What Happened in the 2026 Legislative Short Session?
The 2026 Oregon Legislature ended March 6, 2026; a welcome close to a challenging legislative session shaped by federal funding and policy changes.
Ahead of the 2026 session, Oregon’s Early Childhood Coalition (ECC) called on the Oregon Legislature to stabilize essential early learning and care services that thousands of Oregon children and families rely on. The priorities in the 2026 ECC Legislative Agenda reflected a shared commitment among early childhood providers, families, and advocates to invest in the earliest years of children’s lives.
This included protecting and restoring critical prevention services and investing in early relational health interventions, like Nurse Family Partnership, which support new parents through voluntary home-visits with a registered nurse, to support healthy caregiver bonding and child development.
- Restoring major funding cuts made to the Department of Early Learning and Care in the previous year (2025 regular session).
- Addressing the Employment Related Day Care shortfall.
- Restoring cuts to Nurse Family Partnership
- Adjusting the Doula Bill
In the end, Oregon lawmakers did not restore funding to prevention services Oregon Relief Nurseries and programs that provide home visiting services support to young children and families. Thankfully, critical funding for Oregon’s Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) was allocated, ensuring the program has enough funding to continue to serve families.
Regardless of the session’s outcomes, Early Childhood Coalition (ECC) partners and early childhood advocates made progress for young children by showing up to testify at legislative hearings and bringing greater visibility to complex early childhood issues among lawmakers and the public.
What’s Next?
Advocacy doesn’t end with the legislative session. In the interim, we will continue to build momentum as we prepare for the 2027 regular legislative session. Together, we will use this time to strengthen partnerships, sharpen our policy goals, and ensure early childhood voices are impossible for lawmakers to ignore.
See the 2026 legislative recap below or download the PDF.
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Oregon Early Childhood Coalition (ECC) envisions an Oregon where all children experience high quality early learning and care, and where the expertise of families and children drive policy and investment. Learn more.