Lake Oswego representative discusses economic development, immigration enforcement
Published 3:02 pm Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Rep. Daniel Nguyen, D-Lake Oswego, and his fellow legislators don’t have much time to pass impactful legislation during the February “short” session and so will have to be prepared and make the most of each day.
For his part, Nguyen — who is in the middle of his second term representing House District 38 covering Lake Oswego and Southwest Portland — will continue serving as the chair of the House Committee on Economic Development, Small Business, and Trade and will propose two bills related to economic development.
The bills include one that would create an ongoing commission focused on the impacts of artificial intelligence and another that would provide grants and other resources to support the semiconductor industry and other businesses.
Nguyen also noted that the state of Oregon faces a challenging budget outlook and needs to find a way to fund transportation. Kotek signed a transportation funding bill late last year but has since decided she wants to repeal it after petitioners successfully worked to place portions of the bill up for a ballot measure, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
“It feels like we have a daunting task ahead of us, a shorter amount of time and fewer resources,” Nguyen said. “We need to come together and make sure we can fund our roads and have a transportation system that will allow us to be able to work, move goods and keep our economy growing. Transportation is tied to economic development.”
Nguyen appreciated Kotek’s prosperity roadmap that provided strategic goals for growing Oregon’s economy. Some ideas in the agenda included reducing barriers to investment, expanding opportunities for global commerce, creating a chief prosperity officer position and exploring targeted tax changes.
Nguyen, whose family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam around the time of the fall of Saigon, also worried about overreach from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a lack of due process for deportation and a permeating fear among immigrant communities. He said the state legislature is looking at ways to protect these vulnerable populations.
“Right now there is a lot of fear and communities are being torn apart. It keeps me up at night,” he said.