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Oregon News
POLITICS
In new proposal, 60% of kicker would go to wildfire, rest to Oregonians making less than $95k
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt
A late-in-the-session Hail Mary proposal to redirect the bulk of the state’s “kicker” tax rebate to fund statewide wildfire work would still kick some of the rebate back to most Oregonians.
Under a forthcoming amendment to Senate Bill 1177 — still a placeholder bill for some mechanism to fund wildfire prevention and response work in the state — Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, proposes the Legislature move $1 billion of the expected $1.64 billion state tax rebate to an interest-bearing wildfire account.
The remaining nearly $650 million, he proposes be doled out to single Oregonians making less than $95,000 in pre-tax income and joint-tax-filing Oregonians making less than $190,000 in pre-tax income.
Golden is hoping the proposal represents a middle ground that can meet the state’s wildfire needs, appease Republicans who insist the kicker is not for the Legislature to spend and placate Oregonians who’ve come to rely on the regular rebate. In recent years, the state has sent billions back to Oregon taxpayers every two years when it collects personal income taxes that exceed what budgets call for by at least 2%.
Redirecting the money would require a two-thirds supermajority vote in each chamber, meaning at least two Senate Republicans and four House Republicans would need to approve along with all legislative Democrats.
But getting Republican support is easier said than done, and some are accusing House Democrats of delaying a vote to repeal the state’s unpopular Wildfire Hazard Map as a bargaining chip in negotiations over redirecting the kicker for wildfire funding.
Debate over using Oregon kicker fund to wildfire mitigation, suppression continues
KATU
Last month, Governor Tina Kotek proposed using some of Oregon's kicker funds to help fight wildfires.
The latest estimate predicts the kicker to reach $1.6 billion this year.
It comes as lawmakers struggle to agree on how to fund wildfire suppression and mitigation efforts this session. Governor Kotek says now is the time to do this.
Oregon Democrats’ transportation funding bill could raise $2B per year, analysis shows
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
A transportation funding proposal by Oregon Democrats would bring in more than $1.8 billion per year in fiscal year 2029 — and more than $2 billion annually by 2034 — according to a revenue analysis circulating in the Capitol.
The estimate, dated Thursday, offers the first picture Oregonians have seen of what a set of tax and fee increases in House Bill 2025 might cost them. It comes after Democrats held four separate public hearings on the bill this week — meetings in which the lack of a clear financial estimate was brought up often.
The numbers will add new energy to a debate over whether the Democratic proposal is asking too much of taxpayers, a contention Republicans have made repeatedly. Opponents are already lining up to refer the bill to voters if it passes, a move that could doom it.
Hikes to vehicle registration and titling fees are expected to bring in around $265 million a year. And an increase, from 0.1% to 0.3% of a tax workers pay out of their paychecks may raise more than $400 million in additional revenue each year for transit services.
Democrats have presented their proposal this year as a way to fundamentally reshape how the state pays for transportation — and to correct longstanding disinvestment in nuts-and-bolts maintenance that have left the state’s roads in poor shape.
To that end, they’ve proposed a mandatory fee, set at 5% of the gas tax, that drivers of electric and hybrid vehicles would pay for every mile they drive. For instance, at the state’s current 40 cents per gallon gas tax, EV drivers would pay 2 cents per mile.
Such a “road usage charge” is aimed at ensuring the state has a way to raise money for roads, as the continued adoption of EVs eats away at the gas tax. But the program will be costly to implement, and slow to bring in money, the state has said. The HB 2025 estimate shows Oregon losing money on the program initially, before it starts to generate money.
One big lingering question mark over the new analysis is whether it accurately gauges what heavy trucks would pay under HB 2025. That’s a particularly touchy subject given state reports that have found that trucks paid more than their fair share for road maintenance in recent years.
The report shows “weight-mile” taxes from trucks vacillating widely from year to year — from more than $560 million in 2029 to just $24 million two years later. Those numbers were being closely watched by members of both parties.
Opinion: Oregon’s transportation future can’t wait
The Oregonian Op-Ed | By Rep. McLain, Sen. Gorsek
The risks are real, and they’re growing. Our roads, bridges and transit options are the backbone of our economy and quality of life. These systems allow us to get to our jobs, take our kids to school, engage with our communities and travel around this beautiful state we call home.
