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Back to All Legislative Reports Climate Emergency Legislative Report - Interim Week 6/10 Climate Emergency Team Coordinator: Claudia Keith Coordinator: Claudia Keith Efficient and Resilient Buildings: vacant Energy Policy: Claudia Keith Environmental Justice: vacant Natural Climate Solution Forestry: Josie Koehne Agriculture: vacant Community Resilience & Emergency Management: see Governance LR: Rebecca Gladstone Transportation: see NR LR Joint Ways and Means - Budgets, Lawsuits, Green/Public Banking, Divestment/ESG: Claudia Keith Find additional Climate Change Advocacy volunteers in Natural Resources Jump to a topic: Climate Emergency Highlights Interim Legislative Day Public Meetings Interim Senate Committee Energy and Environment News State Treasury and Oregon Investment Council Climate County, State, Federal, and Global Lawsuits Climate Lawsuit News Our Children’s Trust – Recent Press Releases By Claudia Keith, Climate Emergency Coordinator and Team Please consider joining the CE team. We have several critical volunteer openings. Natural and Working Lands Agriculture & Food Insecurity: Public Health, Fossil Fuel (FF) Infrastructure, and Regional Solutions / Community Resilience Hubs. The topic of Transportation has been moved to the Natural Resources Legislative Report. Climate Emergency Highlights LWVOR submitted Climate Protection Program (CPP) testimony to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) May 12, 2024, Proposed Rulemaking . Oregon Climate Action Commission Recruiting Members –The Oregon Climate Action Commission (OCAC was OGWC) is seeking members to support its work and advance its statutory duties. Interested Oregon residents with experience in environmental justice, manufacturing, or the fishing industry are encouraged to apply for one of the commission’s vacant voting positions. The commission is also seeking a youth member (aged 16 to 24) to serve a two-year voting member term. Applications submitted by July 17, 2024 will receive priority consideration. The Oregon Climate Action Commission will meet on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. Read more about the meeting here . EQC ( Environmental Quality Commission) May Meeting: Included a formal report from DEQ Director . Interim Legislative Day Public Meetings (We lacked a League observer for these meetings, so no meeting notes are available, but links to the video recording, meeting materials and agendas are provided.) Note the interim Leg day meeting agendas are influenced by Leg leadership; likely to include future priority topics. The League continues to be disappointed that updating Greenhouse Gas Energy (GHGE) targets and structural rules changing how 60+ state agencies/entities optimize/coordinate/congruent cohesive budget for climate change planning is not listed. Interim House Climate Energy & Environment Committee The meeting covered a number of topics with meeting materials provided. The Informational Meeting: Invited Speakers and recording addressed issues dealing with where to site energy facilities. Interim House Committee on Emergency Management, General Government and Veterans This meeting included topics primarily related to winter storms and wildfires Video Link , Meeting Materials Interim Senate Committee Energy and Environment Link to Video Recording and link to Meeting Materials which include reports from the Citizens Utility Board, the Public Utility Commission, and the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative. News Local climate group joins campaign to put environmental rights in Oregon Constitution - Ashland News - Community-Supported, NonProfit News Locals want environmental rights in Oregon Constitution | Environment | rv-times.com Why do we need the Oregon Coalition for an Environmental Rights Amendment? | Jefferson Public Radio 5 takeaways from the (likely) demise of the Juliana climate case By Lesley Clark | 05/30/2024 06:33 AM EDT: | EE News: The landmark youth lawsuit never made it to trial, but it left a legacy. Lawyers behind the case say the fight isn’t over yet. Giant Hail That Batters Homes, Solar Power Is Growing Weather Threat | Bloomberg As insurers around the U.S. bleed cash from climate shocks , homeowners lose | WLRN Memo: Hurricanes, Severe Weather, Climate Change, and an Unfolding Insurance Crisis - Public Citizen Poll: Majority of American Voters Favor Climate Litigation Against Big Oil – Mother Jones, NOW Rising to Meet the Climate Crisis - Part 5 Gov. Jay Inslee - YouTube More Than 200 Tribes and Four Territories Covered by Climate Action Plans with Support from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act -Key milestone reached as part of $5B Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program -May 6, 2024 | Federal EPA PR DEQ CPP Program DEQ will hold three advisory committee meetings. The public is welcome to attend all meetings virtually. There will be an opportunity for the public to give oral comments or provide written comments following each meeting. Meeting dates and tentative times are below. Instructions to attend by Zoom will be posted here. Recordings of advisory committee meetings are available upon request at CPP.2024@deq.oregon.gov . Meeting 2: May 14, 2024, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. PT • Agenda • Meeting 2 Presentation Slides • CPP 2024 Cap Brief • CPP 2024 Program Elements Brief • Draft Rules • Written comments Join via Zoom 
Join by phone, dial 253-215-8782
Meeting ID: 896 2403 8879 Meeting 3: June 25, 2024, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT State Treasury and Oregon Investment Council Treasury: Oregon Investment Council: Invested for Oregon: State of Oregon April Meeting Minutes and May agenda , Public input , and audio recording . Oregon Attorney General DOJ Climate work: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Spotlight: Warming Climate list of a number of DOJ actions related to Climate issues) Climate County, State, Federal, and Global Lawsuits Basically, there are a number of active state and federal lawsuits , (May 2024 update) some of which could assist in meeting Oregon's Net Zero GHG Emissions before 2050 targets and other lawsuits, which challenge current Oregon DEQ CPP policy, which would limit the use of fossil fuels, including diesel, natural gas, and propane over time. Another source: Columbia University Law - Sabin Climate DB lists 75 lawsuits , mentioning Oregon. Climate Lawsuit News Climate court cases that could set precedents around the world | Reuters | May 2024 KUOW / NPR- How an ambitious lawsuit reshaped environmental law — without ever going to trial – 5/22/24 Our Children’s Trust – Recent Press Releases May 22, 2024 Alaskan Youth File New Constitutional Climate Lawsuit Against State Government May 21, 2024 International Tribunal for Law of the Sea Recognizes States Must Prevent Greenhouse Gas Pollution but Falls Short on Requiring Sufficient Action to Protect Oceans May 21, 2024 Youth plaintiffs file amended complaint in climate case against U.S. EPA and OMB. May 20, 2024 Montana Supreme Court Sets Date for Oral Argument in Held v. State of Montana Rep. David Gomberg’s newsletter published on June 8, 2024

Back to All Legislative Reports Governance Internships Legislative Report - Week of 5/8 Governance Team Coordinator: Becky Gladstone and Chris Cobey Artificial Intelligence: Lindsey Washburn Campaign Finance Reform: Norman Turrill Conflicts of Interest/Legislative Ethics: Chris Cobey CEI - Critical Energy Infrastructure : Nikki Mandell and Laura Rogers Cybersecurity Privacy, Election Issues, Electronic Portal Advisory Board: Becky Gladstone Election Systems: Barbara Klein Emergency Preparedness: Cate Arnold Immigration, Refugee, and Asylum: Claudia Keith Redistricting: Norman Turrill, Chris Cobey State Audit Working Group: Sheila Golden Voting Rights of Incarcerated People: Marge Easley Jump to a topic: Campaign Finance Redistricting Legislators’ Walkout Is Freezing Governance Rights of Incarcerated People Governance By Norman Turrill, Governance Coordinator, and Team It appears to this reporter that the Oregon legislative session could effectively be over. Several Republican Senators will soon run out of their 9 allowed unexcused absences, but several others will alternate with them to deny a quorum in the Senate for a few more days or a week. Constitutional Sine Die is June 25, which is six and a half weeks away. However, the 25 Republican legislators in the House may now start denying a quorum in their chamber. The required House quorum is 40 members, so the absences of just 21 Republicans could stop all business in the House on a rotating basis for weeks. A deal between Democratic and Republican leaders could still allow some final budget and uncontroversial bills to be passed. We would also not rule out the Governor calling a special session. Campaign Finance No bills on campaign finance have yet been scheduled for a hearing. For campaign finance reform, the League wants true reform without loopholes for large special interest organizations. We hope that the negotiations that they’re working on now lead to real progress. Redistricting People Not Politicians has started collecting signatures on IP 14 petitions downloadable from its website. Thousands of signatures have been collected and more donations are needed. Legislators’ Walkout Is Freezing Governance By Rebecca Gladstone The ongoing Senate Republican walkout was in the ninth day as of this writing, with leadership agreeing not to hold Senate floor sessions for the remainder of this week, to allow weekend negotiations. That could avert invoking the 10-day walkout consequences that voters passed by a wide margin in November 2022. Meanwhile, bills continue to stack up, as the clock runs out pressing this now elapsing time. We hope negotiations will drop reading bills to regain that time. Most bills here are exempt from deadlines but are frozen by the walkout. We are especially concerned for responsible review and progress for bills that timed out in the 2022 session, for election security with new software in the SoS budget bill, the cybersecurity omnibus bill, the AG’s Data Broker bill, and the Chief Data Privacy Officer bill, all covered in earlier reports. Here's last week’s slim progress. HB 5032 A Enrolled : The governor signed this Public Records Advocate funding bill on May 8. ( our testimony ). HB 2490 : This cybersecurity vulnerability bill passed in a May 9 Senate committee work session, on a partisan vote for 3 in favor, 1 absent (excused for illness), and 2 absent, relating to the Republican walkout. The League urges for maximum protection of public health, safety, and the environment. Defending our critical infrastructures is at stake ( our testimony ). HB 2806 , for public safety and cybersecurity, awaits transfer to the Senate President’s desk and scheduling for a Senate floor reading, rescheduled to May 15 and 16, with dates subject to change. See our testimony . SB 11 : This got unanimous support in a May 9 House committee, awaiting transfer to the President’s desk for signature. This access and transparency bill, with strong bipartisan support, requires virtual public state meetings to record and promptly publicize recordings. We will look for data retention rules. SB 417 : For this public records bill, we’ve attended weekly Task Force meetings since March 7, and it is forwarding findings with amendment recommendations. Intense legal discussions over careful wording distinctions had input on behalf of District Attorneys, the Society of Professional Journalists, Public Records Advocates, and others, including the League. See our testimony , predating this work. Rights of Incarcerated People By Marge Easley SB 529 , which enables the expansion and revamping of drug treatment programs within Oregon’s correctional system, passed the House on May 8 with a vote of 48 to 12. The bill affirms that addiction is a chronic disease, modifies program acceptance procedures, removes the old requirement that program participants engage in physical work and exercise, and includes a range of structured treatment services. SB 529 is a complementary bill to HB 2890 A , which directs a Corrections Ombudsman to support continuous quality improvement efforts and report back to the Governor and the Legislature within six months of appointment. The Ombudsman’s task is to “ensure all persons confined in Department of Corrections institutions have access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment and services during the entire period of incarceration, including access to evidence-based medication-assisted treatment options. The bill, championed by Rep. Maxine Dexter, passed House Judiciary on April 11 and was sent to W&Ms by prior reference. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED. Worthy causes go unaddressed for lack of League volunteers. If you see a need and can offer your expertise, please contact our staff at lwvor@lwvor.org .

