SALEM, Ore. (Pamplin Media) — A few short takes on items that Oregon lawmakers acted on (or not) during their 32-day session that closed Friday, March 4:

Passed

• Worker payments: People who claimed the state’s earned-income tax credit on their 2020 returns — or amend their returns by April 15 — will be eligible for a one-time payment of $600 from federal funds of $147 million. The Department of Revenue will start the first payments to an eventual total of 245,000 households by early summer. (House Bill 4179)

• Traffic stops: Police will be barred from stopping drivers for primary violations of five vehicle equipment defects as of Jan. 1, 2023: Single broken headlight, tail light or brake light; tail light emitting a color other than red; lighting of registration plates. Police can issue tickets for these violations if there is a separate traffic violation or other offense. (Senate Bill 1510)

• Farmworker overtime: The exemption in state law will be phased out in five years — the new maximums are 55 hours in 2023 and 2024, 48 hours in 2025 and 2026, and 40 hours starting in 2027 — and time-and-a-half rates will apply. Washington state started overtime on Jan. 1; California started overtime in 2019 for larger operations, and Jan. 1 for farms with 25 or fewer workers. A tax credit, subtracted directly from taxes owed, is available. (HB 4002)

• School replacement: $120 million is set aside for the relocation of Harriet Tubman Middle School as part of the widening of Interstate 5 in Portland. Vehicle pollution affects the site in North Portland. (HB 5202, budget bill)

• Elliott State Forest: The 91,000-acre tract on the south coast will be converted to a research forest overseen by Oregon State University under legislation that severs its link to timber production for the Common School Fund. (SB 1546)

• Election workers: County election workers may have their home addresses shielded from disclosure under legislation intended to deter harassment. (HB 4144)

Failed

• Self-serve gasoline: HB 4151, which would have allow motorists to pump their own fuels as an option to full service by attendants, died after a Feb. 8 public hearing by the Joint Committee on Transportation. The bill died in the budget panel. Oregon and New Jersey still do not allow full self-service, though under a law that took effect in 2018, it is allowed in counties with less than 40,000 people. Oregon’s ban goes back to 1951.

• Non-unanimous juries: SB 1511, which would have set up a legal process for criminal defendants who were convicted by less-than-unanimous juries, died in the budget panel after it cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a Louisiana case in 2020 that such verdicts were unconstitutional; Oregon was the only state doing so. The court left it to states to decide whether its ruling applies retroactively.

• Hospital workers: HB 4142, which would have classified assaults on hospital workers as felonies instead of misdemeanors, died in the Senate after it passed the House on March 1. Senate President Peter Courtney had not assigned it to a committee, and ruled out of order a motion by Republicans on the final day to bring it to a vote of the full Senate. Republicans failed in an attempt to override Courtney’s decision.

Pamplin Media Group is a media partner with KOIN 6 News