Drugs, housing and education among the major bills of Oregon’s whirlwind 35-day legislative session

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — During a 35-day whirlwind legislative session that adjourned Thursday night, a couple days ahead of schedule, Oregon lawmakers focused on two main priorities: housing and drugs.

Their decision to recriminalize drug possession made national headlines, and a sweeping $370 million package aimed at boosting housing production capped off months of negotiations. Measures spanning other issues, from education to the environment, also passed. Here’s a look at the major bills approved this session:

DRUG RECRIMINALIZATION

Oregon legislators voted to roll back the state’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law — passed by voters in 2020 — by once again making it a crime to possess small amounts of drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine.

The fentanyl crisis, one of the nation’s largest increases in overdose deaths, as well as growing political pressure pushed many Democrats who historically supported the decriminalization measure to vote for the new bill, which passed with bipartisan backing.

Social justice groups opposed it based on the belief that treatment is more effective than jail in helping people overcome addiction. They also expressed concern it will result in more arrests.

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