Smart Policy
2011 Legislative Session Wrap-Up: With a House evenly split between parties, a looming budget hole, and just six months to consider hundreds of bills with long-lasting consequences, the 2011 Oregon legislative session was quite a balancing act.
Since 1969, OEC staff and volunteers have worked every legislative session in Salem to advocate for the interest of all Oregonians to have a clean, healthy environment, with history-making results.
2012 Legislative Session
In 2012, Oregon’s first official biennial short session, balancing a budget shortfall was the first order of business. But even with only 34 days in the session, environmental issues were right up there among health care and education at the top of the agenda.
The good news is that with OEC standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies, Oregon’s environment came out ahead for 2012. Oregon’s conservation community achieved all three of our combined legislative priorities:
- Continuing to invest in home-grown renewable energy
- Ensuring that critical clean air and clean water programs remain intact at the Department of Environmental Quality
- Creating three marine reserves that protect fish and ocean habitat
