Does anything change once Oregon politicians finish their “listening tours?” 

The most-chronicled project, of course, was Gov. Tina Kotek’s 36-county “One Oregon Listening Tour,” which she followed up by visiting each of Oregon’s nine federally recognized sovereign tribal nations.

Lawmakers also embarked on two significant tours this year. Will those sojourns prove influential and productive?

U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-6th District, on Wednesday held a lightly attended press conference via Zoom to announce congressional actions she was taking to address Oregon’s fentanyl and addiction crises. This followed her summer “Life After Measure 110” listening tour in Washington, Marion, Yamhill and Polk counties.

None of the legislation she is pursuing, including bipartisan bills, is likely to go anywhere this year. Those bills, along with many others, will die when the 118th Congress concludes on Jan. 3.

That’s just the way life works in a polarized House of Representatives, especially in an election year and especially when several heavyweight bills already await action once Congress returns to work after the Nov. 5 election.

“What I’m building now is interest,” Salinas said when I asked about the prospects for passage. She added that she is taking on a new role as co-chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus.

Whether in Congress or the Oregon Legislature, it’s not unusual for a concept to require several years of legislative incubation before gaining sufficient backing for passage, if it ever does.

Still, Salinas said she found the listening tour valuable. Posing the same question I’ve put to Kotek and others, I asked what Salinas had learned that she didn’t know before.

The answer: She hadn’t realized the strong efforts that law enforcement, prior to passage of Measure 110, put into helping drug users get treatment instead of incarceration.

“Because you always think of law enforcement as just, you know, put the handcuffs on, put them in jail (and) forget about it, right? And I do think there is a true measure of intent from law enforcement to work with counties, to work with the DA, to work with local Health and Human Services,” said Salinas, the daughter of a police officer. “It wasn’t like anybody had to come in and change hearts and minds.”

The second example awaits its conclusion. Now that the Legislature’s transportation committee has finished its 12-stop statewide tour, can lawmakers successfully put together a bipartisan tax and/or fee package that can pass the Senate and House.

In his recent constituent newsletter, Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, said the tour showed why the Legislature during its 2025 session must stabilize funding for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

 “The next step is for members of the committee and stakeholders to pull together all the information they learned on the tour and create a series of consensus recommendations that legislators will use to hit the ground running once session starts,” he wrote.

That search for a winning consensus will involve a massive number of players:

— The seven Democrats and five Republicans on the Joint Committee on Transportation

— The hundreds of Oregonians who testified in person or in writing, although there was little discussion of financial proposals

— The three work groups now being created – each with about 45 members – that will include legislators, Governor’s Office, Oregon Transportation Commission, labor unions, contractors, environmental organizations, pedestrian advocates, truckers, transit users, AAA, business organization and local governments

— Legislative staff

— ODOT staff

— Wagner, House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, and their staffs

— The 90 members of the 2025 Legislature

— And Oregonians who watch the work group meetings online and later make their views known. No public comment will be taken during those meetings

Doable? Let us hope.

Difficult? Exceedingly.

As for who will make those transportation-package decisions? The workplan says it will be the committee co-chairs, Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, and Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove; Barry Pack, Wagner’s chief of staff; Scott Moore, Fahey’s chief of staff; and Kelly Scannell Brooks, Kotek’s senior transportation, infrastructure and economic development adviser; with assistance from project manager Kathryn Jones.