The Latest

Now that we’re midway through the 2023 legislative session, we have dozens of bills to review that relate to housing, natural and working lands, transportation, climate, wildfires, threats to urban growth boundaries, semiconductors, budgets, and rulemaking. This is an update to our original 2023 legislative overview.

Our state is poised for success, with at least eight semiconductor applications already in motion — on land already designated for industrial use — to bring federal funding and more high quality jobs to our state. However, SB 4 includes a potential trap that Oregon must be vigilant in avoiding if we are to declare success: unprecedented authority given to the governor regarding land.

Since the introduction of House Bill 2659 earlier this session, 1000 Friends has been working in coalition with other groups to stop this bad bill – an attempt to effectively repeal the Climate Friendly & Equitable Communities program. Now we're seeing signs of lack of enthusiasm for it. Read more about its status.

Advocacy from the Linn County community helped preserve a tract of prime farmland, saving it from becoming industrial land as part of a land swap proposed by the City of Millersburg. Local public efforts ensured that this land remained outside the UGB as farmland, instead of forever losing acres of rich soil that feed our state.

Midway through 2023’s legislative session, we’re bringing you a short housing roundup, including a win we’re celebrating and the other housing bills we’re still supporting. The seven housing bills we are still working on in the legislature are all aimed at making it easier to build more affordable and diverse housing that’s located close to the things people need to get to, such as schools, stores, parks, and more.

Meaningful climate action is necessary to defend the health and future of Oregon. In 2020, Governor Kate Brown signed executive order 20-04 establishing the Oregon Climate Action Plan (OCAP), a bold set of actions by state agencies to address our changing climate. In this Oregon Stories, we look back at OCAP and its successes, as well as highlight the future of the land use planning system and how we can use it to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The Oregon legislature took a momentous step toward making sure that every Oregonian has the opportunity for accessible, affordable housing choices in every community. We will need you to share your support for HB 2001 as it continues to move through the legislature.

A win-win is possible for semiconductor expansion applications and Oregon’s farms, forests, and watersheds. But the window of opportunity closes in two months—our state must act now! Since the introduction of Senate Bill 4 (SB 4)—which focuses, in part, on ways to support the expansion of the semiconductor industry’s footprint in Oregon—1000 Friends, local land use groups, and hundreds of Oregonians have urged the State’s Joint Committee on Semiconductors to act fast and strategically to meet the May 2023 application deadline.

As a member of the Just Crossing Alliance, 1000 Friends is excited to see our federal partner step in and request the inclusion of a movable lift span as one of the design options for the Interstate 5 Bridge Replacement Program.

This month, the Land Use Board of Appeals rejected a Marion County effort to use the home-occupation statute as a backdoor to open farm and forest lands to businesses hosting large-scale, nonfarm events.