TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Legislative Committee
SUBJECT:
title
End of session report summarizing the City’s legislative activities during the 2025 session of the Oregon State Legislature and federal legislative update.
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Good Governance; Natural Environment Stewardship; Safe Community; Safe, Reliable and Efficient Infrastructure; Strong and Diverse Economy; Welcoming and Livable Community.
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SUMMARY:
summary
The Council’s Legislative Committee is comprised of Mayor Julie Hoy and Councilors Brown, Gwyn, and Nordyke. Councilor Nishioka serves as an alternate. The City Council’s Legislative Committee meets frequently to consider priorities to guide Salem’s Federal and State agendas throughout the year. For each Oregon Legislative Session, the City Council’s Legislative Committee meets to prepare, consider positions on active bills during Session, and discuss recent federal legislative activity. This is an end of session report summarizing the City’s legislative activities during the 2025 session of the Oregon State Legislature and federal legislative update.
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ISSUE:
Information only.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Information only.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
The Council’s Legislative Committee is comprised of Mayor Julie Hoy and Councilors Brown, Gwyn, and Nordyke. Councilor Nishioka serves as an alternate. Oregon State Legislature convened January 21, 2025 for its regular session. The Committee meets frequently during the Session to receive updates and consider priorities for the City’s State and Federal agendas.
Legislative Committee Work
The City Council’s Legislative Committee meets to prepare for the Oregon Legislative Session and during Session, to consider positions on bills before the 2025 Oregon State Legislature and recent federal legislative activity.
The Legislative Committee met on July 25, 2025 to consider a draft report on the 2025 Oregon Legislative Session and receive an update on the recent federal legislative activity. The Committee is set to meet again, August 22, 2025 in advance of the Special Session to consider transportation funding. Work is underway now at the Legislative Committee to draft and prepare the City’s Federal and State agendas to guide our work in 2026, with support of staff, Perseverance, and Summit Strategies. The Committee will also consider other policy priorities for the City of Salem. Should the Committee recommend positions to the City Council, staff will add that information to the report for the Council’s consideration.
• Policy Statements. The Council adopted a set of legislative policy statements before the 2025 Session started and adjusted the policy statements during the Session (Attachment 1) to guide the City’s response to bills during the Oregon Legislative Session. The policy statements and legislative priorities position public officials, the City's contracted lobbyist, and staff in responding to moving legislation and formulating positions broad topics of economic development, financing and revenue, human resources, telecommunications, public safety, land use and the environment.
• Priorities. For the 2025 Legislative Session, Salem’s top priorities were to secure (1) Capitol District funding for emergency and public safety services to the State of Oregon, (2) funding for the Airport Terminal Area Plan and (3) Airport Resiliency and Emergency Power. Salem also sought funding for slide mitigation on River Road and enhancing the Peace Plaza. During Session, Salem supported a funding request for an interpretive area in the Fairview Park Master Plan.
• Bills of Interest. For the 2025 Session, 3,466 bills were introduced and 702 were active through the end of the session. Through the work of City Council’s Legislative Committee and the City’s contracted lobbyist for local issues, Perseverance Strategies, Inc. the City analyzed and tracked more than 717 pieces of priority legislation, and monitored 96 bills closely throughout the Session. Of these, 12 bills were designated high priority. Bills determined to be of significant interest by the City Council’s Legislative Committee were recommended to Council for adoption if the bill would have had a major fiscal or policy impact. Perseverance has provided the attached 2025 Legislative Session summary (Attachment 2), which describes the Legislative Session, in general, and features a brief summary of key issues of interest this session. The outcome of priority bills to the City are featured in the attached report. Also attached is a summary of past legislative success, as presented and reviewed by the Legislative Committee (Attachment 3).
• Recent Federal Activity. Through the work of the City Council’s contracted federal lobbyist, Summary of Reconciliation Bill (Attachment 4) and status of federal grants (Attachment 5).
BACKGROUND:
The Legislative Committee provides the City Council with regular updates. To continue a coordinated and unified response, and in accordance with Council Policy No. G-1, the Mayor and Councilor are asked to communicate the nature of their legislative contacts to staff via an email to Courtney Knox Busch (cbusch@cityofsalem.net). Staff will forward the communication to the City’s lobbyist, the Legislative Committee, and City Council as appropriate.
Courtney Knox Busch
Chief Strategy Officer
Attachments:
1. 2025 Salem Legislative Policy Statements
2. City of Salem, 2025 Session Overview as submitted by Perseverance Strategies, Inc.
3. Past Legislative Success, as submitted by Perseverance Strategies, Inc.
4. Summary of Reconciliation Bill, as submitted by Summit Strategies.
5. Status of Federal Grants