Tagged: Oregon Legislature

Oregon lawmakers are locked in a stalemate over whether to make additional cuts to the state's pension system for public employees. The debate will affect every unit of government in Oregon. Most of the conversation at the capitol has surrounded the impact to state agencies and schools. But city and county governments are also watching the pension battle closely.

Oregon lawmakers are pressing to clear a backlog of legislation. The House is planning morning and afternoon sessions to try to reach a hoped-for adjournment by the end of the month. But some measures appear to have fallen by the wayside.

A few examples:

• The bill to require daily flag salutes in Oregon public schools. It passed the House. But lawmakers in the Senate objected, and changed it to simply extend the current once-a-week flag salute to charter schools.

Oregon lawmakers could vote as soon as Tuesday on money for K-12 education. But final approval of the spending plan likely won't happen until later this month.

On the table right now is $6.75 billion for Oregon schools. That's a sizable jump over the current spending plan. But some of the state's largest districts say even with that increase, they'd still need to cut teachers or school days.

Oregon lawmakers want to increase penalties for protesters who disrupt logging on state-owned forestland. The Oregon House Monday approved a measure that makes it a crime to obstruct timber operations. But the bill would still allow protests that don't actually block logging crews.

Oregon lawmakers want to give students the chance to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day.