In the last month, Oregon state lawmakers bought a waterfall, spent big to help a billionaire renovate the Moda Center, and spent an inordinate amount of time debating a gas tax that most believe will end up going nowhere.
The 2026 legislative session is over.
After the end of most sessions, there are the inevitable questions: What did lawmakers accomplish? Did they make the state better or worse?
Whether the state will be better off after the 35-day legislative sprint, which adjourned Friday, is a matter of perspective. But lawmakers were certainly busy.
Legislators blocked some federal tax cuts, but couldn’t agree whether that amounted to a tax hike. They sought to protect ski resorts, rafting companies and other businesses from frivolous lawsuits. They made controversial changes to the state’s incoming campaign finance laws. And majority Democrats had plenty of ideas for pushing back on the federal government’s mass deportation efforts.
Those weighty policies and more, compressed into just five weeks, made this year’s session feel like a blur.
Didn’t pay attention? Here is what you missed:
Filling budget holes
Lawmakers came into this session focused on some daunting numbers.
Budget writers figured they’d need to find around $750 million to close a hole in the state’s general fund. A huge reason: The so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed by Congress last year had reduced revenues by nearly $900 million and also created new costs.
At the same time, the state’s transportation budget was looking at a roughly $300 million shortfall, after Republicans blocked tax and fee increases Democrats passed last year (see below for more on that).
The first hole wound up being the least daunting. Democrats eliminated a set of federal tax breaks, raising $311 million for the general fund. An improved revenue forecast, along with lower-than-anticipated costs in some areas, helped cover the rest.
In the end, the Legislature made around $128 million in trims largely through keeping vacant positions open and slashing agencies’ budget for supplies. At the same time, they increased funding for wildfires, immigrant legal services, industrial development and more.
The transportation budget proved more complicated.
The Legislature was able to use vacancies at the Oregon Department of Transportation and federal funding to cover around half of the $300 million hole. For the rest, it snatched money from programs that make roads safe for pedestrians, seismically retrofit bridges, fund rail projects, bolster vehicle electrification, and a lot more.
Even with those changes, lawmakers say residents should expect threadbare services.
“I do believe that, while we could do this for a little while, this is not sustainable at the current funding levels.” said state Sen. Kate Lieber, D-Portland, one of the Legislature’s chief budget writers. “It’s not sustainable for ODOT.”
Lawmakers also OK’d borrowing a lot of money for their priorities, including $300 million for affordable housing, $365 million for Portland’s Moda Center (see below), $2.1 million to purchase Abiqua Falls, and much more.
Big money for the Moda Center
It might be corny to say the Trail Blazers brought a full-court press to the Capitol this year, but that doesn’t make it untrue.
Oregon’s NBA team marshaled a small army of lobbyists to press its case for a major cash infusion to spiff up Portland’s aging Moda Center. And lawmakers, beset by worries that incoming owner Tom Dundon could move the team out of state, were happy to provide.
With Senate Bill 1501, lawmakers approved up to $365 million in funding for the arena a dollar figure that is likely to rise higher than $530 million once interest payments for that money are figured in.
In exchange for the money, lawmakers say they’ll demand a 20-year commitment by the Blazers to remain in Portland, and a collective contribution of more than $200 million from the city of Portland and Multnomah County for the Moda Center renovation.
The state says cost overages would be covered by the Trail Blazers the only public suggestion to date that the team would pay for a piece of the project.
The bill has been panned as a terrible deal by critics, who say Oregon is not getting enough in return for its investment. Lawmakers say the state will hire a professional negotiator to hammer out the terms of a deal with Dundon.
Pushing back on immigration crackdown
Democratic lawmakers made clear at the start of the 35-day legislative sprint their North Star would be pushing back on what they believe is the federal government’s overreach when it comes to mass deportation efforts.
Some of their more ambitious efforts succeeded they passed a bill to try and ensure immigration agents are easily identifiable while other legislation was watered down or perished in committee with little fanfare.
House Bill 4138 would require officers to clearly display their name or identifying number, their agency and their badge. The bill also limits the use of facial coverings that conceal a person’s identity, with exceptions for undercover operations and health and safety needs. The measure is a direct response to the Trump administration’s immigration efforts. It passed the upper chamber in the final week of the session.
