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Oregon News
POLITICS
Poll Shows Voters Aren’t Worried About Oregon Roads and Don’t Want to Pay to Fix Them
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
As the Oregon Legislature prepares for looming floor votes on House Bill 2025, a transportation funding bill at the center of the legislative session, polling obtained by the Oregon Journalism Project shows voters are unconvinced of the need for legislation that would raise nearly $2 billion in new funding annually.
And perhaps more importantly, the poll shows voters are very reluctant to pay one of the biggest taxes the bill would impose.
The backdrop: The Joint Transportation Committee toured the state last year, seeding the ground for a bill that would bail out the Oregon Department of Transportation, which faces a deficit from ballooning project costs.
Friday’s fractious meeting on HB 2025 featured a hard party-line split, a marked difference from the last time lawmakers passed a large transportation funding bill. In 2017 the bill passed with bipartisan support and was jointly carried on the floor of both chambers by teams of Democrats and Republicans.
At Friday’s meeting, state Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany), co-vice chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment, voiced concerns about the substance of the bill and the process by which it was developed, which Boshart Davis said included little Republican input.
Some male Republicans, including co-vice chair Sen. Bruce Starr (R-Dundee), raised equally forceful objections, but only Boshart Davis’ concern appeared to provoke co-chair Sen. Chris Gorsek (D-Gresham). Gorsek yelled at Boshart Davis, prompting her to announce from the dais she would file a Rule 27 workplace conduct complaint against Gorsek for treating her differently from her male colleagues.
That in turn caused seven House Republicans to boycott Monday’s session in support of Boshart Davis. The House can operate without the seven. (House rules require 40 of 60 members to be present.)
Key Oregon Democrat resigns from transportation committee after complaints about his conduct
Oregon Live | By Carlos Fuentes
Democratic Sen. Chris Gorsek of Gresham said today he has resigned as co-chair of the legislative transportation committee, less than three days after he interrupted and reproached a Republican on the committee, prompting outcry and a boycott on Monday from several House Republicans.
His resignation from leading the committee comes as lawmakers continue to negotiate a massive, multibillion dollar transportation package that includes an array of tax and fee hikes, primarily to maintain the state’s degraded roads and bridges.
Gorsek’s departure from the committee adds even more unpredictability to an already uncertain situation. Because Democrats have the exact number of members in each chamber required to pass tax hikes along party lines, they would need every one of their members in the House and Senate to vote for the package, assuming Republicans unite in their opposition to large tax hikes.
But Democrats have appeared fractured in recent days. On Friday, Democratic leaders removed a Democrat from the transportation committee, Sen. Mark Meek of Gladstone, after he said he would not support the package. At least one House Democrat, Rep. Annessa Hartman, who represents half of Meek’s district, said she would not support the bill after Meek’s replacement.
Democrats postponed multiple votes on the bill last week and did not release final revenue estimates on the tax increases in the package until Friday, prompting concern from members of both parties. Lawmakers have little time to act; by law, the legislative session must end by Sunday.
During Friday’s meeting, Gorsek interrupted Republican Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis of Albany while she criticized Democrats for proposing a transportation package that would raise or implement a bevy of taxes and fees for Oregon’s transportation network.
Throughout the 90-minute meeting, Boshart Davis characterized the transportation package and the rushed process to move the bill out of committee as “grossly irresponsible,” saying that Oregonians could not afford such high tax increases.
Gorsek interrupted Boshart Davis after she said the process to craft House Bill 2025 had been “really bad” and condemned Democrats for holding public hearings on the package before full cost estimates had been made public.
“Excuse me,” Gorsek said, speaking over Boshart Davis and Rep. Susan McLain, his fellow co-chair of the committee. “You are impugning all of us that have worked on that bill, so stop with that. ... Stop with it. You’ve made your point, representative.”
Following the meeting, Boshart Davis filed a legislative complaint against Gorsek, alleging that he had violated a provision of Legislative rules requiring a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace.
“His body language and speech were intimidating and aggressive,” Boshart Davis said in a complaint to the Legislative Equity Office Friday. “The remainder of the committee, I stayed quiet because I didn’t know how I would be treated by Co-chair Gorsek or if and how I would be shut down.”
Gorsek’s actions on Friday were “over the top and unbecoming of somebody who was in power,” Boshart Davis told The Oregonian/OregonLive Monday. “All I was doing was calling the bill and the process irresponsible, and that is what triggered him.”
