A court battle over gas stoves in California is sowing seeds of uncertainty for energy policies in the West, as cities in Washington and Oregon seek to limit the use of natural gas in new homes and buildings.Read More
Everywhere they look, Pacific Northwest scientists find teeny-tiny plastic pollution. Broken down particles are in our water, falling out of the air, in salmon, shellfish and in our own bodies. Scientists, environmental advocates and Democratic lawmakers in Olympia and Salem have seen enough to make them seek more regulations.Read More
The two states are both led by strong Democratic majorities and face similar issues. Only one of them is successfully passing legislation.Read More
Criticizing a session they say is moving too quickly, Republicans refused to attend a floor session of the Oregon House on Tuesday evening. Lawmakers showed up to the House chamber at 6 p.m. with Rep. Cheri Helt, R-Bend, the only Republican in attendance.Read More
In a one-day special legislative session called to address a number of pandemic-related crises, lawmakers also voted to protect schools from lawsuits related to COVID-19 and to bolster bars and restaurants by allowing cocktail sales to go. Those proposals all passed relatively speedily. The real tumult was happening outside.Read More
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed several would-be initiative campaigns in Oregon because organizers can’t send canvassers out to gather the tens of thousands of signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot.Read More
Washington regulators must soon consider rules to limit the use of a controversial pesticide that can cause neurological and health problems, especially in young children. A bill passed by state lawmakers this session didn’t outright ban the pesticide, as health and farmworker activists had proposed. Read More
For the second year in a row, Democrats’ signature bill for instituting a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was stymied by a Republican walkout. Now, the focus falls on Gov. Kate Brown.Read More
Cap and trade is on its way to the Senate floor in Oregon again — and Republicans are heading for the exits. They staged a similar protest last year — twice.Read More
Oregon Senate Democrats announced Friday that they were abandoning a plan to fine Republicans $500 a day for the walkout, amid concerns over a protracted lawsuit and questions about how such unprecedented fines would work.Read More
Oregon state Sen. Brian Boquist, who made threatening comments about state police and another lawmaker, must give 12 hours’ written notice before entering the Capitol in the near future, a Senate committee decided Monday.Read More
Oregon lawmakers concluded their work for the year Sunday, marking the close of the most remarkable and contentious legislative sessions in modern memory. In a day filled with flaring tempers and frequent confusion, lawmakers in the House and Senate passed a completed state budget and a raft of policy bills just after 5:20 p.m., well before the midnight deadline set forth Read More
Senate Republicans will return to work Saturday following a nine-day walkout, setting the stage for a weekend where lawmakers sprint toward adjournment. That comes after Democratic leaders offered assurances a sweeping climate change bill, House Bill 2020, will not pass this session.Read More
The so-called “Stay Strong Stay Gone” rally marked the latest backlash over bills seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon. Loggers, truckers, farmers and their supporters had all come, they said, to urge 11 Senate Republicans who’ve been absent from the statehouse since last week to remain in hiding.Read More
Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, says Oregon’s sweeping plan for addressing climate change this legislative session does not have the votes to pass. But it’s not clear whether that will be enough to bring Senate Republicans back to work. Read More
For the second time this legislative session, Oregon Senate Republicans prepared Thursday to stage a walkout, denying Democrats the ability to pass legislation. It’s the latest step in a standoff over sweeping climate change legislation.Read More
Democratic leaders in the Oregon Senate have agreed to give up high-profile bills on gun control and vaccines in exchange for the end of a Republican walkout. Read More
In Oregon, GOP senators, solidly in the minority, left the Capitol this week before lawmakers could approve House Bill 3427, which would inject schools with billions in new funding to lower class sizes and boost graduation rates. The move denied Democrats a 20-member quorum, halting business in the Senate.Read More
The Washington House of Representatives voted 89 to 7 Saturday in favor of observing daylight saving time year-round. The state Senate is expected to vote in the coming days on the issue, which is gaining steam in statehouses across the West. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has not yet signaled where he stands on the measures.Read More
Lawmakers in both Washington and Oregon are considering bills that would ban single-use plastic bags statewide to reduce plastic pollution.Read More
Oregon and Washington voters could get a say at the next general election on whether to adopt daylight saving time year-round — and thereby abolish the twice-yearly clock changes.Read More
Oregon’s sanctuary law for immigration is simple on paper. It says no law enforcement agency can use its money, equipment or personnel for the purpose of detecting or apprehending people whose only violation is being in the country unlawfully.Read More
If Gov. Kate Brown follows through on a plan to call Oregon’s Legislature into a special session in the coming months, she might wind up giving a tax break to a sliver of the businesses she’s pledged to target.Read More
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is ditching part of the federal tax plan after all. After weeks of speculation on her intentions, Brown announced Friday that she’ll sign Senate Bill 1528, ensuring that Oregon won’t follow the lead of the federal government in granting a tax break to a subset of businesses.Read More
Your internet service should be free of slow lanes and corporate favoritism if legislation just signed in Washington state and awaiting the governor's signature in Oregon works as intended. The states' objectives were to block a federal rollback of Obama-era net neutrality rules.Read More
One of the most significant education bills in the Oregon legislature this session appears to be dead. The bill was aimed at limiting class size. Read More
Oregon state senators approved a measure Thursday that would strengthen the state’s gun laws by expanding the number of people who are banned from owning a gun in the case of domestic violence or stalking cases. The bill, a priority measure for Gov. Kate Brown, now heads to her desk for her signature. Read More