But the numbers tell the story: 48% of city streets are in “poor” or “fair” condition. Oregon’s time frame for replacing bridges is currently nine times longer than maintenance experts try for. City, county and state maintenance workers are doing heroic work to keep our systems running, but they are struggling against an immediate budget deficit and the state’s outdated transportation funding structure.
If we fail to shore up funding, Oregonians will see fewer road crews, more potholes, crumbling bridges, unplowed roads in the wintertime and longer waits to clear traffic accidents.
Delaying action will only make the challenges we face worse, more dangerous and more expensive to fix.
Based on more than a year of public engagement and negotiations, this legislation balances the needs and perspectives brought before our transportation committee: from truckers, environmentalists, local governments, transit providers, Democrats and Republicans.
Nobody likes the idea of raising taxes — particularly with the current high cost of living and growing economic uncertainty. But we are facing an immediate budget hole plus a worsening budget outlook as vehicles get more fuel efficient and gas tax revenue — which provides the majority of road maintenance funding for local governments and the state — continues to decline. This is the structural funding challenge that threatens Oregon’s ability to keep our roads and bridges safe, and it’s not going away.
Oregon road workers urge passage of transportation bill, others warn of financial burden
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
House Bill 2025 would increase ODOT revenue by creating dozens of new fees and taxes, including a 15-cent raise to the state gas tax over the next three years and almost tripling registration fees for passenger vehicles.
State officials estimate they need to raise $1.8 billion each year to pay for transportation services across the state. About $205 million of that is needed just to keep road maintenance funding at its current level. The transportation department said it will run out of money needed for state highway maintenance after mid-2025. Without an increase in funding for this work, ODOT would have to lay off up to 1,000 workers, the Oregonian reported.
Revenue from the bill would also fund infrastructure projects such as the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project in Portland’s Albina neighborhood, upgrading the Abernethy Bridge and widening Interstate 205 in the Portland metro, improving the Newberg-Dundee bypass in Yamhill County, and upgrading a Salem bridge off Center Street and State Highway 22 to make it strong enough to endure earthquakes.
Oregonians from around the state, as well as city and county officials — including the mayors of Bend, Portland, Beaverton and rural Oakridge and Toledo — also spoke in favor of the bill. However, Republican lawmakers and some Oregonians who testified against the bill said low- and middle-income drivers would bear the brunt of new taxes and transportation fee spikes.
Several Republicans, including state House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, and state Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, have criticized the bill, saying it was crafted by Democrats behind closed doors and rushed, without having a financial analysis prepared showing how much revenue it would raise.
Bill sponsor state Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, said during an informational hearing on Monday that he thinks the bill would generate at least $1 billion in revenue.
“The public is being asked to testify without knowing what the bill will actually cost them,” Drazan said on Thursday. “That is unacceptable.”
Republicans on Monday introduced an alternative transportation package, House Bill 3982, which avoids taxes and instead redirects funding from climate initiatives, public transit and passenger rail services, bicycle programs and payroll tax allocations. The bill does not yet have a scheduled hearing in either chamber of the Legislature.
Oregon elected officials decry political violence following shootings of Minnesota lawmakers
Oregon Live | By Carlos Fuentes
Many of Oregon’s top elected officials reacted with a mix of shock, anguish and frustration to the shootings of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses.
Oregon politicians from both parties condemned the attacks on the two Democratic lawmakers. House Speaker Julie Fahey, a Eugene Democrat who served on the board of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee alongside Hortman, said in a statement the shootings are a tragic result of inflammatory political rhetoric and extreme partisanship.
Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham of The Dalles said the acts of political violence should serve as a wake-up call for Americans of all political backgrounds to find common ground with each other and ratchet down extreme, hyperpartisan rhetoric.
“It should be a message to us,” Bonham said in an interview Saturday. “Political opposition is just that. They’re not enemies. They’re people who want to solve the same problems that we’ve identified differently. It’s no cause to incite violence.”
