Note:  Education reports after January, 2024, are included in Social policy reports. Education reports prior to February, 2024, can be found HERE.

Please see the Legislation Tracker for 2025 Social Policy bills.

Jump to topic:

• Age-Related Issues

• Behavioral Health

• Criminal Justice

• Education

• Gun Policy

• Hate Crimes

• Housing Legislation

• Immigration

Age-Related Issues

by Trish Garner

SB 548 has been signed into law by Governor Kotek. This bill establishes 18 as the minimum age for marriage. LWVOR testified in support.

Behavioral Health

By Trish Garner

HB 2481A-11 passed unanimously in the Joint Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response with a do pass recommendation and referral to Ways & Means. As one might discern from the number of amendments, this is a complicated and comprehensive bill which relates to individuals charged with a crime who have been found to be unable to assist aid and assist in their defense.

Criminal Justice

By Marge Easley

HB 3532 A, which eliminates civil statutes of limitations for sexual assault survivors, unanimously passed the House on May 29 and now awaits a hearing in Senate Rules. This bill represents a major step forward in acknowledging the importance of removing arbitrary deadlines in the reporting of sexual assault, since it often takes many years before a victim is ready to come forward.

According to the press release from bill sponsor Rep. Annessa Hartman, “Under current law, adult survivors have just five years from the time they discover the connection between the assault and their injuries to file a civil suit. For child survivors, the limit is five years from discovery or until they turn 40—whichever is later. But trauma experts and survivor advocates point out that the average age at which a child sexual abuse survivor comes forward is 52.” 

Education

By Jean Pierce

The Governor has signed HB 2586A into law. The bill  permits an asylum seeker who is a student at a public university to receive an exemption from nonresident tuition and fees. LWVOR filed testimony in support. 

The Joint Ways and Means committee on Education and the Joint Ways and Means Committee both  gave Do Pass Recommendations to SB 141 A. The bill requires entities receiving money from the State School Fund to measure student academic growth in mathematics and language arts. At the same time, the bill is intended to streamline grant-reporting processes.  It also prescribes requirements for tools and support through coaching from the Department of Education if those targets are not met over time. The amendment allocates over $2.6 million to the endeavor.

This amount is part of the calculation for SB5516A which also received  Do Pass Recommendations from both committees. In recognition of the revenue forecast, this bill would provide for an adjusted current service level of almost $11.4 billion. The committee is anticipating that local revenues will total $5.6 billion in the next two years, so total formula resources are expected to be more than $16.7 billion for the 2025-27 biennium. This represents a 10.5% increase over the 2023-25 biennium. The funds would provide a welcome boost, though it still falls short of the 30% increase recommended by the American Institute of Research which recommended a 30% increase in funding, with more attention to equitable spending for the education of low income and high needs students.

Gun Policy

By Marge Easley

After many iterations, SB 243 B finally made it to the Senate floor, where it passed on a party line vote following long and impassioned speeches from both sides of the aisle. Prior to the vote, Republican senators attempted to substitute a minority report for the committee report, but as expected the motion failed. It will have a first reading in the House on June 2. 

SB 243 B was originally a four-part omnibus bill, but over the course of the session two provisions were stripped away to lessen its fiscal impact. The final bill bans rapid fire devices, such as bump stocks, and allows cities and counties to prohibit the carrying of firearms inside buildings where public meetings are held. This prohibition includes those with concealed handgun licenses (CHLs), which was one of the main points of contention during the floor debate.  The League submitted supportive testimony on an earlier version of the bill on May 12.

Hate Crimes

By Becky Gladstone

Coalition Against Hate Crimes update, May 13, 2025

LWVOR is a CAHC member. The challenge, we want more cross-state participation. Currently it is mostly PDX based. We’re hoping the coalition can expand to cover more events around the state by redesigning the website; to be posted in a few weeks:

·        Homepage, a history of the coalition, the importance of reporting hate crimes

·        How to report! Hot lines, education about civil rights violations

·        List of partners, with links, awareness of the need for privacy

·        The 4th page is for news, upcoming events, for justice.

·        Link to the DoJ dashboard.

Upcoming EVENTS

·        Join us for World Refugee Day 2025! Soccer, stories, and community celebration for refugee, immigrant, and low-income youth. Friday, June 20 | East Portland. Create better relations to prevent a 2020 replay, to prevent violence toward activists & PDX Police, to pull in community members. We are a Sanctuary STATE & City. Fear that local police will be deputized to ICE.

·        Building bridges event, at Muslim Educational TRUST. We will come together in-person, with shared human values, to work for violence prevention. Cities- Portland, Gresham, etc., with youth voices and teachers from Reynolds School District, Centennial, David Douglas, etc. They are looking for projects they can do, working with the Portland Police Bureau Equity Office, Behavioral Health, substance abuse, violence prevention, music, artistic expression. Building Bridges East Community.

