In June, the elected Auditor for Metro published a report showing that the agency misled voters when it promised that funds raised from the $475 million bond measure approved in 2019 would be used to make Metro’s nature parks more accessible to the public. It’s nice to see this concern validated by the Auditor, but […]
Just four days before legislative adjournment, House Bill 3409 passed the Oregon House and has moved to the Senate in a race to the finish by June 25. HB 3409 establishes a state goal of installing 500,000 electric heat pumps in Oregon homes or commercial buildings by 2030. The bill was never heard in a […]
Over the next four weeks, the Oregon legislature will decide whether to make a down payment of $1 billion to replace the I-5 Interstate Bridge connecting Portland with Vancouver. The total cost of the bridge is unknown, but is estimated to be around $6 billion. The legislature should reject this allocation, and shut down planning […]
In 2017, when the Oregon Legislature authorized a modest highway widening project on I-5 just north of the I-84 intersection, it was expected to improve travel speeds and reduce traffic accidents. The estimated construction cost was $500 million-$700 million. By 2021, the project had morphed into a social justice and real estate development scheme, with […]
Last November, voters in Arkansas elected Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders as their new Governor. Oregonians elected Democrat Tina Kotek. On March 9, Gov. Huckabee Sanders signed the Arkansas LEARNS Act, her top legislative priority. The new law creates Educational Freedom Accounts for all K-12 students, to be phased in by 2026. Individuals choosing a Freedom […]
On December 19, Oregon’s Environmental Quality Commission voted 4-1 to adopt California regulations that will begin restricting the sale of gasoline-powered motor vehicles in Oregon, starting in 2026. By the end of that year, automobile manufacturers must deliver and offer for sale electric vehicles (EVs) totaling at least 35% of their overall vehicle sales in […]
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is accepting public comments on proposed regulations that would ban the sale of new gasoline or diesel-powered cars and light trucks after 2034. The only new cars available would be electric vehicles (EVs). These regulations were first adopted by the state of California on August 25. Now Kate Brown […]
State Representatives Karin Power (Milwaukie), Anna Williams (Hood River), and Rachel Prusak (West Linn) recently announced they would not seek reelection because the job takes too much time and doesn’t pay enough. Much of the public discussion since then has focused on the fact that Oregon legislative pay is roughly $33,000/year plus $151 per day […]
Many Oregon politicians have convinced themselves that we can have a high quality of life without the use of oil, coal, or natural gas. If you ask them how we can do this, they have a two-word response: “electrify everything.” It’s a seductive idea. Governor Kate Brown was an early adopter when she signed an […]
The Portland Public School Board voted March 1 to adopt the “PPS Climate Crisis Response, Climate Justice, and Sustainable Practices Policy.” Cascade Policy Institute’s President and CEO John A. Charles, Jr. warned the PPS Board in public comments that the plan would simply move greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from individual buildings to the electric grid. […]