Revisiting cap and invest

By Julia Shumway | Editor

A group of Senate Republicans left the Capitol seven years ago, some fleeing to Idaho, to deny Democrats the quorum they’d need to muscle through a bill to cap carbon emissions. Republicans left to protest cap-and-trade again in 2020, but then-Gov. Kate Brown executed an end-run around the Legislature to create Oregon’s Climate Protection Program through an executive order. Now, a bipartisan group of legislators are revisiting the concept of a state cap-and-invest law.

Also in today's edition:

How Oregonians want the state to handle transportation
Regulators warn of too-good-to-be-true cheap healthcare plans
Congressional watchdog says Trump can’t claw back $810 million

News tips, feedback or questions? Email us at [email protected]

Oregon Republicans revisit cap and invest proposal seven years after they walked out over it

By Alex Baumhardt

A bipartisan group of Oregon lawmakers is meeting to discuss the potential of a cap-and-invest carbon market similar to those in California and Washington, just seven years after Senate Republicans walked out of the state Capitol to oppose a similar proposal. Such markets charge polluters for their greenhouse gas pollution, and use the revenues to fund climate mitigation and adaptation projects as the impacts of climate change become more extreme. (Photo courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation)

Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Oregon have been meeting in recent weeks to discuss the potential to collaborate on a climate policy that just seven years ago drove them apart, and drove some Senate Republicans across state lines.

Here’s how Oregonians want the state to address its transportation budget crisis

By Mia Maldonado

Oregonians ranked maintaining and preserving highways and bridges and improving safety as their top priority in a new survey. (Photo by Oregon Department of Transportation)

Oregonians ranked maintaining and preserving highways and bridges and improving safety as the top priorities they think the Oregon Department of Transportation should focus on as it looks to resolve a $200 million budget gap in the 2027-29 budget cycle.

Oregon insurance regulators warn of cheap healthcare plans resulting in high bills

By Shaanth Nanguneri

An examination room at a clinic in Portland on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. Oregon officials are warning of certain low-cost plans which they say could result in unexpected high medical bills. (Photo by Rian Dundon/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Oregonians should be cautious before purchasing health insurance coverage through misleading “self-funded” or “limited partner” plans that can result in high out-of-pocket costs and unexpected medical bills, state insurance regulators said.