded projects should pay the highest wages—typically union wages—that “prevail” in a given geographic area of the state. BOLI is responsible for surveying pay levels for various trades. If a project involves public funding, the developer comes to BOLI for a determination whether the project must pay prevailing wages.
Certain exemptions apply. For instance, projects that “predominately provide affordable housing” are not supposed to have to pay prevailing wage.
As the Oregon Journalism Project has previously reported (“A Little Off the Top,” April 2), BOLI has taken the position that any commercial use—such as a day care center or a health clinic—in an affordable housing development triggers prevailing wage for the whole project. Speaking on background because they fear angering BOLI, many developers say they believe the bureau’s determinations are overly subjective and too often add significant costs.
Like Kotek, BOLI Commissioner Christina Stephenson won election in 2022 with strong financial support from trade unions, whose role is to maximize compensation for members. Stephenson, however, says campaign contributions play no role in her agency’s determinations about prevailing wages.
The fundamental premise of Oregon’s prevailing wage law is that “public works” projects must pay prevailing wages. State law defines a public works project as anything that uses more than $750,000 in “funds of a public agency.” (That threshold, set in 2007, has not increased with inflation.)
There are certain exemptions, including the one central to the Lorentz Bruun lawsuit: “moneys derived from the sale of bonds that are loaned by a state agency to a private entity.” (Most affordable housing developments are structured with private owners cobbling together financing from a variety of sources, such as tax credits, loans and, increasingly, LIFT dollars.)
BOLI posts its prevailing wage determinations online. For recent proposed developments in Bend, Salem and Seaside, the agency determined that LIFT bonds constituted “funds of a public agency,” despite the exemption.
A $63 million project proposed for Wilsonville last year represents an example of BOLI’s thinking. The project was to include 143 units for people making less than 60% MFI, including 10 live-work units and a U.S. Postal Service center with 900 mailboxes.
Proposed by Related Northwest, one of the region’s leading affordable housing developers, the project relied on a whopping $50 million LIFT allotment. All other funding came from private sources. But BOLI ruled that LIFT money constituted “funds of a public agency” and the live-work spaces and mailboxes were commercial uses, so the entire project was subject to prevailing wages.
After BOLI’s April 2, 2024, determination, Related Northwest scrapped the entire project.
Before filing its new lawsuit, Lorentz Bruun’s attorney wrote to the Oregon Department of Justice, which represents state agencies, asking for the legal theory behind BOLI’s determination that the North Portland project should pay prevailing wage. The letter laid out the dispute in simple terms.
“BOLI’s position regarding the application of prevailing wage laws to the project is wrong,” attorney Alex Naito wrote in a May 15 letter attached to the lawsuit. “BOLI’s misapplication of the law will cause this project to fail, leaving North Portland residents without 72 units of affordable housing, and instead an abandoned, partially completed structure.”
Naito added in his letter that BOLI’s explanation—that it was merely enforcing state law—also didn’t pass muster.
“BOLI’s response has been to simply say, ‘It is up to the Legislature to specify if the public funds used through LIFT funding are exempt,’” Naito noted. “This is ironic considering that the Legislature did exactly that, but BOLI has simply chosen to ignore that instruction.”
DOJ did not respond to Naito’s letter and declined to comment on the Lorentz Bruun lawsuit.
Former Oregon foster youth sent out of state worries about bill to revive that practice
OPB | By Lauren Dake
Kaylee was part of a group of kids placed in Oregon’s foster care system who were sent out of state six years ago. Dozens of kids were scattered across 16 different states at the height of the practice. Some of the children were as young as 9.
After widespread stories of abuse — kids being restrained and assaulted, a riot breaking out — Oregon largely stopped the practice.
But now, the state is once again considering changing the law to make it easier to send children out of state. The controversial measure has Democrats, who are otherwise often aligned, divided. Supporters of the idea have promised this time will be different. Opponents have voiced concerns that it will ultimately mean more children are harmed.
Around 2018, Oregon started relying more heavily on the practice of sending youth placed in foster care to residential treatment facilities out of state.
Oregon child welfare officials said they had dwindling options in the state where they could house children in foster care. They also said kids were being sent to facilities with unique programs to meet the specific needs of each child.