Back to Legislative Report Education Legislative Report - Week of 4/3 Education By Anne Nesse SB 1050 was introduced to Senate Education on 3/30 by Melissa Goff, advisor to Governor Kotek. Those testifying pointed out how important knowledge and understanding of other ethnicities, native American cultures, and religious persecution during the holocaust was to understanding the human condition. Even though curriculum legislation passed in 2017 on these subjects, teachers were still in need of funding for professional development opportunities, to succeed in teaching these concepts. Sen. Lew Frederick reminded us that this knowledge should be apparent throughout the curriculum in grades K-12. In House Education on 3/29, Rep. Neron announced that Congress recently made Federal funding available to allow all Oregon students to eat free and healthy breakfasts and lunches, without any type of discrimination, because all students will be eligible. More news on this coming soon, she stated. These House Education bills are moving to the floor this week: HB 2656 A , requires school districts to make informational surveys on healthy environment of their school available to students statewide and to provide parents and guardians with notice and opportunity to review the survey before it is administered. HB 3068 A , provides that high school students in grade 11 or 12 may be awarded a high school equivalency diploma if the student has received a certificate for passing approved high school equivalency test and meets other conditions. HB 3584 , directs schools to provide electronic communication to parents and guardians of students attending, at which safety threat action occurred. HB 3135 , preserves additional funding for small school districts that merge with one or more school districts if certain conditions are met. HB 2690 -1 , requires school districts to pay classified school employees not less than 10% more than minimum wage that applies to all employees who work in this state and not less than 15% more than minimum wage if classified school employees provide support to students with individualized education programs or who are enrolled in special education. HB 3014 -5 , directs ODE to adopt rules that allow for reimbursement of school district expenses incurred in lieu of transporting students, such as walking or biking patrols. HB 2281 -3, requires school districts and public charter schools to designate civil rights coordinator. HB 3178 A , expands criteria for awarding scholarships to diverse teacher candidates. HB 3236 A , authorizes expenditures from Statewide Education Initiatives Account for funding of regional career and technical education programs. HB 3204 A , shortens timelines and requirements for when a school district makes determination to give approval for students to enroll in virtual public charter school not sponsored by school district, above 3% cap. HB 2895 , removes cap on amounts distributed from State School Fund to school districts for students eligible for special education as children with disabilities. These bills in Senate Education are moving to the floor this week: SB 409 -6 , prescribes information related to courses of study offered by school districts that the district school board must ensure is provided on the school district's website. SB 758 -3 , prescribes timelines and redacting requirements for records related to provision of special education. SB 275 -4 , requires ODE, TSPC, and Educator Advancement Council to conduct study to identify best means of improving alignment among state education agencies. SB 421 -1 , establishes a youth advisory council. SB 426 -2 , modifies requirements of Healthy and Safe Schools Plan related to integrated pest management. SB 3 -3 , requires students to complete one credit of future planning as a requirement for high school diploma. SB 218 , requires ODE and law enforcement agencies to make available to TSPC certain information received during investigation of suspected sexual conduct or child abuse. SB 416 , requires public universities and community colleges to pay part-time faculty at the same rate, on a per-hour basis, as public university or community college pays full-time faculty to prepare for and teach courses. SB 756 -1 , requires school district employees assigned to work with students with specialized needs to have access to specified records related to students and to be consulted when the education plan for students is reviewed or revised. SB 215 -2 , allows ODE to adjust amounts charged related to distribution of agricultural products received from the United States Department of Agriculture for school food programs. SB 596 , requires school districts to submit specified information to ODE related to talented and gifted children. SB 736 , requires ODE to conduct study to identify how to increase access to advanced instruction for the purpose of preparing students for college and career.

The Oregon Student Mock Election is open to all students and educators. Learn more. / Youth / Mock Election / ✨ Over 33,000 students participated in the 2024 Oregon Student Mock Election. Read more... Engage your students in the next election! The LWVOR Oregon Student Mock Election, endorsed by the Oregon Secretary of State , is an exciting experience-based educational program that involves participating students in the electoral process and demonstrates the importance of voting. Are you interested in receiving a mock ballot for the next election in your area? Contact us for personalized classroom support at mockelection [@] lwvor.org . Register your students! Civics Education Curriculum A Guide to Student Civic Engagement Our free, non-partisan Civics Education Curriculum covers voting, government, and elections. It's packed with classroom-ready lessons and activities, printable handouts and more! Get the Curriculum Educator Resources Civic Lessons: Oregon’s Political Parties and Closed Primaries Civic Lessons: Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) General OSME Lesson Plan (Updated specifically at the time of each election) Civics Education Curriculum Help spread the word! Printable OSME Quarter Page Flyer (PDF) ✨Contact Us Are you interested in bringing a hands-on civic experience to your students for the next election in your area? Contact us to receive personalized support for your classroom: mockelection [@] lwvor.org Additional Resources The following sites provide additional civics education resources for teachers. Civics Learning Project Center for Civic Education National Voter Registration Day Rock the Vote Secretary of State Elections Division (Oregon Votes) Case Method Project NextUp The Civics Center Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crimes Alliance For Youth Action Tufts: Media and Voting The Civics Center Energizing Young Voters Facing History Nonprofit Vote U.S. Dept. of Education: Student Vot er Participation Toolkit VerifyIt! promotes media literacy for informed voting, using source ratings for unbiased news. Learn more here . Sponsors and Supporters Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade Members of the League of Women Voters This program was made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Sign Up For Email We Need Your Support Today! Donate Your donation empowers voters and defends democracy.

Back to Legislative Report Education Legislative Report - Week of 1/23 Education By Anne Nesse House ED Chair Neron is the chief sponsor of HB2739 written to form a Committee on more stable and sustainable educational funding…providing more accurate calculation of the biennial budget. The hearing was held 1/25. This bill attempts to solve many years of past problems associated with calculating fiscal expenditures needed for the Current Service Level (CSL) for educational costs all over our state. As Chair Neron pointed out, ‘post-secondary and private schools may raise their tuitions when costs go up, but the state needs to calculate the public schools budget without error, knowing all the facts and figures, as well as improvements we need to make. It is a complex math problem. And the differences of calculation have frequently been politicized, as Chair Neron points out, whereas this bill will attempt to create a knowledgeable committee that can make our educational budgets more accurate, and equitable, throughout the state, for all of our children. There was much support for this in the public hearing, including, COSA (Coalition of Oregon School Administrators), OEA (Oregon Education Association), Oregon School Board Association, and several others. HB2281 House ED held a public hearing on 1/23. Colt Gill reported there has been an increase in discrimination complaints (up 450%), requiring the need for some civil rights coordination within the Dept. of Education. The investigation itself will be done separately by qualified individuals. HB2280 was also presented, a modification of “consent” language in sexual assault cases. HB2275 , a better coordination of all grants that ODE manages, which are many, especially since the Corporate Activities Tax for education took effect. Senate ED met 1/24 and 1/26. SB531 was introduced by Sen. Dembrow and Sen. Gelser Blouin, to provide more stable funding for summer and after school learning programs, especially designed for students who would not normally receive such benefits, although many who testified recognized that more early planning in January has to occur for increased success. Several legislators have noted that we need to plan for increasing offerings for students with special needs. These programs were community based, and by data often benefitted low income families. All who testified for this bill spoke of the joy Oregon students experience when they are offered more hands-on learning. It was important to note how many non-profit organizations, like Boys and Girls Clubs to name just one, testified on the abilities of communities to help our students thrive in education. Senate education finished the week 1/26, with information on the Task Force studying underrepresented students in higher education. Senators Dembrow, Frederick, and Wagner spoke on the many difficulties students have working their way through school, without much assistance. At this point no bills are written to address these problems, yet we still hope that we can make some difference at the legislative level.