Senate Joint Resolution 203, an effort pitched by Democrats in both chambers, would have asked voters to weigh in on amending the state’s constitution to say law enforcement officers could not be masked and must wear clear identification, died.
A push to protect students from discrimination and codify immigration status as a protected class under anti-discrimination laws in the state’s K-12 public school system (encapsulated in Senate Bill 1538) made it to the governor’s desk.
Under House Bill 4114, lawmakers tried to make it easier for people to sue federal agents if they enter a person’s home without having a proper warrant or identifying themselves. That measure passed.
Democrats said they heard a lot from health care providers who have said people missed medical appointments because they were afraid of being detained. In Oregon, an entire family was arrested and detained while they were seeking medical care for their 7-year-old daughter who had a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop.
Legislators tried to make it harder to detain someone seeking medical care under Senate Bill 1570. The bill prohibits hospitals from sharing a person’s immigration status with law enforcement except when required by law or court order. The measure calls on health care centers to treat immigration-related information similar to the way they treat sensitive health information. It passed both chambers.
Partisan squabbling over gas tax vote
Just like last year, a fight over gas taxes and other transportation fees dominated the session. This time, though, the question wasn’t whether lawmakers should approve them – it was when voters should reject them.
Democrats sputtered and failed multiple times before ultimately passing a suite of tax and fee increases last year, but Republicans quickly collected enough signatures to force a vote. That election was set to take place in November, during a high-stakes general election in which Gov. Tina Kotek and others in her party are seeking reelection.
Majority Democrats announced before the short session they weren’t happy with that arrangement, and would look to bump up the vote to the May primary. They did so after a Republican boycott, discord within their own ranks, and warnings from Secretary of State Tobias Read about the difficulties a new election date could create.
In Democrats’ framing, moving the election offers the state immediate certainty about its transportation budget. In Republicans’, it’s a political maneuver designed to insulate Kotek and others from electoral blowback from the tax hikes.
The question now is whether the move will hold up in court. A lawsuit filed by two Republican lawmakers and dozens of Oregon residents claims the election swap was unconstitutional. It gets a hearing in Marion County next week.
Regardless of when they get a say, Oregon voters are widely expected to reject the tax increases.
A campaign finance ‘betrayal’?
With Oregon at risk of bungling its new campaign finance law from the start, state lawmakers passed a bill to implement limits on campaign contributions starting next year.
Read, the state’s elections boss, had warned that a 2024 bill seeking to overhaul the state’s campaign finance system was flawed, and that election staff needed far more time and money to make it happen. So, Oregon lawmakers crafted House Bill 4018.
The bill came with so many changes and so much complexity that even the lawmakers who voted for it acknowledged on the chamber floor that it requires more work. But at a minimum, the bill promises to set spending limits by 2027 and pushes back the start date for the state to stand up a new system to monitor contributions to 2032.
But the bill’s changes highlighted a simmering feud between big campaign spenders — union and business groups among them — and the good government groups seeking to rid Oregon’s elections of financial influence.
Groups like Honest Elections Oregon and the League of Women Voters were outraged that they were excluded from the crafting of the bill, calling the process a “betrayal.” They say the bill’s changes open the doors for wealthy donors to continue flooding elections in Oregon with cash, as they have for years.
While a bipartisan group of lawmakers — including leaders from both parties — passed the bill, they’re promising to come back and continue working on the issue in the next session. Meanwhile, good government advocates say they will try to refer new campaign finance laws to voters in 2028.
Boosting Oregon’s economy… kind of
After Kotek announced a new focus on economic development in December, all eyes were on what lawmakers would do to seed business activity in Oregon.
The answer – at least in business groups’ minds: not a ton. There was the Moda Center bill, which proponents hailed as an economic imperative. And Kotek succeeded in passing House Bill 4084, which aims to speed state permits for high-priced developments in Oregon, and expands potential property tax breaks available to new projects.
The bill got blowback from groups like Tax Fairness Oregon, which warned the larger tax breaks could lead to more resource-intensive data centers. Kotek conceded the point, and agreed to add a modest limitation on benefits that could flow to data centers.
At the same time, HB 4084 also significantly narrowed a brand-new tax credit lawmakers created for businesses that add jobs. That rankled business advocates, who were already incensed that Democrats had slashed a generous tax break for large equipment purchases to balance the budget.
Republicans, always warning that Oregon is not friendly enough to business interests, disdained the bill even as they voted in favor.
