Sam Stites

The 2021 session was supposed to be focused responding to wildfires and COVID-19, but lawmakers accomplished a great deal more in a tumultuous -- and historic -- five months.

If passed by the House Saturday, Senate Bill 762 would establish more than a dozen new programs to fight and mitigate wildfire, bolster recovery, help communities adapt to smoke, and implement changes to the state’s building code for the development of structures within high-risk areas of the wildland-urban interface (WUI).

House Bill 3154 would require police agencies to report disciplinary action involving economic sanctions to the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training and create an easily accessible database to catalog those records.

Senate Bill 500 delegates authority to hire and fire the records advocate to the Public Records Advisory Council, authorizes council to support and oppose legislation related to open records.

Democrats in control of Oregon's legislature express surprise, frustration over Republican opposition to this year's big wildfire bill.

A bill to provide safe harbor from evictions for Oregonians awaiting rental assistance, cleared the Oregon House of Representatives Thursday. The bill also ensures landlords who are awaiting payment of past-due rent will receive it.

Following controversial speeches on memorials intended to advance racial justice, House Democrats say they’re more committed to equity work than ever.

If passed by the Senate, House Bill 2100 would rewrite state law on how homeless dollars and programs are allocated and would require agencies to employ an equity lens in their distribution.

Proposal to ‘pause’ evictions draws stark criticism from Oregon landlord associations.

The Oregon House approved HB 2004 Thursday, allocating $9.7 million to provide an additional 132 units for unhoused people and wildfire survivors through Project Turnkey.

Senate Bill 8 will clear some hurdles for developers of affordable housing and religious institutions leveraging their land to provide creative housing solutions.

House Bill 2168 will officially recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday in Oregon beginning June 19, 2022.