Back to Legislative Report Revenue Legislative Report - Week of 3/9 Revenue Team Coordinator: Peggy Lynch REVENUE Patricia Garner, Josie Koehne, Peggy Lynch The short session is over. The Governor still has to decide if she’s signing the legislation. And the work is not done. There was not enough revenue to fund the 2025-27 budget without cuts and new legislation as shared below. The Feb. 4 Revenue Forecast guided the spending for the 2026 legislative session. Carl Ricidonna, Oregon’s State Economist, provided his report, along with Michael Kennedy, Senior Economist. See pages 17 and 20 for the important numbers. And the Legislative Revenue Office’s Forecast Summary . LWVOR participated with several other volunteer and non-profit organizations in the unofficial Oregon Revenue Coalition that worked together to find ways to preserve Oregon revenue in the light of lost federal income from Congress’s passage of H.R.1 which would cut major sources of funding for Medicaid, SNAP and many other services. ( Signed on to letter in January.) We focused on a bill to limit the damage caused by Oregon’s rolling connection to federal income tax law, since legislation to disconnect from the federal law failed in the 2025 long session. This session SB 1507 A passed (Senate (17-13) on Feb. 16 and House (34/21/4/1) on Feb. 25 ) that disconnected from certain sections of the federal code that the Legislative Revenue Office (LRO) reported would save Oregon $311.6 million in revenue this biennium and $313.9 million in the 2027-29 biennium, while providing increased funding for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) at a cost of $26.2 and $52.7 million per biennium respectively. The League has long supported an increase in the EITC. Summaries of the 44-page bill and its amendments can be found here . LWVOR testimony in support. At least one legislator is considering collecting signatures to place portions of the bill on the ballot per this Oregonlive article. Of concern is that the referral process allows petitioners to select parts of the bill. In this case, they could leave off the increase in the EITC while only asking voters to stop the disconnect—which, in part, is expected to pay for that EITC increase. HB 5204 is the final bill that balances the budget as required by state law. In the bill, the legislature made over $128 million in cuts , mostly in agency services and supplies and by not filling vacancies and shifting remaining funds around to fill in some gaps. This was fewer cuts than anticipated at the start of the session. But they also funded or rebalanced some agency programs and staff. The -2 amendment was adopted . See the 4 Analysis documents for the budget additions and reductions, Budget Notes and final LFO recommendation. Passed the House and Senate Mar. 6. Oregonlive article and the Oregon Capital Chronicle addressed the 2025-27 budget rebalance. The Oregonian did a final budget review . SB 1601 was the Program Change bill. The -3 amendment was adopted and includes rebalance of ODOT’s programs in Section 11-23 and clarifies the 1% of lottery monies for county fair upgrades and repairs. Passed the Senate and House Mar 6. SB 5701 amends the limits established during the 2025 legislative session for the maximum amount of bonds and other financing agreements that state agencies may issue. The proceeds from the issuance of bonds are included as revenues in agency budgets. The -2 amendment and the LFO Recommendation includes increases in general obligation and lottery revenue bonds authorized. Bond sales are not anticipated until the spring of 2027. Passed the Senate and House Mar. 6. SB 5702 : Establishes and modifies limits on payment of expenses from specified funds by certain state for capital construction . Capital Construction 6-year limitation. -1 amendment LFO Recommendation Mar. 5 passed Senate. Mar. 6 passed House. SB 5703 : Modifies amounts allocated from the Administrative Services Economic Development Fund, Veterans' Services Fund, Criminal Fine Account, Oregon Marijuana Account and Fund for Student Success. Mar. 5 passed Senate. Mar. 6 passed House. HB 5203 : Approves certain new or increased fees adopted by state agencies. The bill includes the Dept. of State Lands Wetlands processing fees set forth during rulemaking for which the League engaged. Fee Ratification. LFO Recommendation Mar. 6 Passed the House and Senate. SB 1510 : Updates the terminology used to describe certain income earned by multinational corporations to reflect a change in the term used in federal law a bill. This omnibus bill, with amendments, would provide an opportunity to explore additional tax policy for consideration in the 2027 session. It is easier to understand the many provisions of SB 1510 by reviewing the summary provided by the Legislative Revenue Office of the bill and its -4 amendments . Feb. 24: Passed the Senate (28/1/1). Passed the House Mar. 4. HB 4014 : Establishes the Task Force on Taxation of International Income with the amendments. -2 amendment replaced the “study” bill. Staff Measure Summary . Due to this complicated tax policy, parties agreed to use the interim to consider impacts on this federal tax policy on Oregon revenue. Passed the House floor (32/26/2). On to the Senate floor at adjournment. Business interests want to have this conversation behind closed doors rather than an open public Task Force. The bill died but the conversation will continue. SB 1511 : A bill modifying the estate tax that would have increased the $1 million exemption to the estate tax to $2.5 million failed this session. The tax rates would have been greatly increased for the highest valued estates but fewer estates would pay an estate tax. For the first biennium, the revenue would have been about the same as our current estate tax SB 1511 . The revenue staff provided this analysis on the A -3 amendment that was approved by the Senate) with no expected revenue loss for this biennium, but $35 million by 2029-31. The bill did not pass out of House Revenue by end of session, but may be back in the long session. Two bills focused on increasing tax incentives for economic development faced intense debate and scrutiny, and one , SB 1586 , was withdrawn on March 3 due to much public outcry about tax breaks for data centers and the expansion of the Metro’s Urban Growth Boundary into land zoned as rural agricultural land, in violation of the 2014 Grand Bargain. OPB provided an article on this contentious bill. LWVOR testimony in opposition to the bill and additional testimony opposing the -7 amendment . The bill remained in Senate Finance and Revenue at the end of session, but is likely back in some form in 2027. The other economic development bill, HB 4084 A introduced by Governor Kotek, would fast track the permitting process for certain new business development t o be completed within 120 days, by means of a specially appointed Joint Permitting Council to oversee the each permitting agency’s permitting process. This section of the bill aligns with a federal program: Permitting Council’s FAST-41 Assistance for States. In addition, in the bill as introduced, all local property taxes abatements for Enterprise Zones were to be extended. This bill was also controversial because of these extensions since it would allow data centers which are hotly contested throughout the US, and which are the primary recipients of these tax credits, to not pay local property taxes for many years. After several amendments, three were incorporated into the final bill. LWVOR comments . The final bill included these provisions as summarized by LRO: Removes the $40 million General Fund appropriation to OBDD for deposit into the Industrial Site Loan Fund. (However, HB 5204 included $10 million for the Regional Infrastructure Fund, $5 million to support horse racing events at county fairgrounds, $5 million cash and $10 million bonds into the Industrial Site Loan Fund, and $10 million in lottery bond funds. The bonding bill provided targeted investments in sewer and water projects statewide to help with increased housing development demands.) Modifies SB 1507 (2026) to limit the tax credit for job creation to certain specified qualified industries. To qualify for the tax credit, a taxpayer must receive an attestation-based certification from Business Oregon, who will develop the tax credit application process, establish job creation determination methodology, and further define the term “qualified industry” through rulemaking. Excludes any qualified property of an authorized business in an enterprise zone with an operating data center from entering into a written agreement with the enterprise zone sponsor to 1) extend the period during which the qualified property is exempt from taxation beyond the allowable three years; 2) agree to flexible hiring timelines; and 3) approve alternative performance criteria. Prohibits data center properties from authorization as an eligible business firm prior to 90 days after the adjournment of the 2027 legislative session. An amendment was added at the end that puts this one-year moratorium on all new data center development certifications by Business Oregon, starting three months after the close of session. This allows the Governor’s Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee time to consider the various impacts of data center development on Oregon, and to report back to the Legislature with their recommendations. It also limits the existing Standard Enterprise (for urban areas) tax break to three years, but allows all other currently operating data centers, including those in rural areas of the state, to continue to receive tax breaks through the extended time periods as outlined in the bill. Oregonlive provided a great analysis of the impact of data centers. Oregonlive update on data centers in this legislation. Oregon data center operators will save nearly a half-billion dollars in local property taxes this year through three different incentive programs. Kotek’s legislation, House Bill 4084 , would expand the fastest growing of those three programs. HB 4148 : Allows city and county services for which net local transient lodging tax revenue may be used to be provided either directly by the city or county or indirectly by a special district. The -7 amendment adopted that changes the percentage to 50/50 and passed the House floor Feb. 25 (40/12/4/4). Mar. 5 Passed the Senate (23/6/1). SJR 201 : Kicker Reform: Proposed an amendment to the Oregon Constitution to require a portion of surplus revenue that would otherwise be returned to personal income taxpayers to be used for funding public kindergarten through grade 12 education, community colleges and wildfire prevention and suppression, if surplus revenue exceeds a certain threshold. OPB covered a story about the bill . T he League has long supported kicker reform but we also note that, with our new state economist, another kicker is not expected in the near term. The bill did not get a Work Session. HB 4136 : Disallows, for purposes of personal income taxation, a mortgage interest deduction for a residence other than the taxpayer’s principal residence , unless the taxpayer sells the residence or actively markets the residence for sale. The bill had one public hearing on Feb. 16 and died in committee. The League is hopeful that a version of this bill will return in 2027. HB 4125 : Prescribes methodology for the preparation of revenue estimates used in the budgeting process and as applicable to the surplus revenue refund process — potential kicker reform. Public Hearing Feb. 2. The bill died in Committee . On Feb. 20, the US Supreme Court declared that President Trump does not have authority to impose widespread tariffs under a specific federal statute. Oregon’s Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, led the coalition of states arguing that the President did not have this authority. HB 4061 B passed that provides monies to help Oregon businesses hurt by these tariffs. Budget Report . The bill passed the House on Mar. 3 and passed the Senate Mar. 6. On Thursday Mar. 5, Rayfield and officials from 23 other states filed a lawsuit against the new tariff at the U.S. Court of International Trade, with Oregon again leading the way. “Budget aftershocks from the Trump cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will keep hitting Oregon in future years,” said Senator Jama. “Oregon lawmakers must continue working together to make resources stretch and to help families thrive.” As we await the May 20th Revenue Forecast, we watch for data that may change the forecast. Oregonlive reports that Oregon exports are down. Then we now have a war with Iran that, so far, has increased gas and diesel prices. That increases costs to state agencies, local governments, Oregon businesses and individuals. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — supply more than a third of the world’s urea, an important nitrogen fertilizer, and nearly a quarter of another one, ammonia. And they all use the Strait of Hormuz to export their products. So that means less food production and an increase in food prices. The February national jobs report was not good (loss of almost 100,000 jobs) and the national unemployment rate rose to 4.4%. (In Oregon, we’re at 5.2%.) As we watch the U.S. and Oregon’s economy, we note the Oregon Capital Chronicle Jobs Report article , of special concern as Oregon is an income tax state. According to this Oregonlive article , Oregonians are working the fewest hours since 2010. Oregon workers are spending less time on the job, another indication that the state’s labor market continues to sag. The average Oregonian worked less than 33 hours a week in December, according to federal data. That’s the lowest number since 2010, when the state was still digging out from the Great Recession — even worse than the sharp decline that accompanied the pandemic. As we continue to be concerned about the economy, we note a study related to AI: Brookings Institution study on AI job losses and adaptability points out metros most at risk – Portland Business Journal Roughly 30% of workers displaced by artificial intelligence will struggle to find new jobs, according to a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research and Brookings Institution. While 70% of highly AI-exposed workers would likely be able to transition to another job, the rest may have trouble adapting “due to limited savings, advanced age, scarce local opportunities, and/or narrow skill sets. ”What’s more, of the displaced workers in low-adaptive jobs, 86% are women. The League will continue to work with the Oregon Revenue Coalition and others as we address the need for increased revenue to pay for the services Oregonians need. The Ways and Means Co-Chairs warn of increased demand and federal funding cuts for the 2027-29 and 2029-31 biennia. It's time to work with state agencies as they develop their 2027-29 budgets. Here’s some budget guidance that agencies have received: 2027-29 Budget Guidance: Governor's Letter and CFO 2027-29 Budget POP Guidance . Bottom line: The Governor has asked state agencies to provide a “neutral” budget. If they want to add a program or staff, they need to find a program or staff to remove from their budget request. You can contact the agency you want to engage with as they work to provide proposals to the Governor around June. See other sections of the Legislative Report for information about specific agencies or areas of concern.

