The 76th Oregon Legislative Assembly convened beginning on January 11, 2011, for the first of its two regular sessions. All 60 seats of the House of Representatives and 16 of the 30 state senate seats were up for election in 2010. The general election for those seats took place on November 2. The Democrats retained the majority in the senate, but lost six seats in the house, leading to an even split (30-30) between Democrats and Republicans. The governor of Oregon during the session was John Kitzhaber, a Democrat, who was elected to a third term in 2010 following an eight-year absence from public office.

The even split in the House of Representatives was addressed with the selection of two co-speakers, Democrat Arnie Roblan and Republican Bruce Hanna. The two were selected by Governing Magazine among its eight "Public Officials of the Year," and praised for "setting in motion a tenure that has been marked by rare bipartisan cooperation and two of the most productive legislative sessions in Oregon's history."

The 76th was the first session in which the legislature met twice in regular session, following the 2010 passage of Ballot Measure 71, which instituted a second regular session for each two-year legislative term.

Oregon Senate districts outside the Willamette Valley

Portland area Senate districts.

Willamette Valley Senate districts south of Portland area.

The Oregon State Senate is composed of 16 Democrats and 14 Republicans. In the last election, the Democratic Party lost two seats: in District 20, Martha Schrader lost a close election to Alan Olsen and in District 26, Rick Metsger did not seek re-election and was replaced by Chuck Thomsen.

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