A new rent control bill is in the Oregon Senate. Learn more about it here.

Author: KGW Staff, Anthony Macuk (KGW)

SALEM, Ore. — Tenants from across Oregon gathered in Salem Monday to testify at the first committee hearing for Senate Bill 611, which would cap annual rent increases at either 3% plus inflation or a flat 8% — whichever is lower.

Oregon passed a previous rent control rule in 2019, Senate Bill 608, that capped rent at 7% plus inflation, but tenant organizations reacted with alarm last year when state economists announced that the high rate of inflation meant that rents could be hiked by up to 14.6%.

“(The…

Legal treatments for psychedelic mushrooms begin in Oregon. Learn more here.

By Ryan Haas (OPB)

Thanks to Hollywood, people across the country are familiar with a cocaine bear, but only in Oregon can a person find a psilocybin bear.

“These are our vibrating tactile neural feedback bears, but they are getting a psilocybin treatment as you can see,” therapist Cathy Jonas said as she pointed to the blindfolded stuffed animals in reclining chairs.

Jonas’ mental health practice, EPIC Healing in Eugene, is among several businesses that are first in line to provide legal treatments to people using psychedelic mushrooms.

Rebates for buying an electric vehicle will be suspended in Oregon. Learn more here.

By The Associated Press

Oregon will temporarily suspend rebates for buying or leasing an electric vehicle for a year starting in May.

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon will temporarily suspend rebates for buying or leasing an electric vehicle for a year starting in May because too many people are applying and the program is running out of money, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Thursday.

A growing number of Oregonians are buying or leasing electric vehicles, with over 60,600 registered in the state.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced Wednesday…

New proposals in the Oregon Senate focus on easing educator shortage. Learn more here.

Original article by NATALIE PATE

Schools nationwide and across Oregon have been facing educator shortages for years, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oregon lawmakers are considering bills this session they believe will address the problem’s root causes. Among them are Senate Bill 279, which would make it easier and less cost-prohibitive for teachers from other states to work in Oregon, and Senate Bill 283, an omnibus bill that would tackle retention, pay and several aspects of educator recruitment and hiring practices.

Lawmakers said these bills would address staff and substitute shortages,…

In less than two years, the Oregon Department of Transportation will introduce the first highway tolls in the state.

It will begin with two bridge tolls on Interstate 205. But planned within the next few years are per-mile tolls on all lanes of Interstates 5 and 205 and, if a replacement project gets underway, a toll to cross the Interstate Bridge over the Columbia River.

Freeway tolling has been all but guaranteed in Oregon since 2017, when the Oregon Legislature directed ODOT to…

Eugene passed a bill to restrict natural gas in new residential construction. Learn more here.

By Nathan Wilk (KLCC)

Natural gas infrastructure will be banned in new low-rise residential buildings in Eugene.

City Council passed the surprise resolution 5-3 Monday night, during a discussion on whether to send the issue to the ballot.

Developers will have to use electric appliances and power when building new residences of three stories or less. The ordinance applies to building permits submitted on or after June 30, and it does not affect existing buildings.

Eugene will be the first city in Oregon with…

Oregon had the highest voter turnout rate in the nation. Learn more here.

By the Associated Press

For the first time ever, Oregon had the highest voter turnout rate in the nation for last November’s elections.

Former Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling, who now leads a national effort to expand voting from home, said 61.5% of all the eligible citizens in Oregon cast a ballot, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Thursday.

“We edged out Maine by .05%,” he said.

Keisling said Oregon has had a relatively high turnout rate since the state implemented its pioneering vote-by-mail system 25 years ago. He said the numbers have really ramped up…

Oregon is launching an abortion hotline that will offer free legal advice. Learn more here.

By Claire Rush of AP News

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon is launching a new abortion hotline offering free legal advice to callers, moving to further defend abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer and eliminated federal protections for the procedure.

The state’s Department of Justice announced the initiative Monday. It is modeled on similar hotlines launched by the attorneys general of New York and Delaware, as states where abortion remains legal have seen an increase in the number of patients traveling from areas where the procedure has been banned…

Oregon Democratic Gov., Tina Kotek, will focus on affordable housing and combatting homelessness. Learn more here.

By CLAIRE RUSH/Associated Press/Report for America

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s newly sworn-in Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek signed three executive orders intended to combat homelessness on her first full day in office Tuesday, a sign of how critical the shortage of affordable housing has become in the state and across the nation.

The orders call for boosting construction and marshaling resources to help the nearly 18,000 people living outside in Oregon.

Advocates welcomed the measures. But they said that shoring up mental health and addiction services must also occur in order to help people move off the street.

Just last year, Oregon lawmakers…

Just over a dozen Oregon cities, towns and unincorporated areas had their status changed from urban to rural, the result of a new definition the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2020 census.

Those places — including Mount Hood Village, Boardman and Irrigon — joined more than 1,100 nationwide, with a combined 4.2 million residents, that are now rural areas according to the bureau.

Under the old criteria, an urbanized area needed to have at…