by Oregon Capital Chronicle Staff, Oregon Capital Chronicle
June 26, 2025
After nearly six months in Salem, the Oregon Legislature must end its work by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, June 29.
Before that can happen, lawmakers are set to take up a slimmed-down version of a transportation tax and spending bill and pass several dozen more bills.
Capital Chronicle reporters will be at the Capitol and watching the action every step of the way. Check back here for live updates.
jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(‘.scroll-to’).click(function(e){ e.preventDefault(); var destination_element_id = jQuery(this).attr(‘href’); // accommodate inclusion of # in front destination_element_id = destination_element_id.replace(‘#’,”); // Top offset so content scrolled to is not under top header bar var top_offset = 100; // scroll to the element with the id in the href jQuery([document.documentElement, document.body]).animate({ scrollTop: jQuery(‘#’+destination_element_id).offset().top – top_offset }, 1000); }) }); jQuery(document).ready(function() { var state = “closed”; var panel = jQuery(“.navRowSubContainer”); jQuery(“#accordianSwitchLiveFeed”).on( “click”, function() { if (state === “closed”) { panel.show(); state = “open”; jQuery(“#accordianSwitchLiveFeed”).html( ” ); } else { panel.hide(); state = “closed”; jQuery(“#accordianSwitchLiveFeed”).html( ” ); } })})
Key Events
31 mins agoHouse, Senate adjourn until Friday without transportation package vote
1 hour agoTransportation budget fails House while lawmakers debate larger package
2 hours agoSenate approves nicotine tax money for wildfire mitigation
2 hours agoMeek disappears from Senate
2 hours agoKotek to lawmakers: No tolling on Interstate 205
3 hours agoBill making it easier to commit and release people with mental illness clears the Senate
3 hours agoDemocratic Sen. Mark Meek still plans to vote against transportation package
4 hours agoHouse accepts Kotek’s veto of foster care bill
4 hours agoTransportation committee shakes up
7 hours agoWhat to expect Thursday
31 mins ago
House, Senate adjourn until Friday without transportation package vote
By: Julia Shumway – 4:42 pm
Shortly after 4:30 p.m., the Oregon House adjourned until 9:30 a.m. Friday. The Senate is also adjourned, until 10 a.m.
The House adjournment came as lawmakers on the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee were debating the latest version of the transportation tax and spending plan House Bill 2025, which would raise $11.7 billion over the next 10 years.
1 hour ago
Transportation budget fails House while lawmakers debate larger package
By: Julia Shumway – 4:01 pm
The Oregon Department of Transportation’s budget, Senate Bill 5541, failed the House on a 28-12 vote Thursday afternoon while several representatives were in a committee meeting discussing a longer-term funding plan for the state’s transportation needs.
House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, D-Tigard, changed his vote from a “yes” to a “no” so he could ask for the measure to be reconsidered.
2 hours ago
Senate approves nicotine tax money for wildfire mitigation
By: Shaanth Nanguneri – 3:25 pm
The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a bill allocating nicotine tax money to wildfire mitigation following debate over how best to use the state’s budget and whether money for public health efforts should be used for other issues.
House Bill 3940 would institute a new tax on oral nicotine, like ZYN pouches, of 65 cents per 2o-unit package, plus another 3.25 cents for each additional unit in a package. It also would use interest from the state rainy day fund for fire mitigation, resulting in an estimated $43 million in the next two-year budget cycle.
Four Republicans — Sens. Dick Anderson of Lincoln City, Fred Girod of Stayton, Todd Nash of Enterprise and Suzanne Weber of Tillamook — crossed party lines to support the bill.
Sen. Lisa Reynolds, D-Portland and a physician, voted against the bill, which has frustrated some in the medical community who believe any nicotine taxes should be earmarked for health purposes.
Democrats are also missing Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, who has been missing from the Senate floor for a reason that was not immediately clear.
Last updated: 3:26 pm
2 hours ago
Meek disappears from Senate
By: Shaanth Nanguneri – 3:14 pm
Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, has been missing from the Senate floor for nearly half an hour.
“The Sergeant at arms is unable to locate the absent member,” announced Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, after huddling in a crowd with his colleagues and asking “Did you check his car?”
Meek’s absence doesn’t stop the Senate from functioning, but it comes as tensions between the Gladstone Democrat and other members of his party reach a high point over Meek’s opposition to a transportation package. Meek in 2023 left the Senate floor abruptly after Gov. Tina Kotek’s priority housing bill, which he supported, failed in the Senate on the final day of that session.
