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Oregon News
Patient release at Oregon State Hospital raises concern for public safety among officials
KATU | By Jennifer Singh
Marion County law enforcement agencies are raising concerns over the recent release of a patient from the Oregon State Hospital, claiming the man still poses serious risks to the community.
Brannaman, who is from Portland, was arrested in Grants Pass in 2021, accused of lighting cars on fire and slashing tires.
He also has a criminal record dating back to 2013 that includes second-degree rape of a child under the age of 16, private indecency, and third-degree sexual abuse.
POLITICS
Bill to move Oregon gas tax referendum date passes first hurdle
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason
A bill to move the date of the gas tax referendum vote will move forward, despite thousands of people testifying against it.
The bill has sparked opposition because the referendum petition, signed by hundreds of thousands of Oregonians, noted the election date as Nov. 3.
Legislators can change that date with a simple majority vote. Democrats are seeking to do so.
More than 4,600 pieces of written testimony have been submitted on the bill. Fewer than 75 are in support.
Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, who was one of the representatives added to the committee, said the prior two public hearings were improper because they lacked quorum and highlighted that there was no public hearing for the amendment legislators adopted.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, and Boshart Davis both said the 2025 transportation package, passed in a special session, could have set May as the date for a referendum election if the bill was referred. Starr is a leader of the referendum effort.
He was also part of a 1999 bill when another gas tax hike was proposed and later referred. That bill did set a date for the election.
Chotzen quoted Starr supporting the move in 1999 and saying an earlier vote was constitutional and necessary to get projects done. That same reasoning applies today, he said.
The current situation “is clearly different,” Starr argued.
“We did it right in 1999,” he said, pointing to bipartisanship as a strength in comparison to the 2025 transportation package, which passed almost entirely along party lines.
Democrats "are trying to find ways to justify a very political process,” Boshart Davis said. “And if I were in your shoes, I would try to find every possible reason too, because it's terrible and it looks terrible. But at the end of the day, this body is saying to Oregonians 'we know better than you do.'"
The bill now goes to the Senate.
Democratic Oregon lawmakers advance bill to move transportation tax referendum to May
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Supporters say moving the date would give voters a say on the measure as soon as possible, and give lawmakers the clarity they need to find a long-term funding solution as the Oregon Department of Transportation’s budget gap grows. Many opponents, however, characterized it as an effort to subvert the will of nearly a quarter-million voters and protect Democrats from appearing on general election ballots next to an unpopular tax hike.
More than 4,500 people submitted written testimony against the bill and more than 200 registered to speak against it at two public hearings this week, arguing it ignores the will of more than 200,000 Oregonians who signed referendum petitions expecting the vote to take place in November. Just 65 people submitted testimony supporting it.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, said he believes the bill will be “in front of the courts.” Starr was also a leader in the campaign.
“When the voters of Oregon take their time to weigh in how they did in such a short amount of time, with almost four times as many signatures as needed to cry out to their legislators to say, ‘We don’t like this, we’ve tried to use our voice in so many ways and this is all we have left,’ and we’re saying no… is so disrespectful,” House Minority Leader Lucetta Elmer, R-McMinnville, said.
Democrats push back, remind committee of ODOT funding crisis
Rep. Willy Chotzen, D-Portland, contested remarks from his Republican colleagues.
“This is in no way unprecedented,” Chotzen said, after quoting Starr’s House floor remarks in 1999 when he supported similar legislation to move a referendum on a gas tax law to May.
Starr was in the majority when lawmakers over two decades ago passed a bill that raised the gas tax and set the referendum election date for May. In that election, more than 87% of voters rejected a gas tax increase.
“To compare what happened in 1999 to 2025 and 2026 is a false comparison,” Starr said, adding that the bill to raise gas taxes that year had support from across the political aisle.
Bill that would ban needle exchanges near Oregon schools will not advance
KPTV
A bill that would have banned needle exchanges near schools and childcare facilities will not advance in the Oregon legislature, according to a local health coalition.