“We should be embarrassed that we have to pass a bill like this,” said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee.
Bypassing land-use laws to help seniors
The Democratic governor’s key housing bill, which allows for the bypassing of land-use laws to build more housing for seniors, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support this legislative session.
On the Senate side, a Republican introduced the bill on the floor, noting that despite his different political affiliation from Kotek, he believed her priority bill aligned with his values. State Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, said the measure was about more local control, less regulatory red-tape and more housing options.
House Bill 4082 allows cities with populations of 25,000 or more to bring in 100 acres and those with smaller populations to bring in up to 50 acres to capitalize on a one-time urban growth boundary expansion. There are certain restrictions on the tool, including a requirement that the land be used to benefit people 55 and older.
The governor has long pointed out that the number of Oregonians who are 55 years and older without stable housing is growing. One in four Oregonians who were homeless in 2024 was older than 55, which is higher than the national average.
The bill expires in 2033.
Waivers to ski, work out, raft
For years, ski resorts, gyms, rafting companies and other health and recreation businesses have complained they’re being gripped by an onslaught of frivolous lawsuits and surging insurance premiums.
They blame a 2014 Oregon Supreme Court ruling, which made these waivers — a written acknowledgement of risk that bars lawsuits for negligence — essentially unenforceable.
Competing bills saw extensive debate between business backers and trial lawyers over how best to balance the legal rights of Oregonians to sue with the wellbeing of the state’s multi-billion dollar health, recreation and fitness industry.
But in the waning days of session, lawmakers reached a deal on Senate Bill 1517, bringing back the universal legal power of these waivers, with some exceptions.
“From rafting and climbing to hiking and hunting, outdoor recreation fuels our local economies and our way of life,” state Rep. Emerson Levy, D-Bend, said in a statement. “By improving liability protections, we’re helping preserve access to insurance so these businesses can keep serving Oregonians and visitors alike.”
Political sparring
The session contained plenty of political intrigue that extended beyond bill votes.
A looming race for governor was on full display, with two Republican legislators vying to take on Kotek this year – state Sen. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, and state Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio – rarely missing an opportunity to tweak Democrats and their leader.
Diehl rejected a longtime rule in the Oregon House that dictates that lawmakers cannot accept campaign donations during session, reporting nearly $8,500 in contributions over the course of the session. The House rule against session fundraising has been deemed by legislative lawyers as likely unconstitutional, but that didn’t stop House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, from sending a letter to Diehl asking him to return the contributions. Other Republican lawmakers that flouted the rule received no such letter.
Meanwhile, tensions among House Democrats came into view when state Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, paused a committee meeting to convince state Rep. Thuy Tran, D-Portland, to change her vote on an amendment to a gun bill. The details of their private interaction have not been clear, but Tran later said she believed Kropf had created a hostile work environment in the exchange. Kropf stepped down as a co-chair of the House Conduct Committee, which handles hostile workplace complaints.
But the session was largely devoid of the dramatic fights that the Capitol has seen over the last decade. Despite plenty of rumors they could head for the exits, Republicans never walked away from either chamber in order to meaningfully block Democrats’ priorities. GOP members in each chamber did boycott afternoon floor sessions, in what they characterized as a “pause.” But legislative action was never meaningfully slowed in the session’s five-week sprint.
Other bills that passed
– Lodging tax hike for wildlife: A bipartisan group of lawmakers voted to increase the state lodging tax by 1.25% to help pay for wildlife conservation programs and to help ranchers whose cattle are killed by wolves. With hundreds of species around Oregon under threat, the bill would generate $37 million in revenue per fiscal year for programs that address poaching, invasive species, wildfire and more. The bill was supported by hunters, environmentalists, anglers and other groups, but faced opposition from the tourism industry.
– Gun bill: Democrats passed a bill to implement Measure 114, the voter-approved gun control law, but gutted the vast majority of the bill in the final days of session without explanation. They removed provisions that would have hiked permit fees and extended the period for issuing a permit. Measure 114, which bans high-capacity magazines and requires a permit for buying a gun, has been contested in court for years and has never taken effect. It is awaiting a ruling from the Oregon Supreme Court.
–Lodging taxes for cities: Lawmakers increased the amount of lodging tax revenue that can be used by cities to fund local services. House Bill 4148 will allow up to 50% of lodging taxes collected in cities to be spent by local governments. Previously 70% of those tax revenues needed to be spent on programs that promote tourism. The bill was opposed by tourism groups.
