Climate Catastrophes Demanded Urgency

Legislators Responded

During the 2021 and 2022 Legislative Session, elected officials responded to the urgency created by a global pandemic, extreme climate weather events, and historically destructive wildfires. They passed several climate bills called the Oregon Clean Energy Opportunity -- including 100% Clean Energy by 2040. The Legislature also passed comprehensive wildfire policy and a budget that strongly supported important -- and historically underfunded -- state agencies and invested in resilience to climate change.

Not only did we have an incredibly productive full session in 2021, we got a lot done in the short session in 2022 as well. So much so, that for the second time since 2015, we have decided to update the 2022 scorecard to include eight more bills from the 2022 short session. While the 2021 legislative session was successful in many ways, still too many important bills were left by the wayside––thankfully we were able to get a number of those bills and many new ones over the finish line in 2022.

During the incredibly productive 2022 short session we passed many historic pieces of legislation including the Elliott State Research Forest bill (ensuring the Elliott stays in public hands), the Private Forest Accords, the Emergency Heat Relief Bill, and Farmworker Overtime. The legislature also established and funded an Environmental Justice Task Force, and the Resilient Efficient Building Task Force. A $100 million climate budget was another major victory.

We also killed every bad bill that came up in 2022––including a poorly vetted bill that could have threatened the quality of housing in our state and a bill that would have misused money from the Wolf Compensation Fund to essentially subsidize ranchers for missing livestock even if they were not killed by wolves.

As always, there’s a lot of work left to do, and we at OLCV are committed to doing the hard work -- hopefully with you -- to keep passing strong climate, environmental, and environmental justice policies.

More from the scorecard:

• Note from the Executive Director
• Session Highlights
• 2021’s Notable Leaders
• Bill Graveyard
• Priorities for a Healthy Oregon
• Looking to the future

What next?

1. Tell your legislators you know the score.
2. Spread the word: #orleg #olcvscore
3. Donate.

Tell your legislators you know the score. It only takes a minute to say thanks — or no thanks — to your legislators. Then, share this scorecard with your friends, family, and neighbors so they can find out their elected officials’ results. Finally, because we could not accomplish our mission without the generous help of our members, please make a donation so that we can continue the fight to address climate change and protect Oregon’s natural beauty.

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Explore the Scorecard: Oregon House

Explore the Scorecard: Oregon Senate

Explore the bills:

Bill Graveyard

While we had four significant wins this session including the Oregon Clean Energy Opportunity package of bills – 100% Energy for All, Energy Affordability, and Healthy Homes – and comprehensive wildfire policy, we still had a number of important environmental bills that died due to industry pressure on legislators. Read more in the Bill Graveyard