PORTLAND, Ore.- Oregon K-12 students have until April 1 to apply for transfers to public schools that opted into the state’s new open enrollment law.

School boards and districts had until March 1, 2012 to decide whether or not they would accept new students from outside their district based on the recent open enrollment policy put into place by the legislature.

SALEM, Ore.- Now that Oregon’s 2012 legislative session is officially over, lobbyists throughout the state have the opportunity to reflect on how the new bills passed into law will affect their groups in the future.

J.L. Wilson, vice president of government affairs, employment law, fiscal policy and political affairs for Associated Oregon Industries (AOI), was mostly optimistic about the session.

SALEM, Ore.- Now that the Oregon legislature’s first constitutionally mandated, short annual session has concluded, the question remains for some whether it was a good investment for taxpayers.

Previously, lawmakers met in 2008 and 2010 for a special session, even before voters approved a constitutional change requiring the legislators to meet annually.

SALEM, Ore.- Typically, when State Representative Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, makes the four-hour drive home after a legislative session, he reflects on how it could have gone better.

But on Tuesday, March 6, the day after the end of the 2012 session, Buckley was pleased that he could think of very few improvements he would have made on the legislature’s latest efforts.

SALEM, Ore.- On Tuesday, March 6, just over 12 hours after the final gavel fell on Oregon’s 2012 legislative session, the hallways of the capitol building in Salem were serene and largely empty.

But amid all of the seeming serenity, there were the occasional high-level dramas being played out behind closed doors, as the filing deadline for state offices was all of a few hours away.

SALEM, Ore.- With final legislative approval from the Oregon state Senate, a proposed business plan to set up a health care exchange for the state now moves to the governor for his signature.

On a vote of 26-4, senators approved a bill which provides the details for the health care exchange project set up in response to the national health care legislation passed by Congress in 2010.

SALEM, Ore. – After a long discussion, the Oregon Senate voted Thursday to pass a bill aimed at preventing teen dating violence.

House Bill 4077 requires school boards to develop programs to educate students about dating violence and authorizes the Oregon Department of Justice and the Oregon Department of Human Services to allocate funding to help combat the problem.

SALEM, Ore.- Legislators will meet at least one more day, after the House adjourned during its floor session Thursday morning.

The original date for sine die, also known as adjourning the session, was set for February 29, but lawmakers failed to reach agreement on several bills before that time, including some of those proposed by the governor.

SALEM, Ore.- A Senate bill involving unemployment insurance benefits for some taxicab drivers passed the Oregon House today, although some members voiced strong opposition to it.

SB 1588 excludes services performed in the operation of a taxicab by a person with an ownership or leasehold interest in the vehicle from the definition of “employment” for the purposes of qualifying for unemployment insurance benefits.

SALEM, Ore.- One state representative stood alone Tuesday to protest a bill which he called a “sharp sword” for law enforcement.

Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, cautioned his peers on the passage of a bill intended to protect seniors from fraud and abuse.