Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek spent months cajoling the state Legislature to provide billions for transportation infrastructure, safety and jobs. Now, she’s asking them to repeal that plan and start fresh.
"Whether it's supporting our local events, caring for our community, or simply checking in on a neighbor, every small act makes a big difference here," writes Banks Mayor Marsha Kirk in this month's mayor's message.
Last year’s legislative session saw a historic number of bills — more than 3,400 — introduced in at least two decades. Some made it to the finish line and just became law.
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.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on Wednesday declared a state of emergency over hunger and directed $5 million to food banks across the state, seeking to avert the impending November loss of food stamp benefits for hundreds of thousands of Oregonians under the federal government’s ongoing shutdown.
Federal funding for SNAP will run out Nov. 1 if the federal government remains shut down, leaving more than 757,000 Oregonians without the support they rely on to buy groceries.