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To contact me, please click here: Rep.VirgleOsborne@oregonlegislature.gov
Hello Friends & Neighbors,
Here is some news from week 2 of short session at the Oregon State Legislature.
~ Virgle
Oregon House committee passes bill designed to curb high-interest lending
The Oregonian/OregonLive
An Oregon House committee on Tuesday passed a bill that would more tightly enforce the state’s 36% interest rate cap on short-term consumer loans. The bill passed out of the House Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection on a 6-4, party line vote, with no Republican support. Backers say the legislation would shield Oregonians from loans that come with sky-high interest rates, but opponents say it would limit options for borrowers during financial emergencies.…
…Rep. Virgle Osborne, R-Roseburg, the committee’s co-chair, said the bill would limit credit options for those in the most financial need. “This is not going to fix a problem,” he said. “It’s going to create another one.” Osborne joined the three other Republican lawmakers on the committee in voting against the legislation. Osborne also said he would write a minority report about his concerns.
Thousands submit testimony against moving vote on Oregon gas tax
Statesman Journal
Thousands testified in writing and in person for a Feb. 9 public hearing on a bill that would move a referendum vote on increased transportation taxes and fees from the November ballot to the May primary. No Tax Oregon, the group leading the referendum effort, said more than 250,000 people signed on in favor of allowing Oregonians to vote on cost increases in the 2025 transportation package. The referendum put the bill's increases to the gas tax, payroll tax and registration and title fees on hold. Without those funds, legislators are working to fill a $297 million gap in the Oregon Department of Transportation's budget to prevent 470 layoffs and service reductions. "You may argue it's technically legal, but legality is not the same as legitimacy, and this is not what the people asked for," Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, a leader of the referendum and gubernatorial candidate, told the Joint Special Committee On Referendum Petition 2026-302. As of 5:40 p.m. Feb. 9, 3,510 pieces of written testimony had been submitted, the overwhelming majority in opposition. Several lawmakers, including Reps. Court Boice, R-Gold Beach, Diehl, E. Werner Reschke, R-Malin, Dwayne Yunker, R-Grants Pass, and Sen. Christine Drazan, who is also running for governor, all testified against the bill.
Roseburg Rep responds to more Roseburg Forest Products layoffs
KOBI
Oregon lawmakers are reacting to another round of layoffs at Roseburg Forest Products. The company announced its third round of layoffs in six months on Wednesday, impacting approximately 146 positions at its Riddle plywood facility. The latest cuts bring Roseburg Forest Products’ total job losses to nearly 400 since September. Roseburg Republican State Representative Virgle Osborne, who worked for the company decades ago, said timber businesses have been forced to move away from what was once their core focus due to environmental regulations. “It has made timber more expensive. It has made the federal cut less, and we’re not able to be competitive as we used to be competitive. I mean, Douglas County, Roseburg used to be the timber capital of the world, and it should be today.”
Oregon lawmakers mull criminal penalties for threatening public officials
The Oregonian/OregonLive
As threats of violence against public officials continue to rise nationwide, Oregon lawmakers want clear criminal penalties for those who attempt to intimidate a public official or their family. Lawmakers on Monday heard testimony on Senate Bill 1530 and Senate Bill 1516, sponsored by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would make threatening a public official, including a candidate for public office, a crime of aggravated harassment. That would be the least severe category of a felony. The latter piece of legislation includes the provision in a broader public safety legislative package which also empowers magistrate judges to make pretrial release decisions. Both measures specify that the person who issued threatening phone, electronic or written communications must intend to subject the official to “alarm” by conveying a threat to the public official or their family that vows to inflict serious physical injury. Although the bills would also include local prosecutors and assistant attorneys general, they would not go so far as to include other occupations who have reported rising safety concerns with their public-facing jobs, including teachers, health care workers and journalists.
Americans’ optimism about future hits new low, poll finds
The Associated Press
Americans’ hope for their future has fallen to a new low, according to new polling. In 2025, only about 59% of Americans gave high ratings when asked to evaluate how good their life will be in about five years, the lowest annual measure since Gallup began asking this question almost 20 years ago. It’s a warning about the depth of the gloom that has fallen over the country over the past few years. In the data, Gallup’s “current” and “future” lines have tended to move together over time — when Americans are feeling good about the present, they tend to feel optimistic about the future. But the most recent measures show that while current life satisfaction has declined over the last decade, future optimism has dropped even more. The finding comes from a long-standing Gallup question that asks Americans to rate their current and future lives on a scale from 0 to 10. Those who give themselves an 8 or higher on the question about the future are categorized as optimists.
Oregon’s unemployed outnumber job openings by 2 to 1
The Oregonian/OregonLive
Oregon employers had just 46,000 job openings last fall, according to new state figures, the fewest since the pandemic. At the same time, Oregon unemployment has risen to its highest level since the pandemic — 5.2%. The result is that Oregon now has 2.4 unemployed people for each vacant job, according to Anna Johnson of the Oregon Employment Department. That’s a far worse ratio than the U.S. as a whole. Nationally, the number of unemployed is only slightly higher than the number of open jobs. Oregon’s imbalance reflects steady deterioration in the state’s economy. Employment fell by 0.2% in 2025, the only time that’s happened without a national recession since at least 1990. Unemployment climbed to 5.2%, its highest level since the pandemic, amid a historic surge of layoffs. Factories shed the most jobs last year amid a prolonged downturn in Oregon’s manufacturing sector, driven by Intel’s mass layoffs and cuts at many other large employers.
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Live from Salem, State Representative Virgle Osborne with an update on what’s happening during the short session of the Oregon State Legislature.
https://kqennewsradio.com/2026/02/11/inside-douglas-county-02-11-26/
Tune in next Thursday, February 19th for more updates.
Register to testify!
- If there is a bill you are particularly passionate about, you can register to testify either in support or opposition to the bill.
- Advance registration is required! Registration closes 30 minutes before the hearing is scheduled to begin.
- To register, go to https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1, select the “Bills” icon on the top right corner of your page, enter the bill number, and select “Register to Testify.” Or call 1-833-588-4500.
- You will want to fill out the “Public Testimony Registration Form.”
- You will receive an email confirmation with an option to join Microsoft Teams if you cannot testify in person.
Submit a Written Testimony!
- If you prefer not to testify in person, you can also submit written testimony in support or opposition to a bill.
- To submit written testimony, follow the same steps as you would register to testify in front of the committee, but you will select “Submit Testimony” and fill out the “Written Testimony Submission Form.”
- Written testimony must be submitted up to 48 hours after the committee meeting start time.
Testifying on a bill gives you a voice in Oregon’s legislature. The voice of the people is the cornerstone of democracy! Let yours be heard today.
Yours Truly,
 Representative Virgle Osborne
House District 2
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1402
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-375, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.VirgleOsborne@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/osborne
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