Monthly Archives: February 2025

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Oregon Democrats to Voters: ‘Let Them Eat Cake”

For all its screw-ups, Oregon is damn good at one thing, raising taxes and fees. 

One of the newest gambits, SB 687, would actually remove voters from the decision-making process.  Sponsored by State Senator Sen. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, and State Representatives Mark Gamba, D- Milwaukie and Zach Hudson, D – Troutdale, Wood Village, Fairview and North Gresham, the bill would allow a city or county to enact a fuel tax without going to voters first, eliminating a current requirement that local voters must approve city or county gas tax increases.

I guess in the sponsors’ view, voters just get in the way of sound policymaking.  

In a classic political gaffe, Gamba has already insulted voters, going so far as to tell OPB that voters too often act like “petulant children” standing in the way of taxes that are necessary to replace vital infrastructure like roads, sewage plants and libraries. “Someone needs to be the responsible adult in the room,” he told OPB. 

Oregon‘s tax system already ranks in the bottom half of states, coming in 30th overall on the 2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index and Portland enjoys the distinction of having the highest combined local income tax rate in the nation (4 percent), adding an extra layer of tax burden for residents of the state’s largest city.

You may be thankful Oregon forgoes a sales tax, but the Competitiveness Index points out it doubles down on other forms of taxation. The state has a complex and progressive individual income tax system with four tax brackets, a top marginal rate of 9.9 percent, and a personal exemption structured as a tax credit. Additionally, the tax brackets are not adjusted for inflation. 

The absence of a sales tax in Oregon is offset, the Index says, by an overly complex corporate tax system, which includes a 7.6 percent corporate income tax, a 0.57 percent gross receipts tax (the Corporate Activity Tax), and additional corporate taxes at the local level, particularly in the Portland area. Although gross receipts taxes typically do not allow any deductions from gross sales, the CAT provides a 35 percent deduction for either labor costs or the cost of goods sold. However, this does not significantly improve Oregon’s competitiveness in attracting businesses, as the state’s corporate tax system ranks among the worst in the nation, comparable to Delaware, the only other state to combine corporate income and gross receipts taxes.

Oregon’s property tax system is moderately competitive, the Index acknowledges, though the property tax burden relative to personal income is higher than in California and Washington. Additionally, the state imposes an estate tax with a maximum rate of 16 percent and the lowest estate tax exemption among states that levy the tax ($1 million), which further reduces the state’s competitiveness for high-net-worth individuals.

But what do the Democrats in the Legislature care? They have a supermajority in both  the Oregon House and Senate, so they’ll be able to increase taxes and fees without a single Republican vote. The hell with ordinary voters, I guess. 

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“Abortion Rights Are Safe In Oregon” Says Oregon’s Attorney General. Don’t Believe It.

Survey shows Americans' conflicted ...

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump was all over the map on abortion. But you’d be a fool to think this means abortion rights are safe in Oregon or the rest of the country. They are not.

In June 2023, addressing a Faith & Freedom Coalition Gala, Trump said he was the “most pro-life president ever.” As with so many of his other c campaign promises, he’ll likely follow through with that promise.

Oregon’s attorney general says all is well. The Oregon Department of Justice website is adamant that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has not affected abortion rights in the state: “Abortion is still SAFE, ACCESSIBLE and LEGAL in OREGON” its says. “The United States Supreme Court decision in June 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade(called Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health) did not change Oregon laws protecting a pregnant person’s right to have an abortion in Oregon.”

The fact is, however, that no state is immune from federal actions limiting abortion rights.

With Pam Bondi’s Senate confirmation as attorney general still ahead, for example, her chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, who is temporarily leading the Justice Department, issued a memo sharply limiting prosecutions of people accused of blocking access to abortion clinics, calling such cases the “prototypical example” of federal weaponization.

On January 23, 2024 Trump followed up by pardoning 23 people who were convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act), including many who were serving prison sentences for physically blocking patients from accessing their doctors. Some of the offenses committed included breaking into clinics, stealing fetal tissue, and accosting pregnant patients.

