Oregon senators get to work on on the Senate floor on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (Photo by Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Oregon lawmakers opened the 2026 legislative session Monday with a clear rift between Democrats and Republicans over how best to spend their time sprinting to the finish line of the 35-day short legislative session.
That work began in the newly renovated Oregon State Capitol, which has for years closed off its iconic rotunda and most hallways from public access due to repairs aimed at improving accessibility and strengthening the building’s foundation to better withstand earthquakes.
State legislators were greeted with small plants in yellow pots from the Oregon Association of Nurseries on each of their desks, and the new capitol expansion also features more common meeting areas, hearing rooms and press offices. Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, a professionally trained opera singer, led lawmakers in singing a birthday celebration for Sen. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte.
The first day, however, served as a stark reminder of the dueling priorities between lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle in Oregon, who are at odds over whether to respond to the Trump administration’s violent immigration crackdown and Oregon’s automatically-replicated tax cuts due to last year’s federal GOP tax and spending megalaw.
“Colleagues, we have work to do here in Oregon, but we also have to think about that national anthem that we heard just now. That flag is still flying above the ramparts,” said state Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis. “It’s a promise. It’s an ideal that we haven’t met yet, and it is absolutely under attack.”
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, struck a different tone.
“People aren’t looking for speeches or slogans. They’re looking for signs that we’ve heard them at the grocery store, at the gas pump, around the kitchen table when the bills come due,” he said. “They’re asking some very basic questions: Can I afford to stay in my home? Can my kids get a good education? Can I feel safe in my community?”
Priorities range from immigration to cost of living and public safety
State lawmakers have five weeks to consider passing ambitious legislation to make it easier to hold federal immigration agents accountable in court, find a new solution to stem a transportation budget gap now that voters are weighing in on fee and tax increases passed last year and tap into reserve funding or cut from state agencies due to an estimated budget shortfall of at least $63 million.
They’ll get a clearer picture of budget needs from Wednesday’s updated state revenue forecast.
Democratic leaders have announced plans to focus on affordability, House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, said in opening remarks urging lawmakers to work on improving the cost of living as well as respond to the Trump administration’s policies. She encouraged lawmakers “insulate our state from the actions of the federal government.”
Democratic lawmakers are expected to introduce an “immigrant justice package,” including bills to protect data privacy rights of immigrants, sue federal immigration agents for constitutional rights violations and require schools notify parents when there’s immigration enforcement activity near campus. Lawmakers have just two weeks to move their bills out of policy committees and onto their chamber’s floor.
Republicans, meanwhile, have announced plans to introduce legislation that would focus on affordability, public safety and education. Among those efforts is a bill that would repeal a law passed last year allowing striking public and private sector workers to collect unemployment benefits. Other bills would increase access to additional tax credits for pursuing an education, heighten penalties for making a false police report and create an initiative for first-time home buyers to defer their loans.
House lawmakers commenced their meeting on Monday by adopting rule changes for the remainder of the session, including one that will allow them to go to the restroom during session without a designated escort — reflecting the change from working in an active construction zone to a fully open capitol. Republicans, however, challenged the rules change because of a long-standing provision unique to the Oregon House which dictates that representatives cannot collect campaign funds during the session.
With the upcoming May primary and a tight race among Republican candidates, Republicans lawmakers said the rule violates the First Amendment. The rule specifically impacts Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, who publicly announced his campaign for governor on Jan. 21. The prominent social conservative has said he is evaluating “all legal options,” to respond to the rule in light of a recent legal opinion suggesting the fundraising rule would likely be struck down in court.
“This is about denying citizens their constitutional rights to support the candidate that they want,” Diehl said.
Transportation referendum likely to be moved
Former House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, another Republican gubernatorial candidate who hails from Canby, was able to avoid those restrictions with her new position in the Oregon Senate. Local county commissioners in October appointed her to fill the seat of former Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, who has since taken a job in the Department of Labor under the Trump administration.
“This will be my one go at my opportunity to serve in the upper chamber,” Drazan told colleagues Monday.
She also called upon them to respect the will of Oregon voters in regards to the successful Republican-led anti-tax referendum campaign. The effort gathered roughly 250,000 signatures last year to undo the vehicular tax and fee hikes Democrats passed in the fall’s special legislative session to fund a $4.3 billion, 10-year transportation funding package.
“I hope that we can refrain throughout this session from engaging in issues which are outside the direct benefit to Oregonians,” Drazan said. “And I also hope that we will respect the will of Oregonians themselves and the processes which they engage with us under. That our rules would be sacrosanct, that they would be honored in spirit, and not just by the letter of the rule.”
Organizers of the anti-tax campaign had planned for the measure to be placed on the November 2026 ballot. But Oregon lawmakers have the legal authority to move the tax referendum from the November 2026 ballot to the May 19 primary election so long as they include an emergency clause and Gov. Tina Kotek signs it by Feb. 25.
The move could spark opposition from Republican lawmakers and referendum organizers. Political observers have speculated that Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is hoping to keep the measure off the November ballot to avoid having to run alongside the measure for reelection, though she has said she is focused on finding an immediate solution to the transportation department’s budget woes.
“Oregonians have spoken. They didn’t like the bill passed last year. We should start afresh, get back to the business of, how do we solve the budget gap in ODOT and move forward? And that’s where my head is,” Kotek told the Capital Chronicle in January. “That’s where my focus is. I can’t speak to what other people think is the rationale.”
Reporter Mia Maldonado contributed to this report.
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