Back to Legislative Report Education Legislative Report - Sine Die Education Updates By Anne Nesse It is clear from LWVOR work this session that we all must invest with renewed effort to support our public education system. This is imperative for the equity of all families, income levels, and especially important for working parents. We hope you can see beginnings of positive change in the laws and testimony we made this session to help all young Oregonians and their families thrive. These bills were signed into law this session with LWVOR testimony, relating to education and the well being of children: HB 3198 Enrolled includes significantly increased expenditures and grants, new curriculum development for teachers and staff, and increased summer programs. It is a significant step toward increasing literacy and by definition learning, within all our diverse Oregon populations. See LWVOR testimony in support, on how literacy is an integral component to a democracy. Rep. Kropf, one of the bill’s principal authors, noted that this is merely the beginning of increased funding towards a major emphasis in consistent quality K-12 education throughout our state. It includes a $90M price tag, in addition to an historic increase in the biennial school budget up to $10.2 Billion dollars, in addition to property tax revenue. HB 3235 Enrolled is a child tax credit designed to benefit low income workers supporting children. LWVOR testimony reflects the gravity of the problem, that poverty itself can cause harm to childhood development, and its unintended effect on education. This tax credit was greatly reduced from the original proposal. The League was involved in discussions with legislators and stakeholders for some components of SB 283 Enrolled . It was signed into law, directing the Department of Education to develop and implement a plan to establish and maintain a statewide data system on our educational workforce. This Law includes a long list of items to help recruit teachers and staff, and to help them continue to thrive in this necessary profession. It includes pay raises totaling $9M for teachers and aides who work with special needs students. We suggested that teachers have some bargaining ability for increased planning time during the school day, and this became part of the law. We testified to these bills but did not have the time to thoroughly study them during this session: SB 854 , stated that each of our 197 school districts could develop a plan for teaching climate change, across all subject areas, in grades K-12 by June 1, 2026. The LWVOR played a part in helping with the steering committee for this bill. Like other bills written to increase oversight of our statewide school system’s quality, this will need adaptation if it is proposed next session. Our testimony submitted on March 9 emphasized the importance of survival on our planet, excessive greenhouse gasses, and that curriculum choices were already available from many sources. At the March 9 public hearing, over 100 youth were heard or represented in the Capitol live or virtually. The Oregon Teachers Association and other organizations supported this bill. HB 2601 would have required the State Treasurer to exit from certain carbon-intensive investments, subject to fiduciary duties,to develop a plan to protect state investments from risks related to climate change, and to issue periodic public reports on actual and planned progress towards completion of duties imposed under this law. Rep. Pham and Sen. Golden presented a very strong case as to why this was essential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and educating the public on facts of our decreased ability to gain profits in the fossil fuel industry. The League made the case in testimony that this was a nonpartisan issue and that we all have the right to be informed of our investments. It is LWVOR’s position that all of us should be educated concerning limiting greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. HB 2750 attempted to prohibit the statewide charging of fees or requiring participation in fundraising activities as a condition of participating in any interscholastic activities. League testimony was based on equity in education for all family income levels. The bill did not make it through passage, however, because of our work with Rep. Bowman on this bill and another like it, modifying physical education requirements, the League may be helping to design a more positive school day experience in health and learning for the next session. Here are more extensive lists and descriptions of education-related bills that were passed this session or were heard in public hearings but were not passed. Copy and paste into your browser for best results. Link 1: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/lpro/Publications/SOL Education & Early Childhood_FINAL.pdf Link 2: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/lpro/Publications/SOL Human Services_FINAL.pdf If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for any of the areas in this Sine Die Report you would be well appreciated! So just let us know? We could use assistance in early childhood and higher education, as well as human services, research, meeting with legislators, testimony, and newsletter writing. Much of our work is virtual, so transportation is not always an issue. After School Care and Children’s Services By Katie Riley Summer and After School Care, SB 531 would have provided funding for school age kids this summer. Last year a similar bill provided $50 million and served thousands of low-income kids. This year’s bill received a hearing and was referred to W&Ms but without assignment to a subcommittee, it never had a work session or a recommendation for funding. Schools were given extra money for summer school and could spend some of it for extended care, however, depending on the school district. Children’s Service Districts, SB 858 would have provided the ability to gather signatures for local ballot measures to form children’s service districts. A public hearing was held in Senate Finance and Revenue but a work session was never scheduled so the bill never had a committee or Senate floor vote. The bill was opposed by the League of Oregon Cities (mayors) and the Association of Oregon Counties.

Back to All Legislative Reports Natural Resources Legislative Report - Week of 6/2 Natural Resources Team Coordinator: Peggy Lynch Agriculture/Goal 3 Land Use: Sandra U. Bishop Coastal Issues: Christine Moffitt, Peggy Lynch Columbia River Treaty: Philip Thor Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries: Joan Fryxell Emergency Management: Rebecca Gladstone Forestry: Josie Koehne Elliott State Research Forest: Peggy Lynch Northwest Energy Coalition: Robin Tokmakian Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife: Melanie Moon Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Advisory Committee: Sandra Bishop Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board: Water: Peggy Lynch Wildfire: Carolyn Mayers Ways and Means Natural Resource Budgets/Revenue: Peggy Lynch Please see Natural Resources Overview here . Jump to a topic: Agriculture Air Quality Bottle Bill Update Budgets/Revenue Climate Coastal Issues Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Elliott State Research Forest (ESRF) Governance Land Use & Housing Oregon Environmental Restoration Council (OERS) Transportation Water Wildfire AGRICULTURE By Sandra U. Bishop The first meeting of the Farm Stand Rulemaking Advisory Committee (RAC) was held on May 16th. ( OAR 660-033-0130: Regarding farm stands in exclusive farm use (EFU) zones and agri-tourism) Staff introduced the topics and areas of endeavor that will be considered by the RAC. The online meeting was live-streamed and recorded and may be reviewed on the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) YouTube channel . The 20-member RAC is expected to meet 4 or 5 times. The public hearing will likely be in September. 2025. This is Phase 1 of the Farm Stand Rulemaking. After the conclusion of this rulemaking process, DLCD will recommend a work plan for phases of OAR changes to address agri-tourism and other commercial events, use of soils reports, replacement dwellings and non-farm dwellings. The public comment period for this rulemaking will close October 5, 2025. To submit public comment please email written comments to: farmforest.comment@dlcd.oregon.gov Comments must be in writing to be considered part of the rulemaking record. People may also make brief public comments at the RAC meetings. The next RAC meeting is Tuesday June 3rd. Rulemaking webpage AIR QUALITY SB 726 A would direct the Environmental Quality Commission to adopt rules requiring the use of advanced methane detection technology for surface emissions monitoring at municipal solid waste landfills, beginning 1/1/2027. The A7 amendment limits the bill's application to a landfill located in Benton County (e.g., Coffin Butte). May 29: The bill failed on the House floor; 29/22! However, Leader Bowman served notice of reconsideration. It will be up for another vote in the House on June 2nd. Related to this bill is HB 3794 , a bill that would create a Task Force on Municipal Solid Waste in the Willamette Valley. HB 3794 is sitting in Ways and Means. BOTTLE BILL UPDATE By Sandra U. Bishop The omnibus bottle bill SB 992 A , a conglomeration of several bills introduced this session to address problems with beverage container redemption in the Portland area, is now awaiting the Governor’s signature. BUDGETS/REVENUE By Peggy Lynch Following are the budget bills we are watching in Natural Resources. After passage by the Full Ways and Means Committee, the bills go to each chamber for a final vote and then on to the Governor. These agency budgets are moving quickly now that the Co-Chairs know the revenue they have to spend: Dept. of Agriculture: SB 5502 Dept. of Agriculture Fees: SB 5503 Both bills passed Full Ways and Means and are now headed to the Senate and then House floors for a final vote. Five bills related to department’s various fee increases also passed Full Ways and Means. HB 2805 Relating to food establishment licenses ( Meeting Materials ), HB 2806 Relating to license fees for commercial instruments ( Meeting Materials ), HB 2809 Relating to pesticide registration fees ( Meeting Materials ), SB 1019 A Relating to brands ( Meeting Materials ), SB 832 A Relating to civil penalties for laws implemented by the State Department of Agriculture ( Meeting Materials ) Columbia River Gorge Commission: SB 5508 LFO Recommendation The bill passed Ways and Means and the Senate. Now to the House chamber for a final vote and on to the Governor for her signature. Dept. of Environmental Quality: SB 5520 League testimony . The budget bill had a work session on May 21. LFO Recommendation and Meeting Materials The bill passed Full Ways and Means after a contentious discussion and now heads to the Senate and then House floors for a final vote. Oregon Dept. of Energy: SB 5518 and Oregon Dept. of Energy Fees: SB 5519 Meeting Materials . Bills passed Full Ways and Means and are now headed to the chamber floors for a vote. Among the good news is that the Oregon Climate Action Commission is being provided with one full time permanent staffer. Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife: HB 5009 . Conservationists, with HB 2977 (a -2 amendment has been filed), would add 1% (or 1.5%) for conservation programs. That additional money would go to a special Fund at the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. It had a hearing in House Revenue on May 8. Work Session on HB 5009 on May 28 ( LFO Recommendation ), along with HB 2342 A ( LFO Recommendation ) Relating to fees concerning wildlife, HB 2343 A ( LFO Recommendation ) Relating to the Columbia Basin endorsement and HB 2345 ( LFO Recommendation ) Relating to Oregon hatcheries. “The recommended investments support monitoring and fish screening efforts in the Klamath Basin, fish and wildlife passage projects, monitoring and prevention of harmful algal blooms and aquatic invasive species, chronic wasting disease surveillance, climate solutions policy and projects, administration operation efficiencies, and the Private Forest Accord grant program.” Additionally, POP 125 of HB 5009 “establishes one permanent full-time Natural Resource Specialist 4 position (0.88 FTE) as a climate policy lead for the agency to integrate climate science into planning, research and implementation of programs in the Habitat Division .” POP 101 “ provides $100,000 General Fund, one-time, to support increased legal costs associated with instream water rights disputes. The Department received $100,000 General Fund, one-time, in SB 5506 (2023) to help reduce the backlog of instream water right applications under protest. Approximately 16 disputes are expected to be resolved during the 2023-25 biennium bringing the current backlog to 166. ” POP 801 provides $10 million in General Funds for implementation of the Private Forest Accord. It “ was adopted by the Oregon Legislature in 2022 to implement a negotiated agreement between the timber industry and conservation groups concerning private forestland practices and the protection of natural resources. The Oregon Forest Practices Act (SB 1501, 2022) established the Private Forest Accord Mitigation subaccount within the Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund to support projects that mitigate the impacts of forest practices. This package provides $10 million General Fund for deposit into the Private Forest Accord Mitigation subaccount, which is continuously appropriated to the Department for the PFA Grant Program” Oregon Dept. of Forestry: SB 5521 . info hearing March 10 & 11. Public hearing March 12. Meeting Materials ; See the April 15 informational meeting on the Private Forest Accord. (See the Forestry and Wildfire sections for more information.) Work Session was set for May 27 and then cancelled. LFO Recommendation as posted but may change when the bill is reposted for a Work Session. The budget recommended that payroll be transferred to the Dept. of Administrative Services. POP 801 provides funding for the Private Forest Accord and Habitat Conservation Plan work. Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI): HB 5010 Public hearing Feb. 5-6; Meeting materials LWVOR testimony Aggregate industry testified against the staffing and fee increases. LWVOR supports SB 836 , a bill that would significantly increase permit fees for mining related activities. See the agency’s presentation to understand the reasons for these increases. A public hearing was held on May 19 and the League provided verbal testimony on the proposed amendment (not posted). A Work Session was held May 28 where the -4 amendment was adopted. Sen. Golden had hoped to see an indexing of these fees so they would increase with costs over time. Sen. Manning mentioned a proposed budget note that would allow the industry more influence in these fees. The League will be paying attention to the budget note language to be sure it meets standards. The fiscal impact statement indicates a substantial increase that will allow the agency to hire more staff and maybe even do more inspections. The bill now goes to Ways and Means. Dept. of Land Conservation and Development: SB 5528 Governor’s budget DLCD Fact Sheet Public hearing Feb. 3-4; LCDC 1/24 presentation ; Meeting Materials LWVOR testimony Land Use Board of Appeals: SB 5529 Public hearing Feb. 27 LWVOR testimony . The bill passed Full Ways and Means and is awaiting votes in the Senate and House. SB 817 is a bill to request a minor fee increase. Governor signed SB 817. Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB): HB 5021 and HB 2558 A modifies the definition of "charter guide" for purposes of outfitter and guide laws and HB 2982 A , a bill that increases boating permit costs estimated to increase revenue to OSMB by about $1 million for the 2025-27 biennium, most of which will be used to address Aquatic and Invasive Species (AIS) management in partnership with the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife were considered together. Here is the Legislative Fiscal Office recommendation for each of the three bills. HB 5021, HB 2558 and HB 2982 all passed the House chamber and moved to the Senate. Dept. of State Lands: SB 5539 LWVOR testimony in support. LFO 2025-27 budget recommendation . LFO budget recommendation for SB 147. Both bills passed the Senate and now go to the House chamber for approval. Oregon State Parks and Recreation Dept.: HB 5026 info hearings March 3-4, public hearing March 5. Meeting Materials LWVOR testimony in part to address comments by the Legislative Fiscal Office. Work Session June 2. Water Resources Dept.: SB 5543 Governor’s budget WRD Fact Sheet Here is a summary of the Governor’s budget. Governor's Budget and Agency Request Budget documents are available online here . Info Mtg. & Public hearing Feb. 18-20. Meeting Materials . LWVOR testimony . And the fee bills: support HB 2808 (Bill moved to Ways and Means) and support HB 2803 (The - 3 amendment was adopted, reducing the fees significantly which will cause the department a revenue shortfall should the amendment stand the scrutiny of Ways and Means where it now lies.) Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board: HB 5039 . Info mtg. & Public hearing Feb. 25-27 LWVOR testimony . Meeting Materials . Work Session June 2. Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board 6-Year Limitation: HB 5040 (Limits expenditures of lottery funds from the Watershed Conservation Grant Fund for local grant expenditures by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board for a six-year period beginning July 1, 2025.) Info mtg. & Public hearing Feb. 25-26. Work Session June 2. Oregon Business Development Dept.: HB 5024 Info mtgs. 3/12, 13 & 17. Public Hearing 3/18. Additional informational meetings: Held April 7 and April 22. A work session is set for June 3. Oregon Dept. of Emergency Management: SB 5517 info hearing 4/7&8. Public hearing 4/09; Work Session May 21. LFO Recommendation . Also worked were SB 234 (LFO Recommendation) and SB 826 (LFO Recommendation) SB 826 transfers duties, functions, and powers from the State Chief Information Officer regarding the Oregon Statewide Communication Interoperability Plan (OSCIP) to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (ODEM). Part of the decision on this agency budget is to create a new finance division (but removing that responsibility to the DAS budget—below.) Office of the Governor: SB 5523 LFO meeting materials . April 28 Public hearing. Work Session was held May 28 where the bill was passed to Full Ways and Means. LFO Recommendation Oregon State Fire Marshal: SB 5538 info hearing 2/19, public hearing 2/20. Work Session scheduled for June 4. Oregon Dept. of Transportation (ODOT): SB 5541 info hearing 3/03-6, public hearing 3/11. The League signed on to a letter in support of increased transit funding. The Joint Committee on Transportation ended its work on May 23rd but a new committee ( Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment ) has taken over in hopes of coming to agreement on a comprehensive package before the end of session. See below for more information on the latest plans to address ODOT’s revenue needs. Dept. of Administrative Services (DAS): HB 5002 info hearings 3/03-5, public hearing 3/06. Meeting Materials Work Session May 29 and the bill was sent to Full Ways and Means. Legislative Administration Committee, Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee, Legislative Fiscal Officer, Legislative Revenue Officer, Commission on Indian Services and Legislative Policy and Research Committee: HB 5016 Info hearings 4/29-30. Public hearing May 1st. Lottery Bonds: SB 5531 : an average debt capacity of $564 million in each Biennium. Public hearing May 9 and May 16 @ 1p. The League supported two of the requests: $160 million for preservation of rental housing and $25 million to preserve manufactured housing and $100 million Housing Infrastructure Fund in Section 14. There are over $2 billion in requests for a variety of projects around Oregon! Emergency Board: HB 5006 This bill will be populated with an amount for the Emergency Board to spend at will and amounts in Special Purpose Appropriations if needed when the legislature is not in session. General Obligation Bonds, etc.: SB 5505 : an average debt capacity of $2.22 billion per Biennium. Public hearing held April 18. Second public hearing, this time on university and community college requests, was held May 2. Six-Year Limitation/Bonds: SB 5506 (Limits for the six-year period beginning July 1, 2025, payment of expenses from fees, moneys or other revenues, including Miscellaneous Receipts, but excluding lottery funds and federal funds, collected or received by various state agencies for capital construction.) Public hearing held May 2. CLIMATE By Claudia Keith and Team See the Climate Emergency section of this Legislative Report. There are overlaps with this Natural Resources Report. We encourage you to read both sections. COASTAL ISSUES After researching marine reserves as part of our Coastal Study , and supporting them with new League positions, it is good to see Oregonians support them. “Researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) have been collecting data on local residents’ attitudes toward the state’s marine reserves for more than a decade. Their work showed these Oregonians viewed the marine reserves in an increasingly positive light over time. Residents who live near the reserves and residents of densely populated metropolitan areas had the most favorable views overall. Their new research paper presents a fresh analysis of these attitudes and how they have changed over time.” The League supports HB 3580 eelgrass stabilization LWVOR signed letter of support and HB 3587A Protection of Rocky Habitat LWVOR signed letter of support ( fiscal impact statement ). To help these bills get funded, consider LWVOR’s Action Alert . The League signed on to a letter of support for HB 3963 , a bill that extends the timeline for the Dept. of Land Conservation and Development to provide a report on offshore wind conversations from 2025 to 2027. A public hearing was held May 19. The League signed on to testimony in support. A work session was held May 29 where the bill passed committee in a partisan vote and is headed to the House floor. The Oregon Coastal Management Program (OCMP) is currently developing its 2026-2030 Program Enhancement Assessment and Strategy. Draft Strategy The OCMP has selected to focus on wetlands, coastal hazards, and ocean resources in this 2026-2030 planning horizon. See the Draft Assessment and Strategy and provide feedback during the comment period of May 12 - June 12, 2025. The draft 2026-2030 Program Enhancement Assessment and Strategy can be found on their Public Comment webpage . Please provide comments on or before June 12. Send comments: E-mail Comments: coastal.policy@dlcd.oregon.gov Written Comments: OCMP-DLCD, 635 Capitol St. NE, Suite 150, Salem, OR 97301-2540. DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (DEQ) By Peggy Lynch The League supports SB 830 , a bill that modifies provisions of the on-site septic system loan program to allow for grants. It also allows for the program to consider mobile home parks in need of septic upgrades. May 28: Governor signed! Now we hope that Ways and Means will pass HB 2168 to fund this program. LWVOR testimony in support. SB 1154 was filed by the Governor to address the groundwater/nitrate issue in Morrow and Umatilla counties per this OPB article . See also in the Water section for a presentation of interest. The bill is sitting in Senate Rules while negotiations continue. DEPT. OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL INDUSTRIES (DOGAMI) By Joan Fryxell The Central Oregon Geoscience Society’s presentation earlier this week, on Carbon Sequestration, by Richard Walker of DOGAMI was very interesting ( https://www.cogeosoc.org/event-5991444 ). The two things he made clear were: 1. They are definitely looking at the already fractured (and therefore permeable) zones at the flow tops and bottoms, to avoid needing to do any fracking. 2. The proposed project that is in front of the legislature this session is to drill cores and evaluate both the cores and the down-hole characteristics of the rock, and not to inject any CO2-charged fluids. They are proposing to do the background research first,so they have a very good idea of what the rocks are like before they do anything further. See above in “Budgets” information on the DOGAMI fee bill, SB 836. ELLIOTT STATE RESEARCH FOREST (ESRF) Habitat Conservation Plan adopted for the ESRF per this press release . “ The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced approval of the habitat conservation plan for the Elliott State Research Forest and issuance of an Endangered Species Act permit for implementing the plan over the next 80 years. “ FORESTRY The Board of Forestry meets June 4 and 5 per this press release . GOVERNANCE HB 3569 , a bill that would require a Chief Sponsor (legislator) of a bill to be a part of a rules advisory committee for legislation they had a hand in passing, passed the House and now goes to Senate Rules. The League provided testimony with our concerns and opposition to the bill for the public hearing that was scheduled for May 28. The hearing was postponed to June 4 and a work session set for June 5. Because the League is often engaged in rulemaking, we regularly comment on legislation that would affect changes in Oregon’s current Administrative Rules. We have provided testimony in opposition to HB 2692 , a bill that would create complicated and burdensome processes for agencies to implement legislation with their rulemaking procedures. The League joined others in sharing concerns about this bill to members of House Rules. It was pulled from the scheduled work session on May 28th. The League continues to follow the bills listed on the March 17 agenda of the Senate Committee On Rules since some of the bills relate to the process of rulemaking ( SB 437 , SB 1006 , SB 370 , SB 483 ) and SB 411 , SB 895 also in Senate Rules. HB 2454 passed House Rules with the -1 amendment and sent to Ways and Means. The bill creates a new Audits Officer (with possible additional staff). The Jt. Audits Committee would hire the Officer. It is unclear, if funded, what the relationship will be with the Secretary of State’s Audit Division and the work of the Legislative Fiscal Office staff. We are concerned with HB 3382 , since the requirements of the Secretary of State to gather ALL the state agencies’ rulemaking, including all materials would be overwhelming. Individual state agencies provide that information on their rulemaking websites. A work session was held May 28 where the -2 amendment was adopted todelay the web work and the bill sent to Ways and Means. Separately, the League was invited to a