Oregon legislative leaders focused largely on logistical issues in a press briefing on Friday, but said their general priorities for the 2021 session are pandemic and wildfire recovery and racial equity.
Legislature opens 2021 session with a heavy infusion of reality
Ritual and rhetoric are subdued; members of color reach historic high in Oregon.
The new Oregon Legislature was light on the usual ritual and rhetoric during its opening day on Monday, Jan. 11 though they were present but heavy on the realities that have reshaped state politics during the past year.
All 60 representatives and 17 new senators took their oaths from Chief Justice Martha Walters. But unlike typical opening days which have been compared to the first day of school staff, families and friends were largely absent from the Capitol in Salem because of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oregon lawmakers OK millions for pandemic, wildfire costs
Emergency Board meets for record 13th time before 2021 session starts Monday.
Oregon lawmakers have approved millions in state and federal funds to pay some of the mounting expenses of the coronavirus pandemic and the Labor Day wildfires.
The Legislative Emergency Board acted during a four-hour meeting Friday, Jan. 8, its record 13th since the end of the 2020 session and its last before the 2021 session gets under way on Monday, Jan. 11.
The 20-member board decides budget matters between sessions.
Leaders planned the meeting after the Legislature drew $800 million from the state s projected ending balance during a special session Dec. 21. Unspent money reverts to the full Legislature.
Updated: 10:04 PM EST December 15, 2020
SALEM, Ore. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will convene a one-day special session of the state legislature on Monday, Dec. 21, during which she ll ask state lawmakers to consider $800 million in relief for Oregonians suffering financially from the COVID-19 pandemic and the state s wildfires.
The funding will go towards helping tenants and landlords, funding vaccine distribution and contact tracing, wildfire prevention and community preparedness and support for reopening Oregon s schools.
Brown said she has repeatedly called on Congress to pass another coronavirus relief bill, to no avail. She said states must act on their own until the federal government passes a new relief bill.
Oregon Gov Kate Brown eases virus school restrictions, urges February reopen union-bulletin.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from union-bulletin.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.