All legislators with representation in Benton County are invited to attend the Legislative Update sessions; depending on activities at the capitol and personal situations, not all legislators are able to attend each update. The legislators invited this year were:
- Senator Sara Gelser Blouin (District 8)
- Senator Dick Anderson (District 5)
- Representative Sarah Finger McDonald (District 16)
- Representative David Gomberg (District 10)
- Representative Shelly Boshart Davis (District 15)
The Oregon Legislature is in long session running from January 21 to June 29, 2025, which means we schedule one Update per month from March 8 to June 7. In the past the Corvallis-Benton County library main meeting room was the site of the Updates but it’s no longer available on Saturday mornings due to other programming. So this year’s Updates are being held in the Kalapuya Building on Research Way in Corvallis, the site of Benton County government. We are pleased to have Benton County as co-sponsors. The Updates follow immediately after the monthly Benton County Commissioners breakfast with the legislators and local officials. By having the updates in the same space as the breakfast ensures that the legislators can be finished with ‘official’ duties by noon.
Senator Gelser Blouin, Representative Finger McDonald and Representative Gomberg attended the March 8 update. The legislators attending the March 8, 2025 Legislative Update were clear that being a senator or representative is really a full-time job. There was very good attendance, a full house, as well as good attendance online. Thanks to the IT wizardry of Dave Rabinowitch, all Legislative Updates were available to attend via Zoom. Each legislator spent about 10 minutes describing their view of what was happening at the capitol, some of which was focused on the as-yet-unknown effects of changes at the federal government level. There were, as always, many wide-ranging questions. Time restraints limited the number of questions that received answers. The legislators all agreed that community member input is very valuable but emphasized that it is best to contact the Senator and Representative in the district where you live. Both Senators and Representatives have very small staffs (2 people) so they may not be able to respond to every contact.
The Legislative Updates are very popular in the community. The League needs a new Updates coordinator for next year. Fewer updates will be needed since the next legislative session is a short one. Please contact us if you are interested in helping to coordinate these informative events for 2026. Thank you!