Oregon Ethics Commission investigating Salem mayor, city council
Statesman Journal | By Whitney Woodworth
The Oregon Ethics Commission voted June 13 to investigate Mayor Julie Hoy and Salem city councilors to determine whether the city council violated state public meeting laws surrounding the resignation of former City Manager Keith Stahley.
A series of phone calls, texts and meetings that triggered Stahley's resignation led to accusations of violating serial communication laws for governing body matters.
Investigators said the complaint alleges Hoy had individual conversations with the majority of the city council discussing whether Stahley should be asked to resign from his position as city manager and that the communications happened outside of a public meeting.
Oregon Cities Clash With Travel Industry Over Whether Tourism Taxes Should Pay for Wear and Tear on Your Favorite Destination
Willamette Week | By James Neff
Every summer, more than 2 million tourists stream into Seaside, as relentless and predictable as the tides. They spend mountains of money, for sure, but they also wear out the streets, stress emergency medical services and water rescue, and leave behind several thousand tons of trash.
Seaside Mayor Steve Wright doesn’t have the money to pay for all the costs imposed by tourists, but he sees a solution—the millions in lodging tax dollars the visitors generate. Problem is, he can’t touch most of that money to fix potholes or hire more cops.
That’s because Oregon law requires that 70% of the lodging tax revenues must be spent directly on promoting tourism—even though his city is already awash in visitors. “We’re getting too much of that money to spend,” Wright says.
New Oregon law is supposed to help sex-trafficked women living in massage parlors, but will it?
Oregon Live | By Aimee Green
A much anticipated bill the Oregon Legislature passed this month sought to quell the surging number of sex trafficking spas in Oregon that authorities say masquerade as massage businesses but force immigrant women to have sex with customers.
But House Bill 3819, signed by the governor last week, could fall far short of what it set out to do: Give police and prosecutors powerful tools to crack down on owners and operators of such establishments — and put them out of business for good.
One key provision dropped from the bill would have allowed district attorney’s offices to prosecute offenders based on hearsay — that is, what a victimized woman initially told a police officer, even if she was subsequently shuttled away to another unknown sex trafficking operation or refused to testify because she was scared of repercussions.
A day before Minnesota shootings, Oregon Legislature passed bill to conceal Oregon lawmakers’ addresses
Oregon Live | By Aimee Green
Less than 12 hours before a gunman wearing an eerie disguise showed up at the homes of four Minnesota lawmakers Saturday, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill to conceal the home addresses of elected officials and candidates for public office.
Senate Bill 224 was prompted by elected officials’ long brewing safety concerns over disgruntled constituents or those struggling with mental illness. The bill would require Oregon’s Secretary of State to remove from documents it posts online the home addresses of an expansive range of officials, including statewide elected officials like the secretary of state, 90 state senators and representatives, city councilors, county commissioners, school board members and judges. Members of the public could still obtain those officials’ addresses by submitting public records requests.
Crying in the Oregon Legislature: Lawmakers keep breaking into tears, unheard of a generation ago
Oregon Live | By Aimee Green
But Hartman along with a cadre of her colleagues — male and female, Democrat and Republican — have bucked those social mores, saying their difficult life experiences actually make them better legislators.
Perhaps more than ever this session, they have been sharing personal stories of distress as they advocate for bills that touch the very fabric of who they are. And sometimes, that has come with tears. In public hearings. On the chamber floors. And with legislative cameras rolling — livestreaming the details for all the internet to see.
Long-timers in the Legislature say such unfiltered openness was unheard of a few decades ago, when sharing personal stories that could cast shame upon their tellers — however unwarranted — almost never happened. Back then, they say, virtually the only tears shed were in joy over the passage of hard-wrought legislation or in grief while eulogizing the deceased.
But many legislators agree that something new and more widespread is underway — even if not everyone embraces it.
Oregon ethics commission votes to launch investigation into former sewer CEO’s food, travel spending
Oregon Live | By Jamie Goldberg
The state ethics commission voted unanimously Friday to further investigate whether questionable spending on local meals and travel by the former head of Washington County’s sewer agency violated state ethics law.
