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Legislative Priorities

2025 Legislative Priorities

We continue to protect democracy and our representative government. Our priority emphasis is on education, housing, health, safety, community resilience, environmental protection, and safety net services for the most vulnerable. It is important that Oregon generate adequate revenue for essential services.

ASSURE ADEQUATE REVENUE for all levels of government to provide essential services while promoting equitable and progressive tax policy. Access federal funds for infrastructure and other Oregonians’ needs.

PROTECT DEMOCRACY by expanding automatic voter registration and funding up-to-date, efficient and secure election software that can support alternative voting methods. Protecting elections against artificial intelligence mis-, dis-, and mal-information. Ensuring cyber security.

SUPPORT NATURAL RESOURCES agency budgets that address water, land use and wildfire from border to border. Support policies that protect and enhance Oregon's natural bounty on land, sea and air.  

ADDRESS THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY by supporting 2017-2021 Carbon/Climate Executive Orders, net zero greenhouse gas emissions before 2050 while ensuring environmental justice with a just transition for workers and impacted communities.

SUPPORT HOUSING STRATEGIES THAT INCREASE INVESTMENTS in rental assistance, new affordable rentals, home ownership, and permanent supportive housing. Goals include preserving existing affordable housing; adding homeless shelters, staffing navigation centers; and providing state support for infrastructure and for pre-development expenses for affordable housing projects.  
 
SUPPORT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH/ADDRESS ADDICTION: Expand accessibility to behavioral health services focused on addiction and treatment.
 
PROMOTE PUBLIC SAFETY. Seek strategies to achieve a fairer and more equitable criminal justice system, to enact effective gun policy laws, and to successfully implement violence prevention and reduction programs.

SUPPORT ADEQUATE AND EQUITABLE FUNDING FOR EDUCATION. Include funding for early childhood, child care, after school and summer care, as well as higher education.  Advocate for coordination and transparency in funding.

Find our 2025 Issues for Action here!

Jean Pierce, LWVOR Legislative Action Chair, along with our team of volunteers listed below, are available to provide clarifications on League positions. Contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org.
 
Call our office at (503) 581-5722 or directly contact portfolio chairs in specific areas listed below. LWVOR Action team members are experienced, unpaid volunteers. Our advocates focus on the broad areas of Climate Emergency, Governance and Protecting Democracy, Human Services, Public Safety, Health Care, Housing, Natural Resources, Education, and Revenue.

Advocacy Sub-Categories
Find our 2025 Legislative Priorities here!

Advocacy Leadership
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Our volunteers continue to monitor and work on all these issues. We mentor and add new volunteers with more issues, too. We encourage you to contact our office at 503-581-5722 or lwvor@lwvor.org and to reach out directly:

  • Advocacy Chair & LWVOR 2nd Vice President: Jean Pierce

  • Access Coordinator: Paula Krane

  • Climate Emergency Coordinator: Claudia Keith

  • Governance Coordinator: Norman Turrill

  • Natural Resources Coordinator: Peggy Lynch

  • Social Policy Coordinator: Jean Pierce

  • Past President: Becky Gladstone

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Access

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Ensure the public have access so that they can participate in the process.

  • Paula Krane

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Climate Emergency
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Using the best available climate science to ensure future generations’ stable climate systems (return to < 350 C02 PPM and < 1.5 Degree Celsius warming by 2100). LWVOR supports Our Children’s Trust/Crag Environmental Law Center federal lawsuits. We oppose fossil fuel infrastructure expansion.​

  • Efficient and Resilient Buildings: Bill Glassmire

  • Environmental Justice: Nancy Rosenberger

  • Environmental Rights Amendment: Claudia Keith

  • Natural Climate Solution - Forestry: Josie Koehne

  • CEI - Critical Energy Infrastructure : Nikki Mandell and Laura Rogers

  • Community Resilience & Emergency Management: Rebecca Gladstone 

  • Transportation: Claudia Keith

  • Joint Ways and Means - Budgets, Lawsuits, Green/Public Banking,

  • Divestment/ESG: Claudia Keith

  • Find additional Climate Change Advocacy volunteers in Natural Resources

 
Governance
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Support ethics, efficiency, public records law, and contemporary privacy and technology issues. Our focus on election policies includes laws and administrative rules, campaign finance, redistricting, and alternative voting methods.  

  • Campaign Finance Reform: Norman Turrill

  • Cybersecurity Privacy, Election Issues, Electronic Portal Advisory Board: Becky Gladstone

  • Election Systems: Barbara Klein

  • Redistricting: Norman Turrill, Chris Cobey

  • Voting Rights of Incarcerated People: Marge Easley

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Natural Resources
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Improve air quality, combat climate change, and support coastal management, clean energy, proper disposal of hazardous materials and solid waste, conservation, land use, parks, clean and abundant water supply for all, wetlands protection and other resource preservation, and Oregon’s 14 natural resource agency budgets.

  • Agriculture/Goal 3 Land Use: Sandra Bishop

  • Coastal Issues: Christine Moffitt, Peggy Lynch

  • Columbia River Treaty: Philip Thor

  • Emergency Management: Rebecca Gladstone, Lily Yao

  • Forestry: Josie Koehne

  • Elliott State Research Forest: Peggy Lynch

  • Northwest Energy Coalition: Robin Tokmakian

  • Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Advisory Committee: Sandra Bishop

  • Water: Peggy Lynch

  • Wildfire: Carolyn Mayers

  • Ways and Means Natural Resource Budgets/Revenue: Peggy Lynch

 
Social Policy
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Support housing, adult corrections, judiciary, juvenile justice, public safety, gun safety, violence prevention, health care, mental health, immigration and refugees, foster care, social services, gender-related issues, age discrimination, and reproductive health. LWVOR actively lobbies for anti-poverty programs to help low income and those at-risk move toward financial stability.

  • After-School Care and Children’s Service: Katie Riley;

  • Behavioral Health: Karen Nibler, Stephany Aller

  • Education: Jean Pierce

  • Equal Rights for All: Jean Pierce, Kyra Aguon

  • Gun Safety and Gun Issues, Rights for Incarcerated People: Marge Easley

  • Hate and Bias Crimes: Claudia Keith, Becky Gladstone

  • Higher Education: Jean Pierce

  • Immigration/Refugee/Asylum: Claudia Keith

  • Health Care: Christa Danielsen,

  • M110 Public Safety, Justice Issues: Karen Nibler

  • School-Based Health Centers: Chloe Acosta, Anai Beng

  • Housing: Debbie Aiona, Nancy Donovan

  • Gender-Related Concerns, Reproductive Health, Age Discrimination: Trish Garner

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