Oregon Senator Christine Drazan, R-Canby, sent a statement to FOX 12 on Thursday regarding the bill:
“Disappointed but not surprised that once again extreme ideology has prevailed over common sense and public safety in the Oregon Legislature. SB 1573 was a bipartisan bill to ensure that kids who walk to school don’t have to step over needles to get there. It would have stopped so-called harm reduction programs from handing out needles within 2,000 feet of a school or childcare facility. Tina Kotek’s allies in Salem killed the bill today. Oregon deserves better.”
Drazan also said the ADA ruling argument is disingenuous and that “this concern was not flagged by the Legislative Counsel.”
FOX 12 reached out to the non-partisan Legislative Counsel to ask about their legal opinion on SB 1573 and the impact of the case in Lewis County.
Senior Deputy Legal Counsel Suzanne Trujillo said that the federal order issued in the Gather Church v. Lewis County case is not binding on Oregon courts.
Trujillo added that the order granted a preliminary injunction rather than a full decision on the merits of the case, and since the case was eventually settled, the lawsuit will not set a legal precedent that is binding on Oregon courts.
Oregon lawmakers advance bipartisan bill to replace faithless electors
KOIN 6 | By Michaela Bourgeois
Oregon Senate Majority Leader Kayse Jama (D- E Portland, Boring & Damascus) and Minority Leader Bruce Starr (R- Dundee) advanced Senate Bill 1509, which aims to hold presidential electors accountable to Oregon voters.
“Voter trust hinges on a system that works as intended,” Starr said. “This legislation takes an important step toward strengthening the integrity of our elections by holding electors to their pledge and ensuring every Oregonian knows their vote counts.”
Why Oregon legislative leadership is renewing effort to limit bills
Statesman Journal | By Dianne Lugo
"House Bill 4002 is, for sure, not the most pressing issue that Oregonians are concerned about, but my hope is that by passing it, we can improve transparency, promote thoughtful policy making and make the legislative process more accessible to all Oregonians," House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, said during a public hearing in the House Committee on Rules on Feb. 12.
Bill to scale back Oregon child welfare investigations in jeopardy in Salem
The Oregonian | By Betsy Hammond
A bill to scale back the grounds for Oregon child welfare investigations in order to allow more focus on serious cases appears in jeopardy in the Legislature.
Committee Chair Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, told The Oregonian/OregonLive Thursday that she remains optimistic that the bill will advance with only minor changes. “I am going to hope we can get to a place of agreement … I am hopeful that pieces of the bill will remain intact.”
But she said it’s also possible the bill would be so far gutted that she would rather see it shelved this year.
A Union Asks Lawmakers to Repeal a Ballot Measure the Same Union Passed at Great Expense
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
United Food & Commercial Workers Local 555 employed scorched earth tactics and big money to pass Measure 119. Now they want to kill it.
Lawmakers say ‘virtual power plants’ could help Oregon. Utilities say they’re already here
OPB | By Monica Samayoa
An Oregon bill would create statewide regulations to increase the use of “virtual power plants,” also known as community-based power, to help harness and distribute energy that’s been generated in homes onto the grid when demand is at its peak.
But some of the state’s major utilities already have programs like these in place, and opponents of the bill say new regulations could disrupt current progress that’s underway.
New Oregon bill could crack down on AI software that encourages suicidal thoughts
KGW | By John Tanet
If the bill passes, people or companies that make these chatbots will be legally required to tell users that they're talking to software, not a person. It would also require the bots to detect things like suicidal ideation or suggestions of self harm, then immediately stop the conversation and refer the user to a suicide hotline or crisis management agency.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Portland trails in post-pandemic recovery as jobs and foot traffic lag
KATU | By Tanvi Varma
A new EcoNorthwest report paints a grim picture of the Portland metro area’s economy.
Starting with the central city’s foot traffic, the study shows daily trips remain down by 32,000 as job growth stalls and affordability challenges persist across the region.
According to researchers, Portland’s central city may need another decade to return to pre-pandemic foot-traffic levels — a key driver of economic vitality for downtown retailers and small businesses.
While Portland has made strides in some areas, the report points to troubling trends.