The vote came after the Oregon Government Ethics Commission opened a preliminary review into former Clean Water Services CEO Diane Taniguchi-Dennis in March after it received at least 10 complaints following an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive that uncovered lavish travel spending and sky-high food expenses at the sewer agency. A noteworthy amount of that spending was by Taniguchi-Dennis, the news organization found.
Oregon governor picks new Clackamas County judge
Oregon Live | By Zane Sparling
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has named Colleen F. Gilmartin the next judge of the Clackamas County Circuit Court.
Gilmartin, 49, is a familiar face on the bench. She has served as a temporary judge in Clackamas County since 2018, where she leads the juvenile court, community court and presides over civil commitment cases.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Riot on South Waterfront Draws Attention of Homeland Security Secretary
Willamette Week | By Tyler BrownA peaceful march through downtown Portland against President Donald Trump and his administration drew about 50,000 people Saturday—but hours later, a smaller, breakaway protest at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility turned chaotic, with federal agents deploying tear gas and less-lethal rounds as demonstrators shattered the glass of the building’s entrance and formed shield walls in the street.
Portland police declared a riot and arrested three people by the night’s end, bringing the total arrested near the ICE building this week to 16. While the scale of the conflict was a fraction of the size of the larger march, it drew the attention of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who said four federal agents were injured.
On Sunday, Mayor Keith Wilson issued a statement saying that Portland police had learned of injuries to three federal officers, but none was severe enough to require medical treatment or transport.
Early today, the Department of Homeland Security said on X that four federal agents were injured and included a message from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
“Secretary Noem’s message to the rioters is clear: you will not stop us or slow us down. ICE and our federal law enforcement partners will continue to enforce the law,” DHS wrote in a social media post. “If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Until today, the Homeland Security social media account had focused almost exclusively on the unrest in Los Angeles. The only other city the agency had specifically called out for protesters’ actions was Peoria, Ariz.
Mayor Wilson put out his statement three hours after Noem’s remarks were posted. “If we witness federal abuse following this incident or any other pretext,” he wrote, “we will bring it to light, take legal action, and take the fight to federal courts, where we will prevail.”
Portland mayor waves off federal help after Saturday protest at ICE building
OPB | By Ryan Haas
Saturday’s protest at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland saw an escalation in force on display from federal officers, as well as the protesters they attempted to repel from the building.
But Portland Mayor Keith Wilson had a message Sunday for the Trump administration: Don’t think about sending in the military.
“Portland has not requested and does not require the intervention of the National Guard,” Wilson said in the statement. He noted that National Guard members and U.S. Marines deployed to Los Angeles under the order of helping ICE and protest management have only inflamed tensions in that city.
Wilson said any decision to send military members into Portland should be seen as “unwarranted, unprecedented, and unconstitutional.”
“If we witness federal abuse following this incident or any other pretext, we will bring it to light, take legal action, and take the fight to federal courts, where we will prevail,” Wilson wrote.
The suspect in the shooting of 2 Minnesota lawmakers has been captured and charged
NPR | By Meg Anderson, Rachel Treisman
Law enforcement in Minnesota have arrested the man wanted in the attack early Saturday morning that killed one state lawmaker and left another wounded.
Vance Boelter, 57, was apprehended on Sunday night after what Brooklyn Park police Chief Mark Bruley called “the largest manhunt in state history.”
How the Trump immigration crackdown is impacting Oregon, Beat Check podcast
Oregon Live | By Gosia Wozniacka
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has dramatically escalated immigration enforcement across the country, sending waves of fear and anger throughout American communities as federal authorities expand operations beyond traditional targets.
While Oregon hasn’t experienced the same scale of enforcement as California, immigration officials have begun making arrests at Portland’s immigration court, in farming communities and outside homes and schools.
ECONOMY
The Departure of Oregon Companies Speaks to a Bigger Problem for the State
Willamette Week | By Steve Duin
Then came the March announcement that the new owners of Tektronix would move the headquarters of Oregon’s legendary technology company from its Beaverton campus to Raleigh, N.C.
The idea that Tektronix, once the state’s largest employer, would leave Oregon is as daunting as the possibility that Nike, or Columbia Sportswear, would someday give up on its home.