conversation among state agency rules staff on addressing concerns of the Governor and in an attempt to standardize the process statewide. The Governor has provided Rulemaking Guidance to state agencies: This document includes questions received from agencies since the Governor’s letter. This document includes additional resources for agencies including direction to post updates to the Transparency site, a website template that agencies can use (if they choose) to develop their pages, and links to other comprehensive agency rule making sites to review. There is a broader discussion to increase transparency and consistency in the state agencies’ rulemaking process. A second meeting related to the state agency rules process is set for June with an invitation to the League to continue to participate. See also the Governance section of this Legislative Report. LAND USE & HOUSING By Sandra U. Bishop/Peggy Lynch HB 2647 passed the House floor and was assigned to the Senate Housing and Development Committee where it passed the committee with the A 5 amendment and now goes to the Senate floor. HB 3921 is a bill that will allow by law land swaps for City of Roseburg/Douglas County per this preliminary staff analysis . The Governor has signed. The League provided testimony in support of HB 3939 , a bill that provides a list of infrastructure projects to fund for smaller Oregon cities so they can build more housing. We have also supported HB 3031 A (already sitting in Ways and Means) but know there might be limited dollars this session so called out that link in our letter. The -1 amendment to HB 3939 was adopted and the bill moved to Ways and Means. HB 2316 : Allows designation of Home Start Lands to be used for housing. HB 2316 -4 frees up approximately 3,500 acres of state land of which can now be used for housing production, all within the urban growth boundaries. It provides revenue to the state from the sale of the land, and it also provides revenue to our cities because the land becomes taxable for property taxes five years after purchase. The bill was sent to Revenue where a public hearing was held on May 15 and a work session was held May 27. The A6 amendment was adopted and the bill sent to Ways and Means. See also the Housing Report in the Social Policy section of this Legislative Report. OREGON ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION COUNCIL (OERC) A new Council has been created by the Governor to administer the settlement funds from the Monsanto legal settlement: “ The Oregon Environmental Restoration Fund (OERF or Fund) was established in 2024 by Senate Bill 1561 to invest the proceeds of a historic, nearly $700 million settlement against Monsanto for long-term harm caused by the company’s polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) chemicals to Oregon’s land, water, fish and wildlife. The proceeds of the settlement will go to projects and purposes that benefit Oregon’s environment and its communities. “ “ The Fund has been set up to function similarly to an endowment. The settlement dollars will earn investment and interest income, and, on a biennial basis, the Council will authorize the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) to distribute that income to three sub-funds: The Tribal Nation Natural Resource Program Fund will distribute 25% of the disbursement to federally recognized sovereign tribal nations (Tribes) in the state of Oregon. These payments will be made in equal amounts to each of the nine federally recognized Tribes who may use funds to invest in their stewardship of natural resources. The State Agency Program Fund will receive 50% of the disbursement to support the work of state agencies whose mission has a nexus with the settlement terms. The Disproportionately Impacted Community Fund will receive 25% of the disbursement. A grant program will support projects and programs that directly benefit impacted communities. “ TRANSPORTATION A report by an independent firm finds issues at ODOT per this article by OPB. “ The Oregon Department of Transportation is beset by high staff turnover, decades-old financial software, cost overruns and delays that have eroded trust with elected leaders .” WATER By Peggy Lynch HB 3806 , a bill that authorizes the Oregon Water Resources Commission to approve a Deschutes River water bank pilot program if the charter is approved by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and adheres to all requirements. It sunsets the pilot program on January 2, 2034, had a work session in Jt. Ways and Means Subcommittee on Natural Resources on May 29th. It was noted that funding for this pilot will be provided by the Deschutes River Conservancy. The bill passed and was sent to Full Ways and Means. LWV Deschutes County submitted a letter in support of SB 427 , a water rights transfer bill meant to protect instream water flows. A work session was held April 8 where the bill was sent to Senate Rules. SB 1153 , an alternate bill provided with help from the Governor’s office had a work session April 8 where the bill was sent to Senate Rules. After weeks of negotiations, a public hearing is set for June 3 with a work session set for June 5 on SB 1153. A -3 amendment is being proposed. Water Right Process Improvements ( HB 3342 ). A - 4 amendment was adopted and the bill passed the House. Amended by the A 8 amendment, it passed the Senate. On May 29th the House concurred with the Senate amendment and it passed the House floor. Harney Basin Groundwater Management ( HB 3800 ). A work session was held and the bill was sent to House Rules without recommendation as to passage. Water Rights and Public Interest ( HB 3501 ) A work session was held and the bill was referred to House Rules without recommendation as to passage on a 6 to 3 vote. HB 3525 is related to tenants’ right to well water testing. The League submitted testimony in support. House Rules had a public hearing April 30. A work session scheduled for May 12 has been cancelled. A number of amendments have been offered. The controversy seems to be around timelines for testing—how often—and what exactly gets tested. The League hopes to see this bill move forward, even if there are constraints. It would be a beginning and a recognition that water needs to be safe for everyone-homeowners and renters. League members may want to check the U. S. Drought Monitor , a map that is updated every Thursday. An Abnormally Dry designation has increased in NE and NW Oregon and now we also see our first level of Drought (Moderate) in some of those areas. Here is a more complete website about drought in Oregon. We all need to pay attention to the potential for harmful algal blooms (HABs). “When in doubt, stay out.” Visit the Harmful Algae Bloom website or call the Oregon Public Health Division toll-free information line at 877-290-6767 to learn if an advisory has been issued or lifted for a specific water body. As the weather gets warmer and more people and animals visit Oregon’s water bodies, it is important to watch for potentially deadly algal blooms. Information on current advisories can be found on the OHA’s cyanobacteria bloom webpage at healthoregon.org/hab . The OHA has an online photo gallery to help community members identify signs of potentially harmful blooms. As a result of concern around HABs along the coast, the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife budget includes “one permanent full-time Natural Resource Specialist 2 position (0.88 FTE) and two permanent 12-month seasonal Biological Science Assistant positions (1.00 FTE) to monitor and respond to harmful algal blooms along the coast. The revenue source is recreational shellfish license fee revenue. WILDFIRE By Carolyn Mayers Along with the transportation package, wildfire funding has been a challenge for the legislature. The Governor has weighed in on the concept of taking at least a part of the “kicker” to fund wildfire: lawmakers have an option if they can agree on a better use for the kicker money. With two-thirds supermajority vote in each chamber, they can opt to suspend the refund. That’s happened once since the policy was enacted in the late 70s. A 2/3rds supermajority vote means at least two Senate Republicans and four House Republicans would need to approve along with all legislative Democrats. Because our Rural Fire Protection Associations (RFPAs) are seeing a huge increase in their fire fees, Rep. Owens has offered the following: I introduced HB 3349 and HB 3350 to ensure our RFPAs have access to the tools they need. These bills propose establishing a dedicated funding stream to help RFPAs obtain gear from the Oregon Department of Forestry and better access federal resources. Importantly, this support does not change their volunteer status but simply gives them the resources to be more effective and safe while serving our communities. Then the House Leadership decided to move SB 83 , which would repeal the State Wildfire Hazard Map and accompanying statues related to it, to House Rules at a Work Session on May 20. It seems that the bill is now being used as trade bait to find funding for wildfire according to a news release from Sen. David Brock Smith. SB 75 A , removes the wildfire hazard map as a guide for allowing ADUs and requiring higher building codes in rural areas. The bill was moved to House Rules on May 22nd by the House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment where it is likely to stay while negotiations continue on wildfire funding. The Oregon Capital Insider provides information on the Dept. of Forestry’s budget and what’s happening at the federal level. Here is a short report on the status of the bills mentioned last week: SB 860A The bill would allow the State Fire Marshal and an agency to take actions for fire protection and makes changes related to the Governor's Fire Service Policy Council. The Governor’s signed. SB 861 , a measure which would include grant funds, reimbursements, and moneys received from judgements and settlements as funds in the State Fire Marshal Mobilization Fund has been signed by the Governor. It requires that the Department of the State Fire Marshal submit a report to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means on the amounts in the fund and expenditures from the fund on or before March 31 of each odd numbered year. SB 85A directs the State Fire Marshal to establish a neighborhood protection cooperative grant program to help communities collectively reduce their wildfire risk. May 28: Governor signed! The Omnibus wildfire funding bill, HB 3940A , had a robust Public Hearing before the House Committee on Revenue on May 1. Legislative Revenue staff provided a table to help understand the various elements of the bill. Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office have stated the minimum annual need for wildfire funding to address the growing wildfire crisis is around $280 million. SB 1177 is still before the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue. It had a public hearing on April 7. This bill would establish the Oregon Wildfire Mitigation and Adaptation Fund and redirect the “kicker” to it, one- time, for financing wildfire-related expenses, by using the interest earned. A 5% return would yield approximately $170-180 million per year, or just over half of the aforementioned projected ongoing costs to fund wildfire mitigation and suppression. (The Governor has expressed interest in using only the amount of kicker that would go to large income earners for wildfire costs.) SJR 11 also remains before the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue after its April 7 public hearing. It would dedicate a fixed, to-be-determined percentage of net proceeds of the State Lottery to a wildfire fund created by the Legislature. Its passage would mean an amendment to the Oregon Constitution, which would have to go to the voters for approval. Finally, HB 3489 , which imposes a severance tax on owners of timber harvested from public or private forestland, had a Public Hearing April 24 before the House Committee on Revenue. The League has supported a severance tax in past sessions and provided testimony at the hearing. The League is also still following other non-funding related bills, such as SB 926 , which would prohibit the recovery of certain costs and expenses from customers that an electric company incurs as a result of allegations of a wildfire resulting from the negligence or fault on the part of the electric company. It was passed by the Senate and had a work session on May 20 in the House Committee on Judiciary where the A 10 amendment was adopted. The Speaker sent the bill to Ways and Means. HB 3666 remains in the Rules Committee. This bill would establish wildfire mitigation actions and an accompanying certification for electric utilities in an attempt to standardize their approach. SB 1051 , which transfers the authority to appoint a State Forester from the State Board of Forestry to the Governor, subject to Senate confirmation, remains in the Senate Rules Committee. Volunteers Needed What is your passion related to Natural Resources? You can help. Volunteers are needed. The long legislative session begins in January of 2025. Natural Resource Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring. If any area of natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, at peggylynchor@gmail.com . Training will be offered. Interested in reading additional reports? Please see our Climate Emergency , Revenue , Governance , and Social Policy report sections.