–Higher penalties for 911 hoaxes: Lawmakers took on “swatting,” the practice of generating a major law enforcement response by falsely reporting an active shooter or similar emergency. House Bill 4151 makes “swatting” a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
–Replacing lost Planned Parenthood funding: Federal money is not spent on abortions, but nonprofit organizations like Planned Parenthood formerly received federal Medicaid payments for non-abortion care they provide. That changed under H.R. 1, passed by Congress last year. Oregon lawmakers already used emergency funding to replace some of that money, House Bill 4127 will kick another $9 million to Oregon’s two Planned Parenthood affiliates.
–Regulations for license plate readers: With cities throughout Oregon having second thoughts about using cameras that automatically scoop up license plates from passing cars, Oregon lawmakers sought to put boundaries on how law enforcement can use the technology, known as automated license plate readers. Senate Bill 1516 makes clear data from the cameras can’t be used by law enforcement to help enforce immigration laws, or track people who might be breaking the laws of their home state by getting an abortion in Oregon. The bill did not go far enough for critics, who worry companies that supply the cameras might use the data irresponsibly.
–Bailing out a Coos Bay hospital: One of the most intriguing political debates of the session was whether the state should plunk down its own money to make sure Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay could avoid foreclosure on a commercial loan. Everyone agreed foreclosure would be terrible for the state’s south coast. But plenty of lawmakers balked over the proposal to forgo money that would otherwise fund schools to rescue Bay Area Hospital. In the end, lawmakers passed House Bill 4075.
–Killing a two-year-old ballot measure: In 2024, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, the state’s largest private-sector union, convinced voters to pass a law making it easier for cannabis users to unionize. That ballot measure, Measure 119, overrode concerns from lawmakers and others that the move might be illegal. Now court decisions have raised the specter that the law could be defeated at the U.S. Supreme Court, and UFCW Local 555 asked lawmakers to repeal the measure. They did just that.
-Gender-affirming care: A measure to expand Oregon’s shield law protecting doctors, nurses, midwives and others who provide abortions and gender-affirming care to patients coming from out of state passed. House Bill 4088 also creates more privacy protections for doctors and patients and makes court petitions for legal gender changes largely private.
–Bye, pennies!: With the U.S. government no longer making pennies, lawmakers passed a bill allowing businesses to round prices down or up to the nearest five-cent increment when customers pay in cash.
Bills that died
–Estate tax changes: For years, lawmakers have debated the state’s tax on the assets of residents who die. Oregon’s $1 million trigger for those taxes is the lowest in the country, and critics say it convinces people to move away in their later years. SB 1511 would have changed that, raising the threshold to $2.5 million while raising rates for some who pay the estate tax. It passed the Senate, but died in the House.
–Bill limits: During odd-year “long” legislative sessions, lawmakers have no limit on how many bills they can introduce. Some introduce hundreds. This year, Fahey’s proposal to cap bills at 25 angered Republicans and some within her own party. It got a single hearing, but went nowhere.
–More industrial land: Hillsboro, epicenter of the state’s semiconductor industry, says it needs more room to support new industrial developments. A bill to bring 373 acres of farmland into the city’s growth boundary met fierce push back from land-use advocates, and ultimately faltered.
–Kicker changes: Oregon’s unique “kicker” tax refund has sent billions back to taxpayers in the last decade. This year lawmakers considered asking voters to change the law in a way that would split large refunds between taxpayers, schools and wildfire costs. No dice.
– Local journalism: A bill to have big tech companies compensate local news outlets for having Oregon-based journalism on platforms like Meta once again failed.
–National Guard clarity: For the second session in a row, Oregon state representatives passed a measure aimed at clarifying when the National Guard could be deployed only to see the bill die in the Senate. House Bill 4091 would have prohibited a president from deploying another state’s National Guard to Oregon for law enforcement or immigration enforcement purposes without the Oregon governor’s permission.
--Hidden homicides: Lawmakers considered Senate Bill 1550 this session, which would have required a deeper death investigation if the person’s death met certain requirements. If a person’s death was premature or untimely, or if the scene suggests suicide, overdose, an accident, or if they have a history of domestic violence, law enforcement would need to take certain steps before saying a person died from a suicide or accident.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.