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Retirement - Next year will mark my fourteenth year serving in the Oregon Legislature. I am honored to have had support all these years to represent my constituents. When I was first elected in 2012, I was unsure as to how long I would serve. I decided along the way to continue to serve if my constituents supported me and I had something to contribute. I have been fortunate to have Andrew Hickerson serve as my Chief of Staff for all this time, which has been critical to my success. Based on many factors, one of which is my age, I have decided to retire when my term ends in January 2027. Not an easy decision but one I am comfortable with knowing that many others are qualified to serve and represent Springfield.
Special Session – I was one of the members who could not support the original transportation package presented in the 2025 long session. I collaborated with other colleagues and leadership to draft a smaller package to address the most pressing transportation needs. Time ran out in the session without any final vote. As many know shortly thereafter the Governor called a Special Session to attempt to pass a much smaller, more focused package. While it ended up taking longer than expected, the package did pass and now awaits the Governor’s signature to become law. Work remains to address multiple issues in the operations of ODOT, but the legislature did approve additional measures regarding accountability for public funds. Not everyone agreed with the need or the solution, but as a state along with our local governments, we have a large backlog of investments needed to preserve our transportation infrastructure which the additional funds will help address.
Legislative Days – September legislative days focused on understanding the ever-changing federal government role and the impacts on Oregon projects and programs. In addition, the current approved budget has been a renewed point of discussion based on a projected revenue shortfall and the impacts of declining federal investments. As we move towards the 2026 Short Session hopefully there will be more clarity in many key areas that will lead to actions by the Legislature. The budget impacts were a part of many of the hearings conducted during September legislative days. There was a wide array of potential changes discussed. Including changes to Medicaid, funding for K-12 education along with performance, funding challenges for Higher Education, new changes in the energy and environment areas especially regarding Federal funding, challenges at Travel Oregon, impacts of unemployment growth and underemployment, wildfire season, ever increasing health care costs and the impact on the CCO’s, hospitals and healthcare in general. The next legislative days are scheduled for November 17th, 18th and 19th where most legislative concepts for the short session in 2026 should start to be discussed. The deadline for filing bill concepts is November 21st.
The Short Session – The 2026 short session will convene on February 2nd and adjourn no later than March 9th, 2026. Between now and the session, we have the aforementioned November legislative days and legislative days on Jan 13th, 14th and 15th. Then on January 16th our bill ideas will be dropped and have official bill numbers assigned to them. Given the limitation on the number of bills possible during the short session, the budget limitations, and the continuing changes at the Federal level, any major policy changes should be apparent with proposed legislative actions for consideration in the short session. Once the session starts, any development of major policy changes is problematic given the limited time and need for consideration in both Chambers. In addition, as the budget challenges become clearer, passing policy that has budget implications is highly unlikely. Short sessions take a higher level of patience and focus than long sessions, which all legislators understand, but it is very frustrating at times to members of the public.
I encourage you to stay in contact with my office through email: rep.johnlively@oregonlegislature.gov, by phone at 503-986-1407 or just stopping by, especially if you have issues you are following or concerns about budget impacts. Andrew and I may not have all the answers but certainly have the resources to find them. One more key consideration to get us all through the short session and these very challenging times, is to remember we may not always agree on the answers or approach, but we are all Oregonians with shared values of why we live here and our hopes for the future.
Thank you again for all the support you have provided me over the years. It has truly been an honor representing Springfield.
email: Rep.JohnLively@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1407
address: 900 Court St NE, H-481, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/lively
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