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Oregon Legislative Session Enters Homestretch

A view of the west side of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.
OregonDOT
/
Flickr
A view of the west side of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.

Oregon lawmakers still have a lot on their plate as the 2015 session enters its final weeks.

Their target adjournment date is less than three weeks off, but lawmakers still have to craft the budgets for most of the biggest state agencies. That's technically the only thing lawmakers have to do.

But the House and Senate will likely take up a hotly debated measure to require all but the smallest businesses to offer paid sick time. Lawmakers are also hoping to finish work on legislation that would create guidelines for recreational marijuana, which becomes legal in Oregon on July 1.

On the other hand, each day that goes by means there's less of a chance for a wide-ranging transportation spending package. And lawmakers also appear to be taking a pass on raising the state's minimum wage.

While the legislature is aiming to complete its work by June 26, they have until July 11 to wrap things up before they run into a deadline set in the Oregon Constitution.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.