But one thing became clear: The farther away Oregon kids went, the more difficult it was for people back home to monitor their well-being.
Oregon Public Defense Commission budget to resolve crisis advances
Statesman Journal | By Isabel Funk
The new budget for the Oregon Public Defense Commission is set to include $2.2 million for attorneys to take increased caseloads and $3.4 million for law schools to train students to take on public defense for misdemeanor cases.
The news comes about a week after new OPDC Director Ken Sanchagrin delivered a plan to Gov. Tina Kotek on how the commission will work to resolve the unrepresented crisis in Oregon.
The changes included increasing flexibility for attorney caseloads and expanding the trial division.
Legislative Bulwark Against Book Bans Awaits Kotek’s Signature
Willamette Week | By Asa Gartrell
The Oregon House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 1098 on Monday morning by a 34–21 vote.
The bill prohibits the removal of books from school libraries based solely on their depiction of protected classes such as race, gender and sexual orientation. Additionally, it bars removal of books on the basis of their authors belonging to a protected class. It already passed the state Senate in late March, and now heads to Gov. Tina Kotek for her signature.
The vote passed along party lines, with the exception of Rep. Cyrus Javadi (R-Tillamook), who championed a culture of acceptance in classrooms.
Oregon bill on drone surveillance sparks privacy concerns and opposition
KATU | By Sana Aljobory
Senate Bill 238A, currently under consideration in the Oregon Legislature, has ignited a heated debate over privacy rights as it proposes allowing law enforcement to use drones for surveillance with decreased court oversight.
The bill, which lacks chief sponsors, was carried by Democratic State Senator Floyd Prozanski and has passed the Senate with support from most Democratic senators, while facing opposition from three Republican senators.
Trump’s Assault on Transgender Care Threatens to Put OHSU in Legal Crossfire
Willamette Week | By Anthony Effinger
The Trump administration wants to stop all medical care for transgender Americans, and it’s looking for a target like Harvard University—its foil in higher education—to make its point.
Trump’s bull’s-eye very well could be on Oregon Health & Science University, the largest provider of transgender health services in the Northwest, and one of the largest in the nation.
That’s the opinion of at least one expert on transgender rights, who discussed the situation with WW but declined to be named. Many others agree that the fiercest battle over the rights of trans people will be fought in hospitals like OHSU, which started a specialized care program in 2014 and saw 11,000 transgender adult and youth patients in fiscal year 2023 alone, according to its community benefit report to the state for that year.
Portland State University suspends professor for video appearing to support Hamas
OPB | By Rob Manning
Portland State University has placed a professor on administrative leave after a video circulated online in which they appear to express support for Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.
Councilors Brought Mayor Concerns About Text Thread and Two Photos Shared by Prosper Portland Staff
Willamette Week | By Sophie Peel
Shea Flaherty Betin, executive director of Prosper Portland, was already on thin ice with the mayor late last month. He’d engaged in a public fight with two city councilors over their proposal to cut all of the city’s economic development agency’s general fund dollars, totaling $11 million. Those councilors, Mitch Green and Jamie Dunphy, had repeatedly raised questions from the dais about Prosper’s accountability, spending and oversight. It was a drumbeat of public questioning that the quasi-independent agency hadn’t been subjected to in years.
Then, early last week, Mayor Wilson’s office received copies of a text message thread among top Prosper Portland staff, including Flaherty Betin. The messages showed Prosper staff exchanging criticisms of council members.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Two More Asylum Seekers Arrested at Portland Courthouse, Bringing Total to Four
Willamette Week | By Aaron Mesh
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested two more asylum seekers outside Portland Immigration Court this morning, bringing the total arrests in the past week to four, according to federal court records. Within hours, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon ordered ICE not to remove the two detained people from the state of Oregon.
Former Crane girls basketball and football coach Stub Travis pleads guilty to sex abuse
Oregon Live | By Nik Streung
A longtime Oregon high school girls basketball coach has pleaded guilty to sexual abuse.
On Monday in Deschutes County Circuit Court, Travis pleaded guilty to four counts of second degree sexual abuse and one count of furnishing alcohol to a person under 21 years of age.
Travis was originally indicted on 21 counts of second-degree sexual abuse and two counts of furnishing alcohol to a person under 21 years of age.
