On this edition of Prison Pipeline: Oregon Legislative Preview.
The Oregon Legislature’s 2026 session begins on February 2 and will last for only 35 days. Oregon has a part-time legislature, they’re in session for 160 days in odd-numbered years and just 35 days in even-numbered years. That’s when electeds are officially in session, but the work of the legislature goes on all year round: legislative counsel and staff work on concepts and proposals, and legislators themselves meet in committees for Legislative Days during the interim period. The final legislative days before the 2026 session were held January 13, 14, and 15. On this edition of Prison Pipeline we hear about one of those legislative concepts, the Law Enforcement Accountability and Visibility Act, sponsored by State Representative Farrah Chaichi. This LC was discussed January 13 by the Oregon House Interim Committee on the Judiciary. We hear testimony from witnesses in support including Representative Chaichi, Michael Abrams from the ACLU of Oregon, and Portland Police Chief Robert Day.
Plus, we hear from Professor Rohini Haar, MD, MPH, an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at UC Berkeley Public Health and an Emergency Physician at Kaiser Medical Center in Oakland, CA, on the health impacts of tear gas, rubber bullets, and the like.
And, on Saturday January 24, ICE agents in Minneapolis murdered Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Local officials were joined by members of Congress at a news conference, we hear Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and US Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.
- KBOO