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Become a member of the League of Women Voters of Oregon. / Join / Get Involved Attend An Event Events take place around the state. Button Become a Member Join your local League! Button Donate Support our work. Button Learn more Empowering Oregon voters. Button Button Button Button Button Volunteer With the League Volunteers are vital to our success. There are plenty of ways to get involved with the League depending on your interest, skills, and availability. Check out the various volunteer teams below. Training and mentorship is provided in all areas! Climate Emergency Advocates year round for a variety of agency rules, policies and budgets that are consistent with the best available climate science and that will ensure a stable climate system for future generations. LWVOR supports the Our Children’s Trust/Crag Environmental Law Center state and federal lawsuits and we oppose expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. Volunteer opportunities: -Following policy at the state and local levels. -Training with LWVOR Advocacy Committee. -Working with legislators to affect policy changes. -Drafting Letters To the Editor, testimony, Action Alerts, and more! Areas of interest: -Natural and Working lands -Transportation -Climate Related Lawsuits -Public Health Climate Adaptation -Oregon Treasury: ESG investing and fossil fuel divestment Main contact: Claudia Keith - climatepolicy@lwvor.org VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Natural and Working lands, specifically Agriculture, Transportation and ODOT state agency, Climate Related Lawsuits/Our Children’s Trust, Public Health Climate Adaptation (OHA), Regional Solutions / Infrastructure (with NR team), State Procurement Practices (DAS: Dept. of Admin. Services), CE Portfolio State Agency and Commission Budgets, Oregon Treasury: ESG investing/Fossil Fuel divestment, Community Resilience Links: Climate Emergency Reports Governance Governance advocacy issues including ethics, efficiency, citizen participation and access, public access law, and contemporary privacy and technology issues. Election policies include laws and administrative rules, campaign finance, redistricting, and alternative voting methods. Areas of interest: -Redistricting -Campaign Finance -Cybersecurity -Voting Rights -Elections Main contact: lwvor@lwvor.org Links: Governance Reports Redistricting Campaign Finance VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Budget/Revenue Social Policy The broad Social Policy area includes: housing, adult corrections, education, judiciary, juvenile justice, public safety, gun safety, violence preventions, health care, mental health, immigration and refugees, foster care, social services, and women’s issues. Actively lobbies for anti-poverty programs to help low income and at-risk people move toward financial stability. Volunteer opportunities: -Following policy at the state and local levels. -Training with LWVOR Advocacy Committee. -Working with legislators to affect policy changes. -Drafting Letters To the Editor, testimony, Action Alerts, and more! Areas of interest: -Human rights -Immigration, Refugees & Asylum Seekers -GLBTQ+ -Basic Human Needs Main contact: Jean Pierce - SocialPolicy@lwvor.org VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Public Safety, Basic Needs: Food, Basic Needs: Income, Juvenile Justice Links: Social Policy Reports Natural Resources Works year-round on improving air quality, combating climate change, coastal management, clean energy, proper disposal of hazardous materials and solid waste, conservation, land use, parks, clean and abundant water supply for all, wetlands protection and other resource preservation, and budgets related to Oregon’s 14 natural resource agencies. Volunteer opportunities: -Following policy at the state and local levels. -Training with LWVOR Advocacy Committee. -Working with legislators to affect policy changes. -Drafting Letters To the Editor, testimony, Action Alerts, and more! Areas of interest: -Air Quality -Land Quality -Recycling and Waste Prevention -Coastal Programs -Fish and Wildlife -Columbia River Gorge -Geology and Mineral Industries -Oregon Marine Board -Parks and Recreation -Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Main contact: Peggy Lynch - peggylynchor@gmail.com Links: Natural Resources Reports VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Air Quality (Dept. of Environmental Quality), Columbia River Gorge Commission, Environmental Restoration Council, Hanford Cleanup, Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Water Enhancement Board, Parks and Recreation Dept., Pesticides and Toxics, Recycling/Materials Management (Dept. of Environmental Quality) Youth Engagement Join our Youth Outreach committee for opportunities around youth civic engagement, mentorship, event support, and voter outreach. Support our growing Youth Council operated by young Oregonians from around the state and our award-winning Oregon Student Mock Election! Examples of volunteer opportunities: -Mentoring Youth Council members -Supporting Oregon Student Mock Elections in your local schools -Supporting youth civic engagement events -Youth voter registration drives at high schools and college campuses Main contact: Diana DeMaria and Mimi Alkire - youthoutreach@lwvor.org Links: Youth Council Oregon Student Mock Election Voter Engagement Do you have a passion for being an election observer? Are you interested in helping host a forum for local candidates on the 2026 ballot? The LWVOR Voter Service team is interested in talking to you! We are looking for volunteers who are interested in many aspects of the Voter Education process, including helping run a voter registration drive, researching ballot measures, distributing Voters’ Guides to local locations, and more! Examples of volunteer opportunities: -VOTE411.org candidate and ballot measure reasearch -Voters' Guides -Voter registration drives in your community -Election forums -Election observers Main contact: lwvor@lwvor.org Links: VOTE411.org Voting In Oregon Let's Make A Change Here are some ways you can donate: Donate By Mail The League of Women Voters of Oregon 1330 12th St SE Suite 200 Salem, OR 97302 Online Make a tax deductible donation‏. Click to Give Investments Learn more about giving to the League. Learn more

Back to All Legislative Reports Natural Resources Legislative Report - Week of 1/15 Natural Resources Team Coordinator: Peggy Lynch Agriculture/Goal 3 Land Use: Sandra U. Bishop Coastal Issues: Christine Moffitt, Peggy Lynch Columbia River Treaty: Philip Thor Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries: Joan Fryxell Emergency Management: Rebecca Gladstone Forestry: Josie Koehne Elliott State Research Forest: Peggy Lynch Northwest Energy Coalition: Robin Tokmakian Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife: Melanie Moon Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Advisory Committee: Sandra Bishop Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board: Water: Peggy Lynch Wildfire: Carolyn Mayers Ways and Means Natural Resource Budgets/Revenue: Peggy Lynch Jump to a topic: Agriculture Budgets/Revenue Climate Coastal Issues Dept. of State Lands (DSL) Drinking Water Advisory Board Elliott State Research Forest Forestry Land Use and Housing Northwest Energy Coalition Reduce/Recycle Transportation Water Wildfire Volunteers Needed By Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, and Team Volunteers are still needed to cover important issues like Air Quality, Agriculture, Fish and Wildlife, Recycling and Toxics. LWVOR needs your voices! Training provided. The 2024 short session runs Feb. 5 through March 10th. The legislative calendar is posted on the Oregon Legislature website . Bills will be posted soon on OLIS . Committee bills were introduced during the January 10-12 Legislative Days. Agriculture LWVOR has been asked to give a presentation to the Board of Agriculture on Jan. 17 th along with others who will be engaged in the short session. We shared our 2024 Priorities , our Housing Coalition one-pager with verbal testimony on the need for infrastructure funds and our support for natural and working lands. Budgets/Revenue By Peggy Lynch On Nov. 15, the House and Senate Revenue Committees heard the latest Revenue Forecast. The net General Fund and Lottery resources are up $790.3 million (2.3%) from the 2023 Close of Session estimate. The next revenue forecast is Feb. 7th and that will be the number used for 2024 budgeting. A new Oregon bonding capacity report was due January 18 th from the State Debt Policy Advisory Commission (SDPAC); their agenda . From the Legislative Fiscal Office in October: Based on the 2023 SDPAC report and bonding authorizations approved in the 2023 session, there is $65.8 million in remaining general obligation bond capacity and $27.4 million in remaining lottery bond capacity for the 2023-25 biennium. The Full Ways and Means Committee dealt with 3 pages of requests on Jan. 12 th . Some requests will appear in the 2024 omnibus budget reconciliation bill at the beginning of session. Some will have another hearing before being considered to be added to the bill. Of specific interest to Natural Resources are the items from that Subcommittee. For instance, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept. (OPRD) asked for more lottery money for their land acquisition fund. But legislators want to see how many OPRD lottery funds will be available—to be learned at the February 7 th Revenue Forecast. Personal income taxpayers can determine their kicker amount using a “What’s My Kicker?” calculator available on Revenue Online . To use the calculator, taxpayers need to enter their name, Social Security Number, and 2022 and 2023 filing status. Taxpayers may also hand-calculate their credit amount by multiplying their 2022 tax liability before any credits—line 22 on the 2022 Form OR-40—by 44.28%. 2023 tax returns can be filed starting January 29. See a good video on Oregon property taxes. Cities and counties rely on property taxes for the services they provide. It’s possible there will be property tax reform conversations in 2025. See The Oregonian for some insight into that future conversation. State agencies and others will need to plan for a rise of 1.7% of payroll costs for PERS contributions as they calculate their 2025 budget needs. That could mean an extra $13 billion in contributions from employers for 2025-27. The agency budget process is beginning. Look for beginning presentations to agency Boards and Commissions soon. More quarterly revenue forecasts will be provided before the Governor presents her budget by Dec. 1 st . Climate By Claudia Keith and Team See the Climate Emergency section of this Legislative Report. for overlaps with this Natural Resources Report. We encourage you to read both sections. Coastal Issues By Christine Moffitt/Peggy Lynch The Coos County League has been concerned with the container ship terminal proposal for the Port of Coos Bay. The federal government denied the Port of Coos Bay grant for this proposal again. Sen. Anderson recently met with a group from the League of Women Voters/Coos Bay concerning the Port of Coos Bay’s proposed container terminal. The Ways and Means General Government Subcommittee heard grant requests on Jan. 10, including one for estuary resilience. The Full Ways and Means Committee approved the request. Dept. of State Lands (DSL) By Peggy Lynch The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is working with DSL to identify In Lieu lands (lands owed the State of Oregon on statehood that have not yet been allotted to Oregon). See the BLM Proposed Classification Decision , and a public notice that two forestland properties in Linn County that have been identified to meet the criteria for some of those In Lieu lands. Learn more on State Land Sales and provide public comment from January 12, 2024 through April 9, 2024: The Ways and Means (W&Ms) General Government Subcommittee heard grant requests on Jan. 10, including continuing work on DSL’s GIS Wetlands Inventory and improvements at the South Slough Visitors Center. The requests were approved. Drinking Water Advisory Committee By Sandra Bishop The Drinking Water Advisory Committee (DWAC) will meet (have met) January 17. See the agenda . Elliott State Research Forest (ESRF) By Peggy Lynch On Nov. 13, the State Land Board received a letter from Oregon State University’s President Jayathi Murthy, indicating that OSU was bowing out of participation in the ESRF management. In December, the State Land Board affirmed its continued desire to create the Elliott State Research Forest – a public forest that