Soon after, House Republican Leader Christine Drazan asked Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, to remove Gorsek from his committee assignments; initiate a vote to censure the lawmaker; require a building-wide notification prior to Gorsek entering the Capitol; and require him to undergo workplace harassment and anger management training.
Eleven House Republicans boycotted Monday morning’s floor session, citing Gorsek’s actions and the rushed, convoluted process to move the transportation package forward. Unlike past Republican walkouts in the House or the Senate, this boycott did not involve enough of their caucus to prevent the House from voting on bills.
Sen. Khanh Pham, a Democrat from Portland and member of the committee, will replace Gorsek as co-chair of the committee.
Some Oregon House Republicans boycott floor session after committee transportation debate
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
With less than one week left in Oregon’s six-month legislative session, tensions are rising between Republicans and Democrats over this year’s highly anticipated transportation bill.
On Monday, seven Republican House members announced a boycott standing in solidarity with Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, who filed a complaint against Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, alleging he violated legislative rules for maintaining a respectful and inclusive environment during a Friday meeting of the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment. Gorsek is the committee’s Senate co-chair.
With the legislative session hurtling toward a constitutionally required end date of June 29, lawmakers are scrambling to pass an unpopular bill that would sustainably fund the state’s transportation needs for maintenance and repairs. Lawmakers voted to send House Bill 2025 back to its committee for revisions in a not-yet-scheduled meeting.
Republicans have been outspoken about their opposition to the bill, which would raise and create dozens of new transportation fees and taxes and generate nearly $14.6 billion for the Oregon Department of Transportation over the next 10 years. Boshart Davis has repeatedly criticized bill sponsors for not providing a public fiscal impact until after the public hearing process.
“We’re left with a $15 billion tax increase with a few days left in session with a really bad process,” Boshart Davis said. “When we talk about being grossly irresponsible, that’s what this is. I will be a no on this…”
Gorsek then interrupted her and accused her of impugning the motives of the lawmakers who crafted the bill. They spoke over each other for about 20 seconds, with Gorsek twice telling Boshart Davis to “stop” and “you’ve made your point” before House co-chair Susan McLain, a Forest Grove Democrat sitting between the two, convinced them to stop.
In her letter to the Legislative Equity Office, obtained by the Oregon Capital Chronicle, Boshart Davis said she intentionally used “grossly irresponsible” to describe House Bill 2025 because it’s how Rep. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, described her amendment earlier in the meeting. While multiple men on the committee spoke against the bill, Boshart Davis alleged Gorsek was only aggressive to her.
The House Republican Caucus put out a statement on Monday morning calling for Gorsek’s censure and removal from committee assignments.
“The dysfunction in the legislature has become a disgrace,” House Republicans said in their joint statement. “Silencing opposition, ejecting a dissenting Democrat from the committee, and hiding cost estimates until the last minute is not how democracy is supposed to work.”
Gorsek on Monday afternoon said he resigned from the committee to let lawmakers focus on completing the transportation bill.
Most House Republicans were there for Monday’s session, though an early draft of their press release erroneously sent to journalists indicated they might not attend. Along with the eventual release, that document included one draft statement declaring that Republicans had boycotted Monday’s floor session in solidarity with Boshart Davis and another draft statement in which House Republican Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, called for Gorsek to resign from the Legislature.
'Harassing and intimidating': OR Senator Chris Gorsek resigns from committee after 'aggressive outbursts'
KOIN | By Michaela Bourgeois, Ariel Jacobazzi
Oregon State Senator Chris Gorsek (D-Gresham) resigned from his joint transportation committee seat on Monday after House Republicans accused him of “aggressive outbursts,” and called for his resignation.
During the work session, House Republicans said Co-Vice Chair Representative Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany) was “singled out and aggressively shouted down on multiple occasions,” by Gorsek.
“It’s really, disappointing at this point that, everybody from Co-Chair McLane, all the way up to the presiding officers at this point have not issued any sort of apology or taken responsibility for it,” Boshart Davis said.
On Monday, House Republicans called for Gorsek to be censured and demanded Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) remove Gorsek from his committee assignments.