·        From the Antidefamation League, An Audit of Antisemitic Incidents.

OR DoJ Hate crime reporting

Closing the data year for Sanctuary Promise on May 31st, summary due in July. We’ve seen “pretty significant” increase in public body reporting from communities. The Federal Immigration Authority is reaching out for information that would violate sanctuary privacy. We expect new VISA request info at the end of June: What does it mean to be a new Sanctuary state, how we interact with federal agencies. Confusion is real with frequent changes, conflicting messaging for sanctuary, deputizing, posse comitatus reminds us of the old wild west “posse”.

Hate crime patterns, looking at particular groups targeted, for example with COVID, the AAPI, seems to be more toward LatinX now.

Housing

By Nancy Donovan and Debbie Aiona

SB 5011 is Oregon Housing and Community Services Department ‘s (OHCS) budget bill for the 2025-27 biennium.  One aspect of the proposed bill is $6 million for eviction prevention services to address our state’s housing and homeless crisis. We have an urgent need to preserve and stabilize existing affordable homes.  

An  Oregon Capital Chronicle May 29 article   reports on our state’s eviction crisis: “Oregon sees a rise in eviction filings but rent assistance programs are working”. The article underscores the importance of eviction prevention programs to reduce eviction filings to help keep Oregonians housed. OHCS and legal aid programs such as the Oregon Law Center and Legal Aid Services of Oregon are making this possible.   

Bills in Progress

HB 2964: Requires the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department to award loans to non-profit affordable housing developers to cover pre-development costs of developing new housing. The bill passed the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness on April 15. It was then referred to the Senate Committee on Housing and Development, where a work session was held on May 21. A second reading was held on May 28, and on May 29, the bill was carried over to June 2 by unanimous consent. LWV testimony supports passage of the bill. 

HB 2735: The House Committee on Revenue held a work session on the Independent Development Accounts (IDAs) bill on May 22. On May 29 the House Committee on Revenue recommended a do pass with amendments and the bill was referred to Tax Expenditures by order of the Speaker.  The League submitted a letter in support. 

The Legislature created the IDAs program in 1999. The state matches participants’ savings up to 5-to-1. Money can be used to invest in the individual financial goals most important to each person’s own circumstances, such as buying a home or enrolling in higher education. The state tax credit that funds IDAs has not kept up with inflation. HB 2735-3 would raise the cap on the tax credit from $7.5 million/year to $16.5 million/year. The cap has not changed since 2009. If the Legislature does not act this session to “fix the funding” for IDAs, the program will shrink to serve 50% fewer Oregonians each year.  

HB 2958: The House Committee on Revenue held a work session on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on May 22, and recommended passage with amendments. On May 29, the committee recommended passage of the bill with amendments and referred it to Tax Expenditures. The bill would extend the sunset date to 2032 and increase to 25 percent the EITC for families with children under three years of age. Other families with children will receive 20 percent of the federal credit. With the -2 amendment, the bill no longer extends the benefit to all childless working adults over age 18.  

The League submitted a letter in support. The bill, if passed, will put more money in people’s pockets and help avoid the trauma, instability, and costs to society and affected individuals that come from losing one’s home, deferring medical care, or missing meals.

Immigration

By Becky Gladstone and Claudia Keith

Highlights - News 

League of Women Voters Files Brief Opposing Executive Order Attacking Birthright Citizenship | League of Women Voters

Attorney General Dan Rayfield Urges Court to Uphold Orders Blocking Trump Administration's Attack on Refugees - Oregon Department of Justice : Media 

Congress House budget bill cuts benefits, raises fees tied to immigration : NPR

• Axios: State Department seeks to create “Office of Remigration”  

• New York Times: Afrikaners See Trump as the Ally Who “Heard Our Cries”  

• BBC: Fleeing U.S. deportations, it took this family of asylum seekers three tries to enter Canada  

• Hindustan Time: In Kenyan refugee camp, US aid cuts mean no period pads, no school 

• Democracy Forward: Refugee Advocates to Court: U.S. Government is Attempting to Slam the Door Shut on People Fleeing Persecution  

• ProPublica: Death, Sexual Violence and Human Trafficking: Fallout From U.S. Aid Withdrawal Hits the World’s Most Fragile Locations

  News from Homeland Security: Sanctuary Jurisdictions Defying Federal Immigration Law | Homeland Security

  Asylum seekers in Oregon can    now qualify for in-state tuition | OPB

  Legislative Bulletin — Friday, May 30, 2025 - National Immigration Forum

  
  

  Oregon lawmakers will not move forward this year with a proposed agricultural labor standards board that would set wages and workplace conditions for farmworkers.

  
  

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