The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon along with the lower chamber, the Oregon House of Representatives, making up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the State Senate, representing 30 districts across the state, each with a population of 114,000. The State Senate meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.

Oregon State Senators serve four-year terms without term limits. In 2002, the Oregon Supreme Court struck down the decade-old Oregon Ballot Measure 3, which had restricted State Senators to two terms (eight years) on procedural grounds.

Like certain other upper houses of state and territorial legislatures and the United States Senate, the State Senate can confirm or reject gubernatorial appointments to state departments, commissions, boards, and other state governmental agencies.

The current Senate President is Peter Courtney of Salem.

Oregon, along with Arizona, Maine, and Wyoming, is one of the four U.S. states do not have the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, a position which for most upper houses of state legislatures and for the United States Congress (with the Vice President) is the head of the legislative body and holder of the casting vote in the event of a tie. Instead, a separate position of Senate President is in place, removed from the state executive branch. If the chamber is tied, legislators must devise their own methods of resolving the impasse. In 2002, for example, Oregon’s state senators entered into a power-sharing contract whereby Democratic senators nominated the Senate President while Republican senators chaired key committees.

Marion County has parts of 6 Senate Districts. Here’s your Senators and how to get ahold of them…