Portland man gets 25 years for attempted murder of 3 police officers
Oregon Live | By Zane Sparling
A Portland man who fired his gun at three police officers in the aftermath of a chaotic 2021 traffic stop was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday.
ECONOMY
Dutch Bros will move HQ from Oregon to Arizona
Oregon Live | By Mike Rogoway
Still, Dutch Bros’ exit is a major symbolic blow in Oregon.
It’s the first large, homegrown company to emerge in Oregon in many generations. With a market capitalization of $11.8 billion, it trails only Nike among the state’s most valuable businesses.
Dutch Bros’ revenues grew 33% last year, to $1.3 billion, and the company forecasts another 22% growth in 2025.
Oregon clean energy company Powin files for bankruptcy, claiming more than $300 million in debt
Oregon Live | By Mike Rogoway
Tualatin battery manufacturer Powin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday, reporting more than $300 million in debt.
Powin warned last month that it was preparing to lay off nearly 250 employees, including 100 at its Tualatin headquarters and office in Portland’s Pearl District.
Nike laying off more technology workers
Oregon Live | By Matthew Kish
Nike this week began laying off more workers in its technology division. The number of jobs eliminated is unclear. The layoffs come as first-year CEO Elliott Hill tries to reverse a decline in sales and refocus the company around sports. Last year, Nike laid off 740 workers in Oregon as part of a companywide reorganization. It also laid off some technology workers last month.
HEALTH CARE
Portland’s largest public health provider is bracing for large cuts; it could have lasting consequences
Oregon Live | By Austin de Dios
Richards is one of dozens of Health Department employees who may lose their jobs at the end of the fiscal year as Multnomah County grapples with a significant budget shortfall. Reductions proposed by county Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, which the Board of Commissioners will vote on Thursday, would slash jobs, reduce services at the county’s STD clinic and axe the decades-old Nurse-Family Partnership.
Oregon to expand access to affordable cell and gene therapies for Medicaid patients
KATU | By Bobby Corser
Oregon will increase access to affordable, lifesaving cell and gene therapies for individuals on the Oregon Health Plan (OHP).
Oregon is among 35 states that applied in 2024 to join the CMS initiative, known as the Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model. The program seeks to reduce costs for participating states and improve access to transformative treatments for Medicaid recipients living with rare or severe diseases.
EDUCATION
States’ moves to curb cellphone use in schools highlighted in U.S. House hearing
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shauneen Miranda
Concerns over the use of cellphones in classrooms took center stage Tuesday at a hearing in a U.S. House education panel, as an increasing number of states push to ban or restrict the use of cellphones and other electronic devices during instruction time.
Oregon early learning, child care programs poised for $45 million in cuts
Oregon Live | By Eddy Binford-Ross
Oregon’s agency overseeing child care and early childhood education is poised to receive $45 million less from the Legislature than it needs to operate those programs at their current scope over the next two years.
Child care advocates worry that the budget cuts will make early childhood education even less accessible in a state where many parents already struggle to find care for children before kindergarten.
Legislators who voted for the budget in committee said that the cuts are an unfortunate but necessary consequence of a reduced pool of money for education and child care.
Some of the most substantial cuts would hit Preschool Promise — free schooling for 3- and 4-year-olds whose families earn less than 200% of the federal poverty level — and Healthy Families, which provides long-term pairings between high-need families and home visitors.
Portland Public Schools weighs big changes to school attendance maps
Oregon Live | By Julia Silverman
Just 87 ninth graders will start high school at North Portland’s Jefferson High School next fall, as Portland Public Schools prepares to spend nearly $500 million to renovate the school, which sits at the center of the historically Black Albina neighborhood.
That mismatch is unsustainable, Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong told the Portland school board Tuesday. Armstrong signalled that she plans to push hard for the board to sunset Jefferson’s unique “dual enrollment” zone, which since 2011 has given students who live within the school’s attendance boundaries the option to opt into either Grant, Roosevelt or McDaniel high school instead, depending on their address.
Many Oregon schools still aren’t equipped to handle extreme temperatures
OPB | By Natalie Pate
The average age of K-12 school buildings in Oregon is 56 years. Experts say most weren’t built with today’s environmental factors in mind, so it’s costly and complicated to fix them.
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