Oregon lawmakers gear up for first legislative session of 2025

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- We're just days away from Oregon lawmakers returning to the legislature to introduce a slew of big bills in this upcoming legislative session.

At the capitol on Thursday, there were a lot of conversations about making Oregon more affordable, as well as a serious focus on tackling the state's biggest crises.

Among Gov. Tina Kotek's top priorities for this legislative session are housing and homelessness, mental health and addiction, as well as improving outcomes for K-12 students.

"We have people who are living outside. We have people who can't afford the homes. We have people who need mental health and addiction treatment. And our schools just have to do a better job for our kids," she said. "So I'm going to keep bringing it back to why we're here and try to keep the legislature focused on those top priorities, because I think they're essential and no one disagrees that they're essential."

She continued, "We need to stay the course, continue to build progress on what we've done and make sure the investments of the budget match up with those those goals."

In reality, this means Democrats will aim to fund more permanent supportive housing for the mentally ill, expand addiction treatment capacity and build new infrastructure such as duplexes, triplexes and quads.

The governor and her party are focused on aggressively increasing the housing supply for everyone and providing more affordable homeownership options, alongside funding for homeless services and shelters.

Republicans also have their eye on ending the homeless crisis.

"We have got to stop enabling this idea that it's okay for someone to live outside," echoed House Minority Leader Christine Drazan. "We should reverse our law that allows people to camp in public spaces and instead we should help people get into shelter."

Republicans are also laser-focused on affordability, with Drazan stating Republicans will fight to lower taxes across the state, including cutting income tax and not taxing tips.

"We know how hard it is right now for people to make ends meet," she said. "And I'd encourage Democrats and my colleagues across the aisle to join Republicans in doing things that we can control to lower the cost of living here."

If one thing is certain, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are motivated to make some sweeping changes this session.

According to Drazan, any attempt to raise costs of living or taxes for Oregonians should be dead on arrival. This could be a big point of contention with some Democratic-backed bills that are about to be introduced next week.

So overall, there is consensus about the priorities. But there will be competing opinions of the best way to get to the finish line.