Please see Governance Overview here.

Jump to a topic:

• Governance

• Artificial Intelligence

• Campaign Finance Reform

• Privacy, Protections, and More

• Elections

Governance 

Rebecca Gladstone

The editorial board of the Oregonian featured the League opposition to HB 4018 ­8, which revokes campaign finance reforms, “Editorial: A complete betrayal on campaign finance”, Feb 22, 2026. See Campaign Finance  below.  See the EPAB report and HB 5204 for possible software funding news.

The session’s third week again saw a parliamentary delay request to read bills in full. We note that the Senate Conduct Committee will convene, opening with discussing rules. See the Statesman Journal on a Senate floor walkout and delayed vote on SB 1599. This bill to reschedule the election date for a transportation funding referendum is increasing partisan tension. We could use volunteers to cover Transportation and Revenue. Contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org. Training is provided.

Only a couple of the governance bills we tagged have failed to progress. See our reports for details, thank you for reading, and watch your email etc. for likely action alerts, including for federal issues.

We saw discouraging governance progress for HB 4018 8, revoking campaign finance reforms, lacking software funding provisions. See the EPAB report and HB 5204 for possible software funding news.

Only a couple of the governance bills we tagged have failed to progress. See our reports for details, thank you for reading, and watch your email etc. for likely action alerts, including for federal issues.

Artificial Intelligence/Cybersecurity 

Lindsey Washburn

SB 1546 Notice of Artificial Output requires AI companion and platform operators to disclose that users are interacting with artificial output, implement safety protocols to detect and prevent suicidal ideation, and provide special protections for minors. The bill has been referred to House Behavioral Health. 

HB 4103 Senator Aaron Woods Commission on AI and Chief AI Officer establishes the Senator Aaron Woods Commission on Artificial Intelligence to monitor AI use statewide, report on policy implications, make legislative recommendations, and be supported by a Chief AI Officer hired by the Department of Administrative Services. It passed a February 20 work session unanimously in the Joint Committee On Information Management and Technology, referred to Ways and Means.

Campaign Finance

Norman Turrill

HB 4018 A The League characterizes this campaign finance bill as a complete betrayal. In 2024, extensive 4-way negotiations between the Honest Elections Oregon (HEO) coalition, including the Oregon League, legislative leaders including Speaker Fahey, labor union lobbyists, and business lobbyists, agreed to withdraw campaign finance reform (CFR) Initiative Petition 9, in exchange for passage of HB 4024, agreeing to work on technical fixes without policy changes. This week, the League sent a members’ action alert, to urge legislators to vote no on HB 4018 8. 

House Rules passed the gutted and stuffed  8 amendment in a Feb 17 work session, forwarding to Ways and Means. The bill now includes many complex policy changes, essentially removing campaign contribution limits on large special interest organizations, while still limiting individual contributors. It delays HB 4024 election law changes for 4 years, substantially eroding financial disclosure requirements.

The amendment was apparently written by labor union and business lobbyists with House leadership, excluding opposition. The governor’s staff has been involved. The rushed work session gave scant time for opposition from Honest Elections Oregon (HEO), League testimony, Common Cause and the Campaign Legal Center, national campaign finance experts. 

Read Campaign finance reform suffers the risk of ‘a deal that has yet to be real, commentary from Tim Nesbit, a former union leader, in the Oregon Capital Chronical. Look for a Sunday Oregonian editorial.

This is likely to be one of the most important bills during the current short legislative session. League members and voters should contact legislative leaders and their legislators ASAP to oppose it. 

Privacy, Protections, and more…

Rebecca Gladstone

The EPAB, the state Electronic Portal Advisory Board, held  the 2026 first quarterly meeting last week. Discussion included results of a public perception survey . Notably, 86% agree or strongly agree to feeling confident they can find information on state websites. For trust in making transactions, including for data protection, we urged that clear notices be added for website security status. We urged increased visibility for user tracking & Privacy options. See documents, including the agenda. We asked about the SoS RFP for ORESTAR (candidate registration and finance software) replacement. The spokesperson for the state website corporate partner, Tyler Oregon, believed they are participating. 

• HB 4091 this Oregon National Guard activation and authority bill passed from the House floor, largely on partisan lines, no amendments, referred to Sen Vets. See supporting League testimony, relating to last session, see League HB 3954 testimony. 

• HB 4123 A This landlord-tenant privacy bill passed from the House floor, adopting a -1 amendment with fixes to allow sharing contact information to admit maintenance workers, for example. A public hearing and work session are set on Feb 24^th in Sen Housing. League testimony, in support.

• HB 4143 addresses fund payments between federal and state accounts, with sponsor, Rep Chotzen echoing our characterization of using a “foundational financial tool” [the “right to offset”]. It passed on partisan lines from the House floor, sent to Sen Judiciary for a public hearing on Feb 23, work session on the 25^th. The -1 adds unemployment, medical leave, and overtime to payroll taxes as exclusions. It would sunset in 10 years to evaluate if the tool is no longer needed. See our earlier LR and League testimony, urging to consider options and possibly amendments, given our revenue volatility.

• SB 1530 would expand aggravated harassment to include threatening public officials, and increase penalties with the companion bill, SB 1516. It was heard in Senate Judiciary, passing on partisan lines to a Senate floor vote on Feb 23. See League testimony in support. 

• And following these:

• HB 5204 This bill has not been scheduled but is assigned to Joint W&Ms Capital Construction, to make biennial budget changes, including for SoS software needs. 

• HB 4024, which prevents event ticket resale unless the seller has or can get tickets, passed unanimously from the second chamber’s Senate Labor and Business. No amendments have been filed. All testimony is in support and the League will file in support also, if need be. See League testimony, in support of Senator Prozanski’s SB 430 Enrolled (2025) consumer protections, foundational for HB 4024.

  
  

Elections

Barbara Klein

SB 1509 A-Engrossed (Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act). This bi-partisan committee sponsored bill is progressing with League support, written and verbal testimony (minute 16:10). The bill to further protect Oregon's voters from being disenfranchised by faithless presidential electors, had a Senate Rules hearing on February 9^th, work session on Feb 11^th, referred to House Rules, Do-Pass with sponsor supported amendments on Feb 17^th. We described the bill in more detail in past weeks, to allow Oregon to join other states with strong laws.

SB 1574 (1^st Time Voters Act) allows 17-year-olds to vote in a primary if they will be 18 by the time of the general election has been pulled from agenda, despite referral to Senate Rules hearing planned for Feb 18^th.  Unresolved controversy was addressed to the campaign, which had more than 20 organizational sponsors, including the League. The question was whether those 17 years old (to be 18 years old in less than 6 months) should be treated as “secret voters” with names or information redacted from public roles, or whether they should be treated as all other consenting voters for matters of data capture. As these soon-to-be voters would technically still be minors, more research was needed. Some states with similar laws already enacted treat the new voters as minors, other states simply as new voters.

Sen Chris Gorsek, the bill sponsor, agreed to meet with our Youth Council members who had hoped to testify verbally. We will continue to follow this. The following members of  our League Youth Council submitted testimony: Brooklyn Carr Heuer, Marwa Daher, Olivia Han, and Elizaveta Rott.

HJR 201 proposed amending the Oregon Constitution to require that primary elections are ‘open’ to all voters using the same ballot. It was heard in House Rules on Feb 5, 2026 and was not scheduled for a work session, is no longer active. The proposal was a “Top Two” system that our League does not support, despite our strong endorsement of “Open Primaries.” League testimony was Neutral.

Interested in reading additional reports?  Please see our Climate Emergency, Revenue, Natural Resources, and Social Policy report sections.