2 hours ago
Kotek to lawmakers: No tolling on Interstate 205
By: Julia Shumway – 2:55 pm
Tolling on Interstate 205 has been “paused indefinitely” since March 2024 and will remain so, Gov. Tina Kotek said in a letter to lawmakers on Thursday as votes on a transportation package draw near.
“I will not direct the (Oregon Transportation) Commission to toll I-205 and will not support standalone tolling on I-205,” Kotek wrote.
Kotek’s two-paragraph letter came after Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, posted to social media claiming “tolling is back” and accusing lawmakers of burying tolling on I-205 on the 84th page of a 155-page amendment. Tolling is indeed mentioned in the bill, but it’s in a section of existing law that would be amended.
“This language is necessary to remove references to tax increases and reporting requirements from past legislation that are now obsolete,” Kotek wrote. “It does not impact or change my direction to the Oregon Transportation Commission related to tolling on I-205.”
Last updated: 2:56 pm
3 hours ago
Bill making it easier to commit and release people with mental illness clears the Senate
By: Shaanth Nanguneri – 2:12 pm
The Senate on Thursday voted 20-9 to advance House Bill 2005, a product of years of work by the Legislature to address the issue of civil commitment and whether the state’s hospitals are releasing or holding people for too long.
Two Republicans, Sens. Dick Anderson of Lincoln City and Todd Nash of Enterprise, crossed party lines in support.
The measure gained momentum just less than three weeks ago, when a federal judge found the state of Oregon in contempt of court for failing to admit severally mentally ill patients in a timely manner. The judge has begun calculating a fine of $500 per person, per day for each person ordered into the state’s care who has been left waiting in jail longer than seven days.
“If we wait for perfect and get nothing done this year, we will see what the federal court does,” said Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who carried the bill on the Senate floor.
The bill will still need to clear the House again because it was amended earlier today.
3 hours ago
Democratic Sen. Mark Meek still plans to vote against transportation package
By: Julia Shumway – 2:05 pm
For a ten-year, $11.7 billion transportation package to pass, Democratic leaders either need all of their members to stand united or to sway enough Republicans to make up for Democratic deflections.
But on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, reiterated his opposition to the revised measure.
Clackamas County: Tolling is back.
It’s buried on pg 84 of the 155 pg transportation bill — but we found it.
Under HB 2025, tolling will come to I-205 and eventually the rest of Portland Metro.
Another bad tax. Another hit to working Oregonians.
I will be voting NO. #orpol pic.twitter.com/MtDISIjeWa
— Senator Mark Meek (@MarkMeekOR) June 26, 2025
4 hours ago
House accepts Kotek’s veto of foster care bill
By: Mia Maldonado – 1:34 pm
Earlier this week, Gov. Tina Kotek vetoed a bill aimed at strengthening protections for youth in foster care. The Senate quickly overrode her veto on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the Oregon House voted 49-4 to table Senate Bill 875, preventing the Legislature from moving forward with a veto overturn this session.
The bill would have required a court order for blocking or limiting contact among foster children and their siblings. The measure also lists out several rights for foster kids, including being assigned an attorney, maintaining access to personal belongings like toys and being given appropriate luggage to carry their belongings
Last updated: 1:57 pm
4 hours ago
Transportation committee shakes up
By: Julia Shumway – 1:02 pm
House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, on Thursday morning removed Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, from the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee, the first hurdle the revamped transportation bill faces.
Evans earlier this week said he wanted off the committee because it was “no use” to serve on it when all he could do was vote on a bill he was frustrated that he didn’t have a role in negotiating.
He remained frustrated on Wednesday, texting “Not thrilled. Very, very frustrated with our current leadership.”
Rep. John Lively, D-Eugene, will take Evans’ place ahead of a meeting scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
7 hours ago
What to expect Thursday
By: Julia Shumway – 9:48 am
Both the House and Senate are set to head to the floor at 10 a.m. Thursday. The House has a long list of bills to vote on, while the Senate has just seven scheduled so far.
At 3:30 p.m., the pared-down transportation package expected to raise $11.7 billion over the next 10 years will have its only public hearing in the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee. Lawmakers on the committee plan to vote on the bill at 4:30, teeing up a potential House vote Thursday evening.
Read more about the transportation proposal.
Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com.