“We are last in multifamily permitting in America. Our office vacancies are the highest in modern history in our community,” Wilkerson said.
“Our region, dependent on trade, saw the largest drop in export value in the country. We are 80 out of 81 on real estate investability. And we are at the bottom of 50 American cities in terms of employment,” Wilkerson said.
Despite ongoing initiatives to address housing affordability across the metro area, the report finds that affordable housing has declined.
“Affordable housing has gone down. And I have to venture a guess that’s not because people love the state of homelessness and the affordability of our housing,” Wilkerson said. “If we look at the share of renters who are cost-burdened — those who spend more than 30% of their gross income on rent — we have the exact same percentage today that we did a decade ago.”
Oregon’s Economy Has Lagged for Decades. Some Blame a Shrinking Workforce and Too Much Red Tape.
Willamette Week | By Kushboo Rathore
Until 2009, Oregon outperformed on that national metric: the value of everything the state produces—everything from computer chips to hazelnuts—divided by its population.
But since then, the productivity gap has widened to nearly $25,000 per capita.
2026 ELECTION
Who will be Oregon’s next governor? First poll of 2026 names this candidate
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
Gov. Tina Kotek currently holds a lead over three top Republicans seeking to challenge her in the governor’s race this fall, according to a new statewide poll conducted by a California-based firm.
The poll shows Kotek leading by at least five percentage points when matched head-to-head against state Sen. Christine Drazan of Canby, state Rep. Ed Diehl of Scio and former Portland Trail Blazer Chris Dudley. The three are considered top contenders to win the Republican nomination.
That’s despite the majority of respondents saying they hold an unfavorable view of the governor and that Oregon is moving in the wrong direction.
In head-to-head matchups, Kotek led Drazan 45-40%, Diehl 43-37% and Dudley 45-35%. Those percentages included voters who said they would vote for or leaned toward a specific candidate. Remaining respondents said they were undecided or would vote for another candidate.
Despite her success in the head-to-head matchups, the majority of respondents — 54% — said they had an unfavorable opinion of Kotek, while 41% said they had a favorable opinion of the Democrat three years into her term. And 58% of participants said they felt the state was on the wrong track, while only 25% said they felt Oregon was trending upwards.
“Tina Kotek is a failed governor who doesn’t deserve a second term,” Drazan’s campaign manager, Jim Dornan, said in a statement. “Oregonians are desperate for change and Sen. Christine Drazan is an experienced leader who’s in the best position to deliver results.”
“In my matchup, the governor’s support drops and more voters are still deciding — that tells me Oregonians are yearning for new leadership,” Diehl said in a statement. “I’m a problem solver who delivers results, and the referendum effort has proven that. It shows that when we listen to the people, we can accomplish the impossible.”
“Tina Kotek is clearly a vulnerable incumbent and these results are extremely encouraging for our campaign,” Dudley’s campaign said in a statement. “We’ve been a candidate for only two and half weeks, while our opponents in this race (on both sides of the aisle) have been running for years and continue to make our state more unaffordable for Oregonians.”
Controversial Oregon petition to ban hunting and fishing gains momentum
KPTV
Animal rights advocates are close to having enough signatures to qualify a ballot measure in Oregon that would dramatically change how animals are treated under state law, including banning most hunting, fishing, livestock farming and animal research.
EDUCATION
4 in 10 young Oregon children aren’t ready for kindergarten, 3rd worst rate in nation, survey finds
The Oregonian | By Betsy Hammond
Oregon has the nation’s third lowest rate of children on track to be ready for kindergarten, above only Arkansas and Kentucky, according to new data from the National Survey of Children’s Health.
That survey, given to a small but representative sample of parents by the Census Bureau, asks the parent to rate their 3- to 5-year-old on 28 different aspects of readiness, from early literacy and math skills to self regulation to motor skills. Parent responses are measured against developmental milestones keyed to the age of their child.
Open Letter Calls for Greater Sunlight on PPS’s Seismic Decisions
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
The letter argues the district has deprived many affected community members of the opportunity to participate in the seismic discussion.
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