Oregon's 2026 Short Session Debrief: Transportation, Conformity, and the Politics of Tax Policy

In this post-session episode of the GeTtin' SALTy podcast, host Nikki Dobay is joined by Jeff Newgard of Peak Policy for a comprehensive debrief on Oregon's 2026 short legislative session. Despite being limited to just 35 days, the session tackled a high volume of significant issues. Jeff and Nikki walk through the major tax and policy developments from the session, including the transportation funding referendum, which now heads to a May primary election amid active legal challenges.  They discuss the conformity debate and the legislature's decision to disconnect from select federal tax provisions following passage of the One Big Beautiful Act, as well as the fate of proposals targeting Oregon's treatment of international income, including NCTI and FDII. The conversation also covers changes to Oregon's transient lodging tax distribution model. Jeff and Nikki close with a discussion of the estate tax threshold debate and the growing trend of creative legislative strategies designed to circumvent Oregon's supermajority requirement for tax increases - a development that may be a concern for the business community.