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‘We’re winning so much.’ Trump’s State of the Union seeks to calm economic jitters ahead of midterms
Associated Press
President Donald Trump declared during Tuesday’s State of the Union that “we’re winning so much,” saying he’d sparked a jobs and manufacturing boom at home while imposing a new world order abroad — hoping that offering a long list of his accomplishments can counter approval ratings that have been falling.
His main objective was convincing increasingly wary Americans that the economy is stronger than many believe, and that they should vote for more of the same by backing Republicans during November’s midterm elections.
Oregon News
Bill that would criminalize threats against public officials advances in Legislature
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Several senators shared their experiences receiving threats. That includes Republicans, all of whom voted against the bill, and who pushed back saying that as public officials they should expect some form of public backlash. Some Republicans said it would be outrageous to classify threats in the same category as strangulation, forgery, burglary and theft.
“I don’t think by raising it to a felony, it actually solves the problem,” said Sen. Fred Girod, R-Silverton. “It doesn’t matter who you are or who you represent, you’re here and you’re going to get these.”
Sen. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, said his greatest concern with the bill is that it would criminalize free speech.
Oregon Democrats block plan to notify ICE on felons' release
KDVR | By Kaleb Clark
Senate Democrats have blocked a proposal aimed at increasing cooperation between state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The proposal targeted illegal immigrants convicted of felony crimes.
The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) would have been allowed to track immigration information and coordinate with federal authorities. This would enable federal officials to decide whether to take custody of individuals after serving their sentences.
Oregon’s sanctuary state laws have limited such coordination for decades. Senate Republican Leader Bruce Starr criticized the rejection, emphasizing the importance of public safety.
"This is as common sense as common sense gets," Starr said. He expressed concern over releasing violent felons without federal notification.
Senator Mike McLane voiced similar concerns, highlighting the gravity of the crimes involved. McLane questioned the decision to prevent DOC from notifying federal authorities about serious offenders.
Oregon House Republicans return after walkout
Statesman Journal | By Dianne Lugo, Anastasia Mason
Most Oregon House Republicans returned to the floor Feb. 24 after walking out and denying quorum on Feb. 23, in a move similar to that of their Senate counterparts.
Some Senate Republicans suggested Feb. 23 that the bill should be considered dead after that date. The Secretary of State's office has said the Feb. 25 date gives the "best chance" of having the vote in May, Fahey said Feb. 17.
WATCH: Gov. Kotek holds press conference as referendum bill moves to the House
KATU | By Vasili Varlamos
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is speaking with reporters Tuesday afternoon with 12 days left in the 2026 legislative session. Watch the recording here.
A spokesperson for House Republicans said they "have not heard" of any concessions being made to get House Republicans to show up for Tuesday's proceedings.
Bill takes next step to bar officers from wearing masks in Oregon
Statesman Journal | By Dianne Lugo
House Republicans, who criticized the bill, said it invited costly litigation against the state and would unfairly impact local law enforcement. Republicans attempted to send the bill back to Ways and Means, arguing it was an "unfunded mandate" that would require staff time, training hours, and perhaps new equipment to implement. The motion failed.
Rep. Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, a former Portland Police Bureau sergeant for 25 years, spoke against the bill. He said the bill was not about trust, but about politics.
"We are legislating uniform policy from this building as if we understand what it takes to make split-second decisions on the streets," Helfrich said. "We are inserting courts and lawsuits into field operations. That is not how you protect."
Kotek Pivots From Criticizing Universal Preschool to Trying to Take It Statewide
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
In a striking reversal from her rhetoric last year, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek today announced the convening of an expert panel to explore creating a statewide universal preschool program.
Oregon Senate passes bill to reschedule gas tax referral despite GOP opposition
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
‘We could have done it’: Republicans criticize lack of bipartisanship
Republicans repeatedly criticized efforts to move the referendum date, citing concerns over lower voter turnout in primaries and that moving the date to May ignores the 250,000 Oregonians who signed the Republican-led No Tax Oregon petition asking for a November vote.
“You are denying the voices of Oregonians because you can,” said Sen. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, reprimanding her Democratic colleagues for failing to work across the aisle and urging them to vote with their conscience.
Drazan on her desk had 4,600 sheets of paper representing all the Oregonians who submitted testimony against the bill next to a stack of 66 papers representing testimony submitted in favor of it.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, a Dundee Republican and a leader behind the petition asking for a referendum, said the organization would pursue legal action if the bill is signed into law.
“The only prophylactic to a referendum is a bipartisan bill,” Starr said. “We could have done it. We could have done it in 2025 in one session. That was my hope. My hope coming back to this process was that we would work across the aisle and get a bill that we could all support, then we wouldn’t be in a situation that we’re in.”
One Democrat, Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, voted alongside Republicans against the bill. He didn’t debate the bill on the floor, but on social media he said he supports the public’s right to vote on it in November.
