Julie Fahey represents House District 14 (West Eugene & Veneta) in the Oregon State Legislature. She was first elected to the House in 2016 and was elected by her colleagues to serve as Speaker of the House in 2024. Prior to being elected Speaker, she served as House Majority Leader for two years.
In her time in the legislature, Speaker Fahey has focused on housing affordability as Chair of the Housing Committee. She played a significant role in crafting and passing legislation to address the homelessness and housing affordability crisis in Oregon, including 2023's Affordable Housing and Emergency Homelessness Response Package. While this work is ongoing, policy priorities have included increasing the supply of housing in Oregon, preventing homelessness, and getting more people on a pathway out of homelessness.
During her time as Majority Leader, she served as the Chair of the Rules Committee, focusing on elections, ethics, and democracy reforms. In that role she championed an expansion of Oregon’s automatic voter registration program and helped pass 2024’s historic campaign finance reform bill that placed limits on campaign contributions.
Over the last 7 years, she has worked to pass other major pieces of legislation, including 2017's Reproductive Health Equity Act which protected access to abortion and 2019's Student Success Act which made a major investment in our students and our schools. She also served as a co-Chair of the legislature’s Conduct Committee where she worked to make the Capitol an inclusive and respectful workplace for all.
Outside of the legislature, Speaker Fahey has two decades of experience in the private sector as a business consultant and co-founder of a human resources consulting firm for businesses and nonprofits. Through her work, she helps employers pay their employees fairly, build skilled workforces, and make organizations great places to work. In her free time, she loves to hike, foster rescue dogs, and do the Sunday crossword puzzle.