Jessica Valenti, a prominent writer on gender and politics, has reported that:

  • Dozens of Republican lawmakers held a private meeting with anti-abortion activists where they pledged to repeal the FACE Act
  • The Department of Justice announced that they won’t enforce the FACE Act unless there are “extraordinary circumstances…such as death.”
  • Conservative legal groups are working to overturn Hill v. Colorado—the Supreme Court decision that established abortion clinic buffer zones.

Efforts are also underway to limit Planned Parenthood’s operations in Oregon access to federal Medicaid money, potentially cutting off its ability to provide abortions. 

On January 27,  the White House Office of Management and Budget  (OMB) issued an order setting off  a temporary pause of  federal grants to give agencies time to review spending priorities. On Jan. 28, OMB sent another sent a directive telling federal agencies to fill out an attached spreadsheet answering questions about programs that might require funding and whether they aligned with Trump’s agenda. One of the questions asked if the program supports abortion “in any way.”

At his Senate confirmation hearing for  Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assured Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) he would appoint only pro-life deputies.

Abortion access in Oregon may be constrained by restrictions on access to pills used in medication abortions.  Access to the abortion pill mifepristone, for example, still largely depends on a patchwork of state laws, with only about half of states allowing full access under the terms approved by the federal government. According to PBS, A dozen or so states have laws specifically limiting how mifepristone can be prescribed, such as requiring an in-person visit with a physician or separate counseling about the potential risks and downsides of the drug.

In a sign of the times, a New York doctor, Margaret Carpenter, was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on January 29 for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the southern state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country. Under the law, physicians convicted of performing an illegal abortion, including one with pills, face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical license. Carpenter was charged charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony. Carpenter was operating under New York’s telemedicine “shield law,” which protects providers who ship abortion pills across state lines, but it may not matter.

Project 25, The Heritage Foundations blueprint for Trump’s actions, calls for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to encourage states to remove Planned Parenthood facilities from the Medicaid program. Project 25 also proposes mobilizing an array of federal agencies to limit access to abortion, including a national ban on abortion pills even in states like Oregon with liberal abortion laws. 

“The Dobbs decision (overturning Roe v. Wade) is just the beginning,” Project 2025 says. “Conservatives in the states and in Washington, including in the next conservative administration, should push as hard as possible to protect the unborn in every jurisdiction in America.”

Oregon Right to Life, which says “We work to reestablish protection for all innocent human life from conception to natural death” is also continuing its efforts to restrict abortion in the state.

“Being a pro-life legislator in Oregon comes with unique challenges,” says the group’s website. “That being said, our mission remains the same: provide tangible, encouraging support to women and families, and protect as many unborn lives as possible from abortion. Understanding the unique terrain of this issue in Oregon, we want to continue to put forward limits that are widely supported with key exceptions, and considered “reasonable” even by self-proclaimed pro-choice voters.” 

 Undeterred by a generally hostile Legislature, the group is pursuing enactment of several bills during the 2025 session, including:

  • HB 2372 – would require a physician to provide a baby born alive during an attempted abortion procedure the same degree of care as any other baby at the same gestational stage.
  • HB 3248 – would place a limit on abortion when the baby can feel pain with exceptions for medical emergencies, rape, and incest.
  • HB 2381, 2382 – would establish the Pregnancy Launch Program to encourage healthy childbirth; support childbirth as an alternative to abortion; promote family formation; aid successful parenting; Increase families’ economic self-sufficiency; and improve maternal health, mortality, and postpartum outcomes. It would also create a hotline and set a requirement that this information be provided to an abortion-minded woman 48 hours prior to her abortion procedure. Finally, it would establishe an OHA grant program to help fund entities offering services related to encouraging and assisting mothers in carrying their pregnancies to term.
  • TBD – would require parental consent for minors (under 18) traveling into Oregon for an abortion.

The battle is on.