“Today House Republicans stand united with our colleague, Representative Boshart Davis, who was the target of Senator Gorsek’s repeated aggressive outbursts in committee last week. Prior to Representative Boshart Davis’s comments, multiple men on the committee spoke in opposition to HB 2025, but Senator Gorsek’s out-of-control shouting and aggressive behavior was directed solely towards Representative Boshart Davis,” House Republican Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby) said.
2 Democrats removed from transportation committee in Salem
KGW | By Anthony Macuk, Blair Best
Oregon lawmakers are rushing to get a major transportation package passed by the end of the session on Sunday, and the proceedings took a dramatic turn Monday with the sudden departures of Democratic Sen. Chris Gorsek and Senate President Rob Wagner from the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment, the committee that developed the package.
Democrats control both chambers of the legislature and took the lead in drafting the package, coming up with a lengthy list of road- and vehicle-related tax and fee hikes to bring in an estimated $14.5 billion over 10 years. Republicans criticized the tax hikes and called for an alternative approach that redirects more funding to road maintenance by cutting other programs.
The bill did ultimately pass out of the committee on a 7-5 vote Friday evening, and it advanced to the House floor on Monday morning — only to be immediately sent back to the transportation committee for further amendments.
Oregon House passes transportation package as several Republicans boycott
KATU | By Vasili Varlamos
As the end of the legislative sessions draws near, Oregon lawmakers are still a ways away from passing a comprehensive transportation funding package.
The Transportation Reinvestment Infrastructure Package (TRIP) was scheduled for a vote on the House Floor on Tuesday, but House leaders returned the bill to committee on Monday morning.
Monday's decision followed a bumpy work session on Friday. The session got tense when State Representative Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany) spoke out against the tax increases in the package.
It is unclear which representatives are against the bill. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-Eugene) spoke with moderate democrats who were skeptical about the transportation package as it stands.
While Senate Democrats hold a supermajority by a single vote, the bill may still face challenges in the chamber.
“I have to admit; just fully state that this package is fundamentally flawed for many reasons,” said Meek on Friday. “One of the reasons is that it's not affordable to Oregonians. We are facing dire, and I do have to say, dire economic times."
No relief coming for Oregon’s struggling pharmacies as bill fails
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Jake Thomas
Oregon lawmakers’ latest attempt to prop up the state’s struggling retail pharmacies by regulating middlemen companies has died amid uncertainty over the legislation’s complexity and pushback from insurance companies.
House Bill 3212’s failure follows more than a decade of legislative attempts to bring additional oversight and transparency to pharmacy benefit managers — previously overlooked intermediary companies that have attracted scrutiny as they’ve taken on an outsized role in the drug supply chain. Pharmacists now warn Oregonians will have a harder time accessing prescription drugs.
The bill was intended to address pharmacists’ complaints that pharmacy benefit managers use their clout to underpay for prescription drugs dispensed by retail pharmacies, causing many to close or reduce services. It would have mandated that pharmacy benefit managers reimburse retail pharmacists for the cost of a drug’s ingredients and pay them “dispensing fees” to help cover their cost of doing business, among other provisions.
But the bill languished in the House Rules Committee.
State legislatures, including Oregon, have tried to level the playing field for pharmacies. Mayo said reform efforts in Oregon have focused on requiring pharmacy benefit managers to pay dispensing fees, an approach adopted by Alabama and Arkansas. A similar effort failed in Oregon in 2023.
While there is bipartisan support for the fees in Oregon, insurance companies and other opponents argue they would drive up the price of already costly prescription drugs.
Oregon Senate OKs bill to strengthen care facility investigations, oversight
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
Patients wandering the halls. Waste and fecal matter on the floor. Exit doors left open without any employees on duty for supervision.
Stories like these took center stage in the Oregon Senate on Monday, when lawmakers overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 739, a bill that aims to enact stricter oversight for Oregon’s long-term and memory care facilities. The measure would require facilities to notify residents’ contacts when a site is found to have violated state health policies on neglect and abuse or if a location is placed on an oversight watchlist by the state.
The legislation gained urgency in the wake of multiple stories from patients and families with experiences of neglect that ultimately turned fatal for Oregonians living in assisted care facilities.
The bill cleared the Senate with only one vote in opposition, from Sen. Noah Robinson, R-Cave Junction, who did not speak about his decision. Robinson votes against most bills that come before him.
Two senators who opposed the bill in the Senate Committee on Human Services in April, Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, and Diane Linthicum, R-Beatty, both voted in favor of the legislation on Monday.