The bill heads to the House next. Lawmakers have until Wednesday to get the bill past both chambers and signed by Gov. Tina Kotek, according to the secretary of state’s office, to give time to print ballots for Oregonians living overseas and gather arguments for the state-issued voter’s pamphlet.
Oregon Democrats’ controversial plan to move transportation tax vote to May clears Senate after dayslong holdup
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
On Monday afternoon, the Senate voted 17-13, with nearly all Democrats in support and all Republicans opposed, to move the date of the tax vote. The vote concludes a hard-fought effort for Senate Democrats, who hold a supermajority but struggled to advance the bill in the past week. The bill now heads to the House.
Democrats have said they want to move the election date to get clarity sooner on the state’s available transportation funding. Republicans have said moving the election date would violate the intention of the thousands of individuals who signed the referendum to place the tax hikes on the November ballot. They also argue that Democrats are trying to keep tax hikes they approved off the same ballot as Gov. Tina Kotek and other Democrats.
“This is not how a healthy Legislature operates,” said Sen. Kim Thatcher, a Republican from Keizer, on the Senate floor Monday. “Our votes are supposed to belong to the people who sent us here, not to the internal power structures of the building.”
Although lawmakers of both parties mostly insist their support or opposition for Senate Bill 1599 is based on good governance, Republicans and Democrats alike have political motivation to keep or move the election date, as acknowledged by one lawmaker ahead of Monday’s vote.
Democrats postponed the vote multiple times last week. Republicans last Wednesday boycotted a floor session to deny Democrats the number of attendees required to hold a vote, prompting the first delay. Democratic leaders then postponed the vote two more times even after Republicans returned, spending hours on Friday scrambling before pushing it back until Monday.
It’s unclear what concessions, if any, Democrats have made to the minority party to avert additional walkouts.
The House will now take up the bill under an unclear deadline. Secretary of State Tobias Read has said that lawmakers should get the bill to Kotek’s desk by Wednesday to get the measure onto the May ballot. But Democrats would need cooperation from House Republicans to push the bill through in that time, and Republicans have shown no interest in easing the process for Democrats.
It’s unclear what would happen if Kotek signs the bill after Wednesday. Read suggested that the deadline would allow the public at least 10 business days to submit arguments in support or against the measure.
Democrats advance controversial bill to move Oregon gas tax vote to May
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason
There was pressure on some legislators over their votes, Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, said.
“Suddenly the conversation is no longer about the bill, it’s about consequences,” Thatcher said.
“This is not how a healthy legislature operates,” she said.
Gov. Tina Kotek was calling legislators over the weekend regarding the bill, Sen. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, said, though he clarified that he was not one of those to be called.
Kotek skipped out on a national conference of governors and a White House visit Feb. 19-21 to be in Salem for the session, her office said.
Brock Smith called for senators to delay voting on the "hyper-partisan" bill until March 8, the last day of session.
He and Starr said the move would allow for more public weigh-in.
“While we’re here all the time, Oregonians across the state are busy,” Starr said.
A series of other Republicans weighed in on the motion, including Sen. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, who said deliberations should be moved to March 8 in part because the month of March is “legendary.”
The motion failed along party lines.
Another motion from Drazan to move the bill to the Senate Committee on Rules failed the same way, as did one from McLane to move it to another committee.
Republicans pan Senate Bill 1599
More than 4,600 pieces of written testimony were submitted on the bill, with fewer than 75 in support of moving the vote to May.
Drazan, who is running for governor, had a stack of printed testimony showing opposition and favor, which she also did during the special session.
"The reckoning is coming," Drazan said. "This cannot be ignored.”
The committee that considered Senate Bill 1599 was "faulty," Drazan said. Two representatives were added to the committee after it had already held meetings in order to meet House quorum requirements.
Oregon House Republicans stage walkout as gas tax election, gun control votes near
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
Republicans began boycotting the House floor Monday afternoon, shortly after the Oregon Senate sent their chamber a controversial bill that would reschedule a referendum on transportation tax and fee increases from November to May.
House Minority Leader Rep. Lucetta Elmer, R-McMinnville, accused Democrats of attempting to sweep the dispute under the rug instead of supporting Trần. She called for the Legislative Equity Office to conduct “a full investigation into this matter that is both inclusive and transparent.”
“The allegation that a lawmaker created a hostile working environment by intimidating another lawmaker into changing their vote is a serious allegation that creates distrust in the democratic process,” Elmer said in a statement. “It must be properly addressed and thoroughly investigated through a transparent process that respects the victim and remedies the wrong committed against them.”
Democratic lawmaker resigns from committee that could review his conduct; Republicans boycott Oregon House
The Oregonian | By Aimee Green
A Bend Democrat who was criticized for allegedly pressuring his colleague to vote in favor of a bill last week resigned from the Legislature’s House Conduct Committee on Monday.
“While I believe deeply in the purpose and work of the committee, it has become obvious in recent days that my presence on that body was serving as a distraction to the important business of the House of Representatives,” said Rep. Jason Kropf in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
House Republicans boycott Oregon Legislature over workplace complaint, gas tax vote
OPB | By Lauren Dake, Bryce Dole
House Republicans boycotted a floor session in the Oregon Legislature on Monday, protesting both the Democratic party’s handling of a hostile workplace complaint against a representative and an upcoming gas tax vote.
