U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Democrats from Oregon, address a Portland business summit on Dec. 6, 2021. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden is continuing to look for ways to tighten the economic vice on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. He is[Read More…]

The Oregon Supreme Court Building (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The Oregon Supreme Court on Friday rejected a last-ditch effort to have voters decide whether to limit campaign contributions to those running for public office.  Proponents of three proposed ballot initiatives had sought the high court’s intervention to be sure the measures[Read More…]

Candidates watch on the Oregon House floor as Secretary of State Shemia Fagan prepares to announce the end of filing for the 2022 primary election. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Nearly 200 people are running for 76 seats in the Oregon House and Senate and will appear on primary ballots in[Read More…]

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, called the farmworker overtime bill a “good beginning.” (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Oregon is headed towards becoming the eighth state to mandate overtime pay for farmworkers. The pay bill passed its final legislative hurdle on Thursday and heads to Gov. Kate Brown, who appears ready[Read More…]

Democrats have advanced a $1.4 billion budget that includes affordable housing, education, health care and other priorities. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) New state spending designed to improve the lives of Oregonians by helping thousands of homeless residents obtain shelter, providing access to clean water in small, rural towns and enabling[Read More…]

A farmworker in eastern Oregon (Yadira Lopez/Malheur Enterprise) The House passed a proposal Tuesday that would require overtime pay for farmworkers. House Bill 4002 would phase in time-and-a-half pay over five years while paying farmers tax credits over six years to cushion the cost of the new pay. “If we don’t[Read More…]

The Oregon House in session (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Hundreds, and perhaps thousands of people, could be helped to get off the streets under plans being worked on by the state Legislature. Democratic lawmakers, who have made homelessness a priority, are poised to approve hundreds of millions of dollars for[Read More…]

Nick Kristof (Kristof campaign photo) Secretary of State Shemia Fagan was right to keep former New York Times columnist Nick Kristof off the ballot for governor, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a 33-page unanimous opinion, the court affirmed Fagan’s early January decision that Kristof hadn’t lived in Oregon long[Read More…]

Preschool students play in a Salem-Keizer classroom (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) As Portland resident Jasmine Casanova-Dean spoke to legislators at a hearing about child care last week, her 67-year-old grandmother watched her 2-year-old daughter in another room.  Casanova-Dean can only afford professional child care two days a week, so every other[Read More…]

(Yadira Lopez/Malheur Enterprise) A fight is brewing in the Oregon Legislature over a proposal to give farmworkers overtime pay after 40 hours a week. Democratic supporters say the change is long overdue and that extending overtime pay to a group of essential workers who toil long hours, do difficult work[Read More…]