The Oregon House began hearings Thursday on HB 2004, which would halt most “no-cause” evictions of renters and would repeal the statewide ban on local rent-control ordinances.

Credit goes to Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, who chairs the House Committee on Human Services and Housing, for giving equal time to supporters and opponents of the measure. She applied the two-minute limit on testimony even to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, yet had the compassion to allow extra time for a stroke survivor who had difficulty speaking.

House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, had introduced her own legislation, which included a moratorium on rent increases higher than 5 percent. But Kotek said she was backing HB 2004 instead, because support was coalescing around that bill.

When reporters have asked “rent control” legislation, Kotek has politely responded, “You mean ‘rent stabilization’?”

• Transportation and taxes: Depending on whom you talk with, a transportation-finance package either is making solid progress in the Legislature or is limping along.

Meanwhile, representatives of labor and business continue their private talks about potential tax increases coupled with savings in PERS and other programs.

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, says Oregon’s major hospitals are doing well financially, and they can afford a hospital tax to help pay for the Oregon Health Plan. But the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health System has its own figures showing that operating margins have dropped.

• Does the nation’s immigration chief know what’s going on? here is a disconnect between what the head of Homeland Security told Gov. Kate Brown about federal immigration enforcement and what is happening in Oregon.

On Friday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped two vehicles in the Woodburn area that were carrying Latino workers. The agents did not find the two men they were seeking but detained other workers for deportation.

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Gov. Brown that the feds’ focus was apprehending and deporting undocumented immigrants who are “violent and dangerous offenders.”

On Tuesday, I asked Brown whether she thought Kelly had a sense of what actually was happening on the ground.

“I invited him to Oregon to meet with our communities. I’m not sure he’ll take me up on my invitation. But I don’t know. I don’t know that he has a sense of what it’s really like for these [immigrant] families,” Brown said.

• At the Oregon Capitol, you must vote: Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden voted “present” this week on a procedural vote regarding President Trump’s nomination of Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke to oversee the Department of the Interior, which controls about one-fifth of America’s land.

Wyden could not have done that in the state Senate. Oregon legislators must vote “yay” or “nay” – not “present,” “abstain” or any other cop-out. The only other allowable categories are “excused” or “absent,” which mean the legislator was not present to cast a vote.

You must vote even if you have a conflict of interest, in which case you declare your conflict and vote anyway.

If you want to be officially excused and not merely absent, you must ask the Senate president to excuse you. You’re not allowed to be present for some votes and gone for others.

State representatives vote by pressing electronic buttons. Representatives who are mingling, instead of at their desks on the House floor, generally make a thumbs up or down to indicate their vote.

The Oregon Senate conducts a roll call. A Senate aide described it this way: “Our system in the Senate is cool. We maintain the tradition of the roll call, calling each member by name and having them vote by saying yay or nay. But we also have the scoreboard that keeps a running total of the votes as they are cast. It’s kind of the best of all worlds.”

As for Wyden, after getting his questions answered on Wednesday, he voted for Zinke as Interior secretary.

Following his vote of “present” on Monday, Wyden had issued a press release that said, “Congressman Zinke and I have had several discussions about forestry — especially about how to get the harvest up in a sustainable way, create jobs in rural America and protect our special places.”

Then Wyden added one of the best lines I’ve read: “Yet so far, it has proven impossible to get even a twig of information about his intentions for Oregon’s O&C forests.”

• Not exactly bipartisan: The four co-chairs of the Oregon Women’s Health & Wellness Alliance are Portland-area Democratic legislators. Of the 15 bills they are supporting, they listed four that have at least some support from Republican legislators.

• The tech industry rebounds … Oregon’s tech industry has added 20,000 jobs in the past five years. But it’s still not up to its turn-of-the-century heyday. The state’s information and telecommunications industry had an estimated employment last year of 78,379, compared with the all-time high of 80,446 in 2000. Those numbers are from an IHS Markit study that the Technology Association of Oregon commissioned.

It’s among the many reports and studies being circulated around the Capitol to show legislators the importance of this or that industry, population or sector.

• The state song lives on: Rep. Sheri Malstrom, D-Beaverton, has taken flak for proposing House Concurrent Resolution 20, which would alter the lyrics for “Oregon, My Oregon.”

“Conquered and held by free men” in the first verse would be replaced with “Land of Majestic Mountains.” In the second verse, “Blest by the blood of martyrs” would become “Blessed by the love of Freedom.”

