The Oregon Capitol building in Salem. Photo: Chas Hundley
Oregon’s legislators will head back to Salem following Governor Kate Brown’s call to convene a special legislative session to tackle congressional and legislative redistricting. Following the decennial census, held last in 2020, the Oregon Constitution requires the legislature to draw new districts to split the state into local legislative and congressional districts. Oregon gained a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives thanks to a growing population in the state following last year’s census. In a press release, the governor’s office said that the special session will begin Monday, September 20 at 8 a.m.“In Oregon, we believe your vote is your voice, and every voice matters,” Brown said in a statement. “This special session is an opportunity for legislators to set aside their differences and ensure Oregon voters have their voices heard at the ballot box. Based on my conversations with legislative leaders, and the ongoing public testimony we are hearing from Oregonians across the state this week, I believe the Legislature is ready to begin the next step of the redistricting process.”The press release also noted a recent decision by the Oregon Supreme Court in
State ex rel Kotek v. Fagan
that sets the deadline to draw new maps by September 27, 2021. If legislators cannot come to an agreement by the deadline—or if Brown vetoes the results of the special session—drawing maps for legislative districts will fall to Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a Democrat, while a judicial panel will draw maps for congressional districts.
As Oregon lawmakers stare down a deficit of at least $373 million over the next two years they asked all state agencies to create lists of ways to cut 5% of their legislatively approved budgets.
The Trump administration has instructed states that authorized full November nutrition assistance benefits to return a portion, another unprecedented reversal for a program that helps 42 million people afford groceries. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said her state will not comply.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay about half of November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, though benefits could take months to flow to recipients, the department said Monday in a brief to a federal court in Rhode Island.
More than a hundred teachers and staff from Banks' three public schools gathered in the Banks Elementary School cafeteria Aug. 19 for a breakfast with their peers and school officials as another school year began. With construction, new security, and a cell phone ban looming, many changes await staf
A crash in Glenwood snarled Labor Day weekend traffic for up to three miles and resulted in minor injuries to at least four people, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said Saturday.
