Oregon Legislature

By Alejandro Figueroa (OPB) and Antonio Sierra (OPB) For years, Oregon state agencies, local governments and committees have hashed and rehashed plans to…

A court battle over gas stoves in California is sowing seeds of uncertainty for energy policies in the West, as cities in Washington and Oregon seek to limit the use of natural gas in new homes and buildings.

Everywhere they look, Pacific Northwest scientists find teeny-tiny plastic pollution. Broken down particles are in our water, falling out of the air, in salmon, shellfish and in our own bodies. Scientists, environmental advocates and Democratic lawmakers in Olympia and Salem have seen enough to make them seek more regulations.

The two states are both led by strong Democratic majorities and face similar issues. Only one of them is successfully passing legislation.

Criticizing a session they say is moving too quickly, Republicans refused to attend a floor session of the Oregon House on Tuesday evening. Lawmakers showed up to the House chamber at 6 p.m. with Rep. Cheri Helt, R-Bend, the only Republican in attendance.

In a one-day special legislative session called to address a number of pandemic-related crises, lawmakers also voted to protect schools from lawsuits related to COVID-19 and to bolster bars and restaurants by allowing cocktail sales to go. Those proposals all passed relatively speedily. The real tumult was happening outside.

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed several would-be initiative campaigns in Oregon because organizers can’t send canvassers out to gather the tens of thousands of signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot.

Washington regulators must soon consider rules to limit the use of a controversial pesticide that can cause neurological and health problems, especially in young children. A bill passed by state lawmakers this session didn’t outright ban the pesticide, as health and farmworker activists had proposed.

For the second year in a row, Democrats’ signature bill for instituting a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was stymied by a Republican walkout. Now, the focus falls on Gov. Kate Brown.

Cap and trade is on its way to the Senate floor in Oregon again — and Republicans are heading for the exits. They staged a similar protest last year — twice.