Category State
Contentious vaccine bill passes House, heads to Senate
More than 100 people gathered in the Capitol rotunda Monday morning before a House floor hearing to vote on a bill that would get rid of exemptions to vaccinations. The group, as it had in the past, sang patriotic songs. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter) Oregon would…
Student Success Act passes House on party-line vote
Lawmakers talk with each other and fiddle with their phones and computers during the long hearing, stretching past 5 p.m. (Claire Withycombe/EO Media Group) The Student Success Act, a tax bill to pay for ambitious education reforms, passed the Oregon House Wednesday. Hours of debate…
Business community fractures over support of business tax
SALEM — The state’s largest business organization made a stunning pivot Monday night in pulling its opposition to the largest tax proposal in front of the 2019 Legislature. Oregon Business & Industry is now “neutral” on a business tax that would fund massive reform to…
Democrats’ tax proposals gaining steam
Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, was one of the top architects behind a proposal that would bolster education funding by $1 billion per year. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter) SALEM — Seeking money to pay for an ambitious agenda, Democrats in the Oregon Legislature are proposing to raise…
Federal judge sides with Oregon in imposing national injunction against Trump administration rule change
From left to right, Gov. Kate Brown, Planned Parenthood of southwestern Oregon CEO Lisa Gardner and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum hold a news conference about Judge Michael McShane’s order granting their injunction against a federal rule change to Title X funding. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter) SALEM…
Plastic bag, foam take-out container bans pass House
SALEM — Plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam takeout containers may become a thing of the past in Oregon. The Oregon House voted 32-28 on Tuesday, April 23, to prohibit retailers and restaurants from serving food to customers in polystyrene containers, and 42-18 on Thursday, April…
Measure 11 reform bill to bring about the release of Kip Kinkel? Legislative lawyers say no
A bill that would amend Measure 11, Oregon’s mandatory sentencing law, and how it relates to juveniles flew relatively under the radar for a month and a half. Then it passed the Senate on April 16 with a two-thirds majority. Suddenly, it became the fodder…
Tension increases as vaccine bill passes another hurdle
Opponents raise and flutter their hands to silently show alliance with witnesses testifying on House Bill 3063, which would end nonmedical exemptions to vaccines. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter) It doesn’t raise taxes, regulate industry or control guns, but in some ways a proposal to remove nonmedical…
Rosenblum gets early win in first try as lead in a lawsuit against Trump
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. (Pamplin Media Group file photo) PORTLAND – PORTLAND – Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum got a resounding win Tuesday as a federal court judge ruled in her favor by deciding to enjoin a rule change being imposed by the Trump Administration.…