Oregon lawmakers pass $2.6 billion housing budget bill that would cut eviction prevention funding
OPB | By Bryce Dole
Oregon House lawmakers on Monday passed a budget bill that allocates more than $2.6 billion toward confronting the state’s housing and homelessness crises.
In a 39-3 vote, lawmakers approved House Bill 5011, which reduces the Housing and Community Services Department’s current budget by roughly $1 billion over the next two years.
Eighteen lawmakers were either excused from the floor vote or absent. Ten of them were Republicans who were boycotting the floor session in protest of a Democratic lawmaker’s conduct during a committee meeting last Friday.
Oregon bill would force health insurers to cover non-opioid pain treatment
Oregon Live | By Kristine de Leon
The Oregon Senate on Monday voted to pass a bill aimed at making non-opioid pain treatments more accessible and affordable for patients.
Senate Bill 598, which cleared the chamber 23-6, would require health insurers to cover at least one non-opioid alternative for every opioid they cover — and bar them from placing stricter approval processes or higher out-of-pocket costs on those alternatives. The measure now heads to the Oregon House with only a few days left in the legislative session.
The bill’s requirements would apply not only to commercial health plans but also to public insurance programs such as the Public Employees’ Benefit Board and the Oregon Educators Benefit Board, both administered by the Oregon Health Authority. The agency estimates the change will cost approximately $800,000 in the upcoming two-year budget cycle, largely due to modest increases in insurance premiums.
Opioid medications are often prescribed to treat acute and chronic pain, but they also carry a risk of addiction and misuse. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 8.6 million Americans age 12 and older reported misusing prescription opioids in 2023, and more than five million had a prescription use disorder. The agency found that the majority of people who misused opioids did so to relieve physical pain.
Oregon Senate passes bill to address health care shortages
KATU
The Oregon Senate has passed a bill aimed at addressing health care worker shortages in the state.
The bill allows physicians from other countries to get a provisional license in Oregon under the supervision of a local doctor.
Hundreds of thousands of Oregonians live in areas with a shortage of primary care medical providers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
One Republican joined Senate Democrats in supporting the bill.
NATURAL RESOURCES & WILDFIRE
Oregon House passes bill to tax oral nicotine products, direct funds to wildfire mitigation
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
The Oregon House in a 37-8 vote on Monday passed a bill to create a new tax on oral nicotine products and use those funds to combat wildfires.
House Bill 3940 would impose a $0.65 tax on nicotine pouches with 20 units or less, with an additional 3.25 cent tax for each additional unit, rounded to the nearest whole cent beginning Jan. 1.
A third of the funds raised from the tax would go to the Landscape Resiliency Fund for landscape restoration projects and fuel reduction projects on public and private lands. The remaining funds would go to the Community Risk Reduction Fund, which is managed by the Oregon State Fire Marshal to provide funds to local governments to reduce fire risk. Legislative records show the oral nicotine tax would raise approximately $14.3 million for these funds over the next two years.
Chief bill sponsor Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, said the bill represents over a year of diligent work, collaboration and commitment to finding a sustainable path forward for wildfire prevention and response, Levy said.
The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration. The bill must receive a Senate vote before taking effect. The Oregon Legislature must adjourn on June 29.
Oregon lawmakers approve measure to help pay for wildfire prevention
OPB | By Lauren Dake
The bill that moved through the House would tax ZYN and other products, and divert a portion of interest generated from a rainy day fund.
With wildfires already burning across the state, Oregon lawmakers approved a measure on Monday they hope will help prepare the state to both fight and prevent future fires.The measure, House Bill 3940, would tax oral nicotine products and tap the interest on Oregon’s rainy day savings account and put the money toward wildfire mitigation.
Even with the Monday boycott of some House Republicans, the bill garnered bipartisan support.
Lawmakers in support of the measure noted that it’s the first time the state will establish a permanent source of funding specifically for wildfire mitigation and prevention efforts.
“This bill doesn’t pit urban and rural Oregonians against each other. It recognizes that all of us are impacted by wildfires,” said Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo. “Whether you live in a small timber town or a city choked with smoke each summer, this is a statewide issue.”
Lawmakers propose nicotine pouch tax to fund wildfire efforts in Oregon
KATU | By Sana Aljobory
As Oregon lawmakers race against time to secure funding for wildfire prevention, a new proposal to tax oral nicotine pouches passed the House today. The bill, HB 3940 B, is now set to be reviewed by the Senate.