Her proposal so incensed Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, that he wrote new lyrics for the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and was going to recite them on the House floor as an example of tampering with time-honored lyrics.

But Malstrom already is out in left field with her bill. No other legislator has signed onto it.

I asked to interview Malstrom about that bill and another one to declare marionberry the official state pie. Her chief of staff said the first-term legislator was too busy, and sent this statement:

“Representative Malstrom’s calendar is fully booked for the next few weeks, but I can provide this statement with some background about these two resolutions:

“Representative Malstrom submitted HCR 19, which would make marionberry pie the official pie of Oregon at the request of Shari’s Café and Pies, whose headquarters reside in Oregon House District 27. It seemed appropriate that marionberry pie be made the official pie of the state, as the berry was developed in Oregon, through a partnership between the US Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University. Similarly, HCR 20, which would make modest changes to the lyrics of “Oregon, My Oregon,” was submitted at the request of a constituent, who noted that the current lyrics do not reflect the inclusive nature of Oregon’s culture. Both resolutions [have] been referred to the House Committee on Rules, and Representative Malstrom looks forward to discussing the concepts with her colleagues.”

• He’s No. 1: Rep. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, represents House District 1, which covers Curry and parts of Coos, Douglas and Josephine counties. In his newsletter this week, the first-term legislator outlined a typical legislative week for him:

Monday, 2/13/17

8:00-9:45 Economic Development and Trade Committee

10:00-11:00 Caucus

11:00-12:00 Floor Session

12:00-12:45 Lunch with legislators

12:45-1:30 AOC Legislative Meeting

1:30-2:00 Meeting with ODOT

2:00-2:30 Meeting with Minority Leader McLane

2:30-3:00 Meeting with Kitty Bunten/ORREC

3:00-4:45 Energy and Environment Committee

4:45-5:15 Meeting with Housing Specialist on my Housing bill, HB 2377

5:30-7:00 Meet with Oregon Wheat Growers

7:00-8:30 Office work

Tuesday, 2/14/17

8:00-9:45 Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee

10:00-10:30 Meeting with National Association of Nurseries

10:30-11:00 Meeting with IT Dept.

11:15-11:45 Meeting with Wheat Growers

11:45-12:00 Meeting with Rep. Power

12:00-1:00 Budget Overview

1:00-2:30 Early Childhood and Family Support Committee

2:30-3:00 Meeting with Governor Brown

3:00-3:30 Meeting with Oregon Nurses Association

3:30-4:00 Meeting on Economic Dev & Trade

4:00-4:30 Phone meeting with Macaluso’s on housing

4:30-5:00 Meeting with Oregon Rural Electric COOPs Association

5:30-7:00 Meet with Oregon Nurses

7:00-8:30 Office work

Wednesday 2/15/17

8:00-9:45 Economic Development and Trade Committee

10:00-11:00 Caucus

11:00-12:00 Floor Session

12:00-1:00 Lunch with Legislators

1:00-1:30 Meeting with NW Natural Gas

1:30-1:45 Meeting with Homebuilders/HB 2377

1:45-2:15 Meeting with foresters

2:30-3:00 Meeting with farmers

3:00-4:45 Energy and Environment Committee

5:00-6:00 Economic Development and Trade work group with Co-Chair Marsh

6:00-7:30 Office work

Thursday 2/16/17

7:00-8:00 Coastal Caucus

8:00-9:45 Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee

10:00-11:00 Caucus

11:00-12:00 Floor Session

12:00-1:00 Lunch with Legislators

1:00-2:45 Early Childhood and Family Supports Committee

3:00-3:30 Meeting with OPUDA/Energy

3:30-4:00 Meeting with ODF/Sudden Oak Death

4:00-4:30 Meeting with Legislative Advocates

4:30-5:00 Meeting with Oregon Dept. Of Agricultural

5:00-7:00 Justice Reinvestment Summit

Friday 2/17/17

9:00-10:00 Energy and Environment Workgroup

10:00-10:30 Meeting on Economic Development

10:30-11:00 Meeting with local farmers/Waterman

11:00-12:00 Meeting with Legislative Counsel

12:00-1:00 Lunch with Legislators

1:00-3:45 Office work

3:45-7:00 Travel home to District

7:00-8:15 Pacific High School Boys Basketball Playoffs at North Bend

Dick Hughes has been covering the Oregon political scene since 1976. Contact him at TheHughesisms@Gmail.com.