The minority party appeared on the House floor Monday morning, prepared to make a statement about Democratic Rep. Jason Kropf’s conduct. A Democratic colleague said last week that Kropf created a “hostile working environment” during a vote on a gun bill.
But when the House Republicans appeared on the floor, the House Democratic party preempted their efforts and announced Kropf was stepping down as chair of the Joint Committee on Conduct.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek: Pace of data center growth ‘is not sustainable’
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Gov. Tina Kotek said Tuesday that data centers’ impact on Oregon is “not sustainable” at the current growth rate, citing the industry’s consumption of water, energy and community resources.
Goodbye, pennies: Oregon bill would allow stores to round to the nearest nickel when giving customers change
The Oregonian | By Aimee Green
Pam Leavitt told Oregon lawmakers last week that she was shopping at a store recently when she experienced a very small but remarkable surprise.
“I was owed two pennies and the person just shut the cash register,” recounted Leavitt, a lobbyist for the Northwest Credit Union Association. “I said, ‘Am I getting my two pennies back?’ And he said, ‘No.’”
Leavitt’s encounter is one that has become increasingly common since last November, when the U.S. Mint ceased production of pennies. Businesses have been running into shortages since then. Drafters of House Bill 4178, which advanced out of its first committee in the Legislature Tuesday, seek to avoid surprises like Leavitt’s by stating in Oregon law that businesses can round to the nearest nickel when giving change.
Readers respond: Lodging tax increase hurts area’s competitiveness
The Oregonian | Letter to the Editor by J.B. Carney, senior director of the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Sports Commission
The Eugene-Springfield community is known as TrackTown USA because we compete for national championships and win them. But that competitiveness is not automatic.
House Bill 4134 would add 1.25% to Oregon’s existing statewide lodging tax. In isolation, that may sound minor. In national event bidding, it is not.
Oregon’s track legacy was built through smart investment and disciplined policy. Adding new costs at a time of intense national competition risks undermining that advantage.
Portland will pay onetime grants of $1,000 to homeowners who rent out rooms
The Oregonian | By Jonathan Bach
The city of Portland will pay homeowners $1,000 – or more – if they rent out rooms as part of a new homeshare program championed by Mayor Keith Wilson as part of his campaign to address the city’s dual housing and homelessness crises.
Portland hires first immigrant affairs lead to oversee sanctuary city policies
KGW | By Sabinna Pierre
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson has appointed Brenda Alvarado as the city's first immigrant affairs lead, a newly created position focused on supporting immigrant communities and overseeing the city's sanctuary policies.
Alvarado, who was selected following a competitive recruitment process, will be based in the mayor's office. She will oversee implementation of the city's Sanctuary City Ordinance and the Protect Portland Initiative, as well as compliance with the Oregon Sanctuary Promise Act.
Oregon ag fights initiative to ban slaughter, husbandry practices
Capital Press | By Mateusz Perkowski
Farm groups can agree on at least one thing with proponents of a ballot initiative to outlaw killing animals in Oregon: It’s unlikely to pass this year.
Bureau of Land Management proposes opening up federal lands formerly convicted Hammond ranchers once grazed
OPB | By Alejandro Figueroa
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is proposing a plan that could eventually allow the ranchers whose prison sentences sparked a standoff at the 2016 Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to resume grazing cattle on federal lands – but that’s not certain.
Activists push for clean energy tax in Eugene, modeled on Portland’s cash‑rich fund
The Oregonian | By Gosia Wozniacka
Inspired by the unprecedented financial success of Portland’s cash-rich climate fund, environmental groups are pushing to establish a similar fund in Eugene.
2026 ELECTION
Oregon may have a real labor commissioner race on its hands
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
Oregon Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson may soon have a notable challenger as she works toward reelection.
In recent weeks, state Sen. Dick Anderson, a Lincoln City Republican, has been exploring a race to run the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries. The lawmaker is now leaning heavily toward jumping in.
“I’m still waiting to hear back from a couple of people that I trust,” Anderson told OPB on Tuesday. “Depending on what I hear, we’re targeting an announcement for the end of the week.”
There are few downsides to Anderson throwing his hat in the ring.
Because he’s halfway through his four-year Senate term, Anderson wouldn’t forfeit his ability to seek reelection should he lose a BOLI campaign.
And the two-term senator believes he can use the statewide campaign to make the election a referendum on his key issue: state housing policy.
Since her election four years ago, BOLI Commissioner Christina Stephenson has taken heat for what some say are inflexible interpretations of state labor laws.
EDUCATION
$35 million per year investment in summer school is paying off, Oregon education officials say
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt
Nearly 30,000 Oregon students took advantage of literacy-focused summer school programs and most made learning gains in 2025, according to the Oregon Department of Education.
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