State Senator Jeff Golden, a Democrat from Ashland, emphasized the urgency of the situation. "Right now, we are getting towards desperate on funding wildfire for the coming biennium," he said.
The proposed tax would impose a 0.65-cent fee on packs containing 20 or fewer pouches of products like Zyn and Rogue. For packs with more than 20 pouches, a three-cent fee per pouch would be applied.
Oregon House lawmakers approve nicotine tax to fund wildfire prevention
Oregon Live | By Sami Edge
Oregon House lawmakers on Monday approved a new tax on nicotine pouches to help fund wildfire prevention – giving new meaning to the idea that the products are “smoke free.”
The tax on oral nicotine products – primarily ZYN pouches – is one part of a policy patchwork projected to raise about $45 million in the next biennium for wildfire prevention efforts. The bill approved by lawmakers on Monday also diverts 20% of the interest on Oregon’s rainy day savings account to pay for fire prevention.
The $45 million in revenue that would be generated by House Bill 3940 is just a sliver of the money that advocates hoped lawmakers would dedicate on an ongoing basis to combat wildfire. But it’s a start, Democrats and Republicans said on the House floor Monday, before they pushed it through on a vote of 37-8, just exceeding the three-fifths 36-member vote required to raise any tax. A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in favor of the bill and two Democrats voted against it. The bill heads next to the Senate.
Rep. Bobby Levy, an Echo Republican, carried the bill on the floor. She told fellow lawmakers that a diverse, bipartisan group came together and that ultimately the bill “does the most with the resources we readily have available.”
Time Running Out on a Bill That Could Help Wildfire Victims
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
As the 2025 legislative session lurches toward its conclusion, a bipartisan bill aimed at speeding wildfire damage payouts remains stalled in committee.
The looming expiration of a federal tax break for fire victims adds urgency to Senate Bill 926.
That tax break—available to people who get financial compensation for losses in fires that are declared disasters—is set to expire at the end of this year. If it expires, as of January 2026, fire victims would begin paying federal income tax on any wildfire compensation. On a million-dollar payout, for example, a third of the money would go to Uncle Sam. (Another third or so typically goes to the victim’s attorney.)
SB 926 would, among other things, prohibit utilities from charging ratepayers for costs associated with wildfires the utilities were found responsible for, and compel them to settle with wildfire victims. It would restrict utilities from paying dividends, repurchasing stock, or making certain other expenditures if they have unpaid obligations to wildfire victims.
Lawmakers from wildfire-scarred districts sponsored the legislation as a means of pushing PacifiCorp to promptly compensate property owners for damages from fires for which the utility is liable. If that compensation were to be paid out after the federal tax break expires, however, it would lose a big chunk of its value because recipients would have to pay federal taxes.
Trump administration plans to rescind rule blocking logging on national forest lands
OPB | By Morgan Lee, Becky Bohrer
The so-called roadless rule adopted in the last days of Bill Clinton’s presidency in 2001 long has chafed Republican lawmakers, especially in the West where national forests sprawl across vast, mountainous terrain and the logging industry has waned.
According to Oregon Wild, an environmental advocacy group, close to 2 million acres of Oregon national forests could be affected — areas around the Metolius River, the Sandy River, the Oregon Dunes, Mount Hebo, Hardesty Mountain, Tumalo Mountain, and the Upper Hood River Valley.
The roadless rule impeded road construction and “responsible timber production” that would have helped reduce the risk of major wildfires, Rollins said at the annual meeting of the Western Governors Association.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Stolen construction excavator used for audacious robbery of bank ATMs in Clackamas
Oregon Live | By Tatum Todd
Detectives are investigating after an ATM in Clackamas was robbed on Monday using a stolen excavator.
Portland City Council appoints 21 members, 6 alternates to new police oversight board
Oregon Live | By Zaeem Shaikh
The Portland City Council has appointed 21 members and six alternates to serve on the city’s new police oversight board, more than four years after Portland voters overwhelmingly approved its creation.
ECONOMY
Intel will shut down its automotive business, lay off most of the department’s employees
Oregon Live | By Mike Rogoway
Intel will shut down its small automotive business and lay off the majority of the workers in that segment, the latest step in the chipmaker’s dramatic downsizing.