And in Oregon, today’s view and tomorrow’s forecast are bleak.
“The combination of high taxes, poor services and poor schools isn’t a winning one, and that’s where we are,” Vollum says. “You put those pieces together and you have a place that’s not desirable for people if they’re starting or running a business.”
That’s not all you have.
You have Dutch Bros, the state’s second-most-valuable company, moving its corporate headquarters from Grants Pass to Phoenix.
The slow vanishing of Oregon-based companies may be picking up speed. A January 2025 report by the University of Oregon’s Institute for Policy Research & Engagement found that Oregon businesses are routinely recruited to expand outside the state, leading to a loss of “thousands of potential jobs and billions of potential private investments in the past five years.”
That two-thirds of those recruited businesses have reported “moving or expanding outside Oregon” isn’t surprising.
How much faith can one retain in the local workforce when Oregon’s fourth and eighth grade test scores for reading and writing are among the nation’s worst?
Ponder that for a moment. Even as spending per pupil has soared, Oregon’s test scores have bottomed out. The state is dead last in fourth grade reading and math scores and—thank heaven for West Virginia—the numbers are almost as discouraging at the eighth grade level. Those scores are terrifying forecasts of economic growth and stability.
How does one recruit talented tech workers to Portland’s central city, where they will be forced to pay the highest income tax rates outside the island of Manhattan?
And how long will entrepreneurs continue to believe Oregon is fertile ground on which to build or keep their companies?
“We have so many regulations [that] it is very difficult to do business here,” Jordan Pape, the president and CEO of The Papé Group, based in Eugene, wrote in an email. “[We] need a public policy agenda that wants to lure, rather than lose, business investment.”
Our cultural institutions may not otherwise survive.
Cratering test scores. Self-defeating tax policies. Empty office towers. And the lingering exhaust fumes from the Oregon companies that are moving on.
Fewer Oregonians are quitting their jobs as hiring slows
Oregon Live | By Mike Rogoway
The “Great Resignation” is well and truly over, with the number of Oregonians quitting their jobs down to the lowest point in more than four years.
Oregon and most other states faced an acute labor shortage in the pandemic’s immediate aftermath. Flush with federal stimulus payments, workers were being choosy about where — and whether — they worked. Many people left longtime jobs for higher pay, better working conditions or a more flexible schedule.
HOUSING
Portland could forgo $63M for parks, other capital projects to spur homebuilding
Oregon Live | By Jonathan Bach
A plan sponsored by Mayor Keith Wilson and Gov. Tina Kotek to waive all housing development fees to accelerate Portland’s homebuilding goals could cost the city up to $63 million for parks, transportation and other infrastructure over three years, according to new city estimates.
Wilson and Kotek unveiled the proposal in May to suspend the system development charges over the next three years or until 5,000 new units are in the pipeline. To local governments, the charges are assessed on development because new construction strains existing streets and green spaces, but developers have long viewed them as a barrier to building.
While moves to generate new housing stock have generally garnered support, the high price tag could make it difficult to pass after a contentious budget season has shown how fraught it is to move funding from one city priority to another.
Still, the mayor and governor are betting the exemption will kickstart desperately needed housing construction. Portland gained 818 new market-rate housing units last year, the lowest number in a decade, according to a report included with the proposed ordinance online. The city is expected to see similar construction levels for the next three years.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
The president just unraveled years of work on tribal rights, salmon and clean energy. So what happens next?
OPB | By Tony Schick
President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Thursday pulling the federal government out of the deal. Trump’s decision halted a government-wide initiative to restore abundant salmon runs in the Columbia and Snake rivers and signaled an end to the government’s willingness to consider removing dams that blocked their free flow.
Trump signed an executive order in April to “restore American seafood competitiveness” but in revoking the Columbia River agreement has canceled millions of dollars to support the programs that seed the ocean with fish to catch. He signed a separate executive order on his first day in office to “unleash American energy dominance” but has now reversed a commitment, made under the Biden salmon deal, to build new sources of domestic energy. This week’s action has sent federal agencies back to court, where judges have repeatedly shackled power production at hydroelectric dams because of its impact on the endangered fish.
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