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Oregon News
POLITICS
Impending Strikes at PCC Might Be the Testing Ground for a Controversial Piece of Legislation
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
Last summer, Oregon lawmakers passed a bill allowing striking workers to access unemployment insurance during their time on the picket line. The bill made Oregon the first state in the nation that requires public employers—cities, counties and school districts—to pay unemployment benefits when their workers strike.
Labor unions celebrated the bill’s passage as a way for members to demand better contracts while easing the financial concerns that come with forgoing a paycheck. Public employers, especially school districts, warned they did not have the financial means to sustain such a model, and said the bill would incentivize more frequent strikes.
Senate Bill 916 went into effect Jan. 1. Now it could get a big test from Portland Community College professors.
Changes to Oregon gun control Measure 114 scuttled in Senate committee vote
The Oregonian | By Maxine Bernstein
The Senate Rules Committee early Wednesday gutted all significant changes to Measure 114’s gun control regulations that had passed the House last week.
The committee voted 4-1 to adopt a slimmed-down version of House Bill 4145, leaving only a provision to move the measure’s effective date back to January 2028 if the Oregon Supreme Court finds the voter-approved law constitutional.
The dramatic change to HB 4145 was a last-minute move by the powerful Senate Rules Committee, whose members include Senate Republican Leader Bruce Starr, a key negotiator with that body’s Democratic leaders. Democrats hold a supermajority in both the Senate and House, but need Republicans’ cooperation to provide a quorum necessary to hold votes as well as to waive procedural rules that could delay key votes past Sunday’s deadline to adjourn the five week session.
Starr voted yes to gut the bill and then to pass the slimmed-down version to the Senate floor.
The other Republican on the Senate Rules Committee, Sen. Kim Thatcher of Keizer, indicated she was confused by the last-minute changes. “Is the amendment pretty much the bill?”
“Yes,” said Jessica Menefee, a lawyer with the Legislative Counsel’s Office.
Oregon Senate approves bill to help fund $600M Moda Center renovation
KGW | By Alex Jensen, John Tanet
The Oregon Senate voted 24-6 Tuesday morning to use public funding for improvements to Portland's 30-year-old Moda Center in a bid to keep the Trail Blazers in Portland.
Budget writer urges voters to stop repeal of Oregon gas tax
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason
"Those of you who are mad, I'm glad you're mad," Lieber said. "You should go out there and you should work to defeat this ballot measure."
Democrats’ bill altering Oregon gas tax vote is illegal, lawsuit claims
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
After failing in the Capitol to stop Democrats from changing the date of a contentious gas tax vote, Republican lawmakers are looking to the courthouse.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday against Secretary of State Tobias Read, two GOP legislators joined dozens of others in asking a county judge to block Senate Bill 1599. The bill, signed by Gov. Tina Kotek on Monday, moves the tax decision from the high-stakes November general election to the May primary ballot.
Republican lawmakers will sue to keep Oregon transportation tax vote on November ballot
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
Just one day after Oregon Democrats pushed through a bill that would move a statewide vote on transportation tax hikes from November to May, Republican opponents say they are in the process of filing a lawsuit seeking to stop the election change.
Backers of Oregon anti-tax referendum say they're suing to halt move to May primary
KGW | By Jamie Parfitt, Alma McCarty
The three chief petitioners on an Oregon anti-tax referendum say they've filed a lawsuit disputing a bill moving the vote up from the November general election to the May primary.
Republican petitioners sue Oregon over law rescheduling gas tax referendum
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Republican leaders of a successful petition to pause gas tax and transportation fee hikes until a citizen vote are suing the state over a new law rescheduling that vote.
Petition leaders said they would file the lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court later in the day, listing Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read as the defendant. A spokesperson for Read declined to comment because it is pending litigation.
Oregon lawmakers advance bill to revise campaign finance law despite significant confusion about what it would do
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
Oregon lawmakers are moving to revise the state’s landmark 2024 campaign finance law, even as significant confusion remains about which changes are necessary and good government advocates continue to say a proposed bill would weaken the law.
Affordable apartments, Moda Center, local water and sewer systems set to win $450M despite state budget austerity
The Oregonian | By Betsy Hammond
The Legislature is on track to green light nearly $450 million in new state debt this week to unfurl capital projects in many parts of Oregon.
By far the largest single project would be to upgrade the Moda Center where the Trail Blazers play.
But lawmakers also plan to designate a lot of money to create or preserve affordable apartments and to upgrade aging water and sewer infrastructure.
And one college is slated to get a shiny new recreation and health center.
Those plans are laid out in Senate Bill 5701, which advanced out of the Joint Ways and Means Committee on a 24-0 vote Tuesday afternoon.
2026 ELECTION
Coastal Oregon conservative announces run for U.S. Senate
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
Sen. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, faces an uphill battle should he win the nomination and challenge U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley.
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