In April, new CEO Lip-Bu Tan warned employees of “several months” of layoffs in response to falling sales and a bleak revenue outlook. Tan hasn’t publicly divulged a strategy for reviving Intel and hasn’t given any media interviews since Intel hired him in March, but he has indicated that he hopes a smaller, more efficient company could be more innovative.
Intel notified manufacturing employees this month that it plans to slash the workforce in that business unit by as much as 20%, beginning in July. That’s a major step back in one of Intel’s core businesses.
EDUCATION
Eleventh-Hour Amendment to Senate Bill Seeks to End Preschool for All Tax
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
An amendment posted late Monday night to an Oregon Senate bill seeks to end Multnomah County’s Preschool for All program.
Under the terms of the amendment, the county would not collect the controversial income tax for 2025 and would phase out the program by June 2027, using existing reserves to pay for its final two years.
The amendment to a previously anodyne bill would bar Multnomah County from imposing an income tax whose proceeds “are to be used for the purpose of providing preschool or early childhood learning services that are not in alignment, as determined by the Department of Early Learning and Care, with the standards and criteria required of state preschool or early learning programs.”
The amendment was requested by the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue; no lawmaker’s name is attached. But people familiar with the matter tell WW that three lawmakers are closely involved with the amendment’s crafting: Sen. Kate Lieber (D-Portland), co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee; Sen. Kathleen Taylor (D-Portland); and the chair of the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue, where the bill currently sits, Sen. Mark Meek (D-Gladstone).
It is also very likely that Gov. Tina Kotek knows exactly what the amendment contains.
After all, it comes in the last week of the Oregon legislative session, amid back-and-forth between Kotek and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson on the economic consequences of the universal preschool program. Kotek argues that it’s driving high earners out of Multnomah County, which she says could have downstream consequences. The county says more people are paying the tax, though they are in lower tax brackets. The amendment also calls on Kotek to negotiate an intergovernmental agreement with the board of County Commissioners to wind down PFA by June 30, 2027.
The program, which voters passed in November 2020, aims to create universal preschool capacity in the county. It is funded by a marginal income tax (1.5% on income over $125,000 for single filers or $200,000 for joint filers, and an additional 1.5% on income over $250,000 for single filers or $400,000 for joint filers).
Lawmaker pushes to curb Oregon kicker payouts for school funding
KGW | By Thomas Shults
As the legislative session winds down, some lawmakers are hoping to push through kicker reforms — one of which would allocate more funding to schools.
House Bill 3659 addresses a need parents and school administrators have been pushing for years. Oregon has long underfunded schools, advocates say, and targeting the kicker may be the easiest path to providing more funding for public schools.
The bill by Oregon Democratic state Rep. Mark Gamba of Milwaukie would curb how much money is redistributed to taxpayers through the kicker, and how often it is "kicked." Under the bill, money would go to things like schools, housing, and for roads.
“We’ve got to start having a pot of money that we can utilize for those things,” Gamba said.
Despite this need, House Bill 3659 appears to have stalled. After being introduced, it was referred to the revenue committee. With no scheduled events for the bill and the legislative session ending Sunday, it's unlikely to gain enough momentum to move through committee and reach the Senate and House floors for a vote.
Gov. Tina Kotek has also explored dipping into the kicker as well. In May, Kotek publicly backed an idea to reallocate a billion dollars from the kicker to fund wildfire costs.
U.S. Senate passes bill to reauthorize funding for rural Oregon, Idaho schools
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the bill to reauthorize a program that has provided billions to schools, roads and other services in rural Oregon and Idaho.
The U.S. Forest Service’s “Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Program,” was initially crafted in 2000 to help offset the loss of timber revenue in rural counties. The program expired at the end of 2023, but the recently passed “Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025” would reauthorize the funding for more than 4,000 school districts and 700 counties across the country through the 2026 fiscal year.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Oregon Department of Energy officially launches new heat pump program
OPB | By Monica Samayoa
Oregonians looking to install a heat pump can now apply to receive up to $2,000 in rebates through a new state incentive program.
That means people who qualify may be able to cut the price of a home heat pump installation by $4,000 if they combine the state incentive with a federal one.
The Oregon Department of Energy’s Heat Pump Purchase program is available for owner-occupied homes, rental homes and homes under construction. The program is funded through the federal government’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, which awarded Oregon $197 million last year.
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