Policy Recommendations
State-wide
Cost of Living
Remove duplicative state, county, city, and regional programs
Government accountability. Make it easier for the public to see where tax dollars go and whether programs deliver what was promised.
Repeal Oregon’s affordable-housing financial records exemption law (ORS 192.355(24)), which allows costs of publicly subsidized housing projects to be kept from the public.
Create a “polluter pays” Climate Superfund. When companies create large public costs, those costs should not simply be shifted onto taxpayers. Require major fossil-fuel producers responsible for very large historical greenhouse-gas emissions to contribute toward Oregon’s climate-related costs, including wildfire resilience, infrastructure, public health, and disaster preparedness. Oregon’s 2026 SB 1541 would have created such a cost-recovery program.
Government effectiveness. Support reforms that reduce waste, duplication, delays, and unnecessary bureaucracy.
Stop automatic utility rate increases: require investor-owned utilities like PGE, Pacific Power, and NW Natural to meet a tougher standard before regulators approve higher rates.
Jobs
Build a $1 billion Oregon Growth Fund. Expand Oregon's existing Growth Account, which currently has about $250 million in assets and makes roughly $30 million in new investment commitments each year, into a fund about four times its current size. Continue investing alongside private investors in companies that build and grow in Oregon, especially businesses creating large numbers of high-paying jobs. When public money helps create private wealth, taxpayers should share in the return.
Create an Oregon “Shark Tank” for science and technology. Scale up existing programs like the Oregon Growth Account and Commercialization Gap Fund to invest alongside private investors in promising companies emerging from Oregon universities and research institutions. Take equity so taxpayers share in the upside when publicly backed research becomes a successful company, and recycle returns into future Oregon startups.
Education (Talent Flywheel)
Free public universities, trade schools and apprenticeships (students repay cost if they leave Oregon before 5 years).
Increase teacher pay significantly to attract and retain stronger K–12 talent.
Oregon becomes a magnet for ambitious talent nation-wide.
Healthcare
Fight for national universal healthcare: pressure Oregon’s congressional delegation to repeatedly introduce and support federal universal healthcare legislation. A state-only universal healthcare system does not math out.
Defund Healthier Oregon, which provides health coverage to eligible Oregon residents regardless of immigration or citizenship status, which has a $1B budget. Fix healthcare for citizens first.
Data Centers
Stop giving data centers special tax treatment. Require them to pay the full cost of the power, water, and infrastructure they use.
Better Representatives
Pay elected officials a proper salary in order to expand the pool of candidates from the wealthy and retired (20% of voters) to include 100% of voters.
Clackamas County
Clackamas River Corridor
Turn the Clackamas River into the Portland region’s premier outdoor recreation destination.
Willamette Falls
Transform Oregon’s biggest waterfall into a world-class tourism destination.
Regional Aquatic and Sports Complex
Instead of each city struggling to replace aging pools alone, consider a shared facility that is a year-round sports tourism and community health hub.