will contribute to conservation, recreation, education, Indigenous culture, local economies, and more as a working research forest. Watch the December 12, 2023 State Land Board meeting . Here are the slides . During the meeting, the Land Board also discussed and supported the pathway framework presented by DSL The framework outlines actions, steps, and considerations for continuing work to establish the ESRF. Read an overview of the pathway framework . DSL Director Vicki Walker has appointed an interim advisory group to guide work until the Land Board appoints an ESRF Board of Directors. The group is comprised of members of the prospective board appointed by Land Board in December 2022. Visit DSL’s Elliott website to learn more. The next meeting was Jan. 18 and another Feb. 7 th . Meeting videos are posted to the DSL YouTube channel and meeting notes are posted to DSL's Elliott website here . The monies allocated in 2023 to support the forest may be allocated directly to DSL as the clear responsible party. Work is continuing on eventual adoption of a Habitat Conservation Plan and a Forest Management Plan for the forest. Forestry (ODF) By Josie Koehne LWVOR sent a letter in support of Alternatives 2 & 3 of the Western Oregon State Forests Habitat Conservation Plan. See a good Oregon Capital Chronicle article on the controversial proposal. For more information on forestry, see the Wildfire section of this report below. Land Use & Housing By Peggy Lynch The Governor has filed a 69-page Legislative Concept, LC 19, now SB 1557, for the 2024 session. Based on HB 3414 B (2023) but with substantial changes, the Governor has shared the LC draft with groups who have been working with her on this bill with a request to provide comments to her by Jan. 24. She is planning to provide an amendment that incorporates technical edits and corrections and perhaps those comments. LWVOR has been working with the Governor’s staff and others for months on this concept. Natural Resources will be working with our Housing team on a number of bills. While Natural Resources works on the land use side where infrastructure is needed to provide buildable lots, our Housing Team will be working on funding and housing policies for those Oregonians. See the Senate Housing and Development Committee Legislative Concepts- -the first one is the loan fund, LC 155. See the House Housing and Homelessness Committee Legislative Concepts —their loan is LC 197. Reps. Gomberg and McIntire shared that they are submitting an infrastructure funding bill for about 20 projects around rural Oregon. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has filed a draft Biological Opinion (BiOp) related to eligibility for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The State of Oregon provided Scoping Comments and a request for a time extension with concerns from many agencies. Of particular importance is how local jurisdictions will assure on-going access to the NFIP while also not violating the Endangered Species Act. Listen to a hearing from the Jan. 11th House Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources and Water Committee meeting. Follow the work of the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis (OHNA) Rulemaking Committee on the department’s Housing Rulemaking webpage . Watch meetings on their YouTube channel. Some cities objected to the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities (CFEC) adopted rules. DLCD has convened a number of meetings. Here is the latest memo addressing concerns. The Housing Production Advisory Council , composed of housing experts from across the state, detailed 59 potential solutions to meet Kotek’s ambitious goal in a draft proposal completed in December. The Council will submit its final proposal to Kotek on Jan. 17. LWVOR has followed their work and provided comments on some ideas, especially with concerns around the wetlands recommendations. The Department of Land Conservation and Development is recruiting committee members for rulemaking for Goal 9 and certain Economic Opportunities Analyses processes. Applications to serve on the RAC must be submitted by midnight on February 13 th . See also the Housing Report in the Social Policy section of this Legislative Report. Northwest Energy Coalition (NWEC) By Sandra Bishop/Robin Tokmakian The NW Energy Coalition (NWEC) held a conference in Portland on December 6 th, 2023. Organizations from four western states and British Columbia discussed equity in energy planning and services. Among a total of 24 speakers, 14 were people of color: 6 men and 17 women. Oregon legislator Senator Lieber stressed that energy efficiency must be foremost when building 36,000 new homes in Oregon, saying “Bake efficiency into the DNA of everything we do in the state”. She noted that buildings are the second largest carbon producers, so $90 million was passed in the climate package last session with a goal for 500,000 new heat pumps to be installed in Oregon by 2030. In coming sessions, we will see legislation to address inequities in energy provision and ensure supportive regulation and incentives for reducing carbon-intensive energy uses and sources while protecting the vulnerable. A second keynote speaker was Rich Glick, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chair. He spoke about problems and challenges in the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) system, particularly the need to expand and strengthen the grid and to integrate next-era BPA power products with carbon-free energy products. Strategies such as more local grid management, local resiliency, and working with community benefits advocates are seen as necessary. The Western Regional Adequacy Program (WRAP) is one instrument for holding BPA more accountable and ensuring more transparency and equity in providing energy services. One panel concentrated on a model used in Oregon called the Community Cohort Roundtable. Community benefit impact assessment is required by legislation. There is a need for the public to be heard before programs are formed and implemented. Community Cohort mentors people to take part in utility and community energy planning and regulatory processes such as the Public Utility Commission (PUC) rate hearings. Acronyms and complicated technical language can make engaging with energy issues very difficult. The Community Cohort model gives disadvantaged community members a chance to bring issues forward to be addressed by policymakers and regulators. Some barriers to meeting new climate goals through energy efficiency projects are contractor shortages; challenges in upgrading older homes, and problems with providing and applying for funding. Energy navigators or ambassadors are often needed to assist community-based nonprofits and individuals in getting funding for energy programs and projects. There is also a need for better metrics utilities can use to determine benefits and resource needs. There is a push to identify cost parameters that consider some of the human costs not adequately addressed in energy planning in the past. The social cost of greenhouse gas emissions (SCGHG) was one of the metrics the presenters endorsed. Energy programs, projects, and planning must be equitable, affordable, and accessible to all. Whether implementing energy efficiency retrofits on a private home or planning large-scale energy resource projects, the importance of building trust first was emphasized – move at the speed of trust. A representative from the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) noted that what was sufficient in energy planning and implementation in the past may no longer be. There is a need for more open policy and equitable rates. “Energy burden” bubbled to the top of many conference discussions. In Oregon, 25% of households are energy burdened (spending 6% or more on energy); 40% or more in some rural areas. Reduce/Recycle The dates for the next three Recycling Modernization Act Rulemaking Advisory Committee meetings and Zoom registration links have been posted to the Recycling 2024 webpage . Meeting dates are: Jan. 31, Feb. 14 and March 14. LWVOR needs a volunteer interested in following this issue. The Senate Energy and Environment Committee heard potential bills at their January legislative meeting. Transportation Look for a 2025 conversation on how to fund Oregon transportation needs. The Oregon Capital Chronicle article provided some of the challenges facing legislators. Water/Oregon Water Resources Dept. (OWRD) By Peggy Lynch OWRD is considering recommending changes to Oregon’s groundwater rules to the Water Resources Commission. Listen to a legislative hearing at the Nov. 7th House Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources and Water meeting, providing a number of different points of view. LWVOR is watching this work closely as is LWV Deschutes County and looks forward to the Water Resources Commission adoption of this first set of updated rules which can then lead to updated Critical Groundwater designations as the data determines is necessary. In the meantime, many Oregonians are experiencing dry household wells. OWRD provided an update on Oregon’s Well Abandonment, Repair and Replacement Fund . LWVOR supported creation of this program in 2021. The League again asked Congress to expand the Smith River National Recreation Area. We were pleased to see Reps. Val Hoyle (Oregon) and Huffman (California) introduce a bill to expand the Smith River National Recreation Area into Southwest Oregon ( track progress ). A Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area update was provided Jan 11 in the House Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources and Water Committee. The League continues to be concerned about our fellow Morrow and Umatilla county Oregonians, where well water may be unsafe for drinking. KGW’s "The Story" did a series on this important public health issue the week of Nov. 13. OWRD anticipates releasing a draft of the updated Integrated Water Resources Strategy for public review and comment in March. For more information about this process, please visit the IWRS page . LWVOR will look forward to learning more about the historic deal on Columbia River, salmon and the tribes shared in NW states, tribes reach ‘historic’ deal with feds over Columbia River Basin fish and dams . We all need to pay attention to the potential for harmful algal blooms. “When in doubt, stay out.” Visit the Harmful Algae Bloom website or call the Oregon Public Health Division toll-free information line at 877-290-6767 to learn if an advisory has been issued or lifted for a specific water body. League members may want to check the U. S. Drought Monitor , a map that is updated every Thursday. Governor Kotek has signed drought declarations under ORS 536 for the counties of Crook, Jefferson, Grant, Deschutes, Wasco, Harney, Sherman, Lake, Jackson, Gilliam, Douglas, Lincoln and Morrow counties. The forecasted El Nino weather pattern may mean a reduced snowpack this winter in the north while we may see a greater snowpack in southern Oregon. Update: So we all know that we got a week or so of snow in January, but of concern is that rain will reduce that snowpack soon. Here is the Jan. 16 th Oregon Water Conditions Report. Wildfire By Carolyn Mayers LWVOR has monitored a number of meetings over the past month, including of the Wildfire Programs Advisory Council (WPAC), and informational meetings at the Legislature. The primary focus has been finding the best way to ensure long-term, reliable and sustainable funding for wildfire prevention, protection and response. There was repeated emphasis on the importance of restoring funding for community risk reduction programs, which saw an approximate 90% reduction in the 2023 session. There is increasing sentiment that focusing the vast majority of funding on suppression, without meaningfully addressing mitigation, will simply not get the job done. Their next quarterly meeting is Jan. 19. The WPAC meeting agenda is on their website: Wildfire Programs Advisory Council . The first WPAC meeting, on December 18, saw Senator Elizabeth Steiner, District 17, and the Governor’s Wildfire Advisor, Doug Grafe, present a proposal , the main component being a $10 “Statewide Wildfire Protection Fee” on every individual property in Oregon, as well as reductions in fees timber companies pay toward wildfire costs. This proposal was developed by a workgroup led by Steiner, while Grafe provided technical support. There was pushback from several members about a new fee/tax, and concerns were expressed about it potentially being regressive. Originally convened to primarily address relief for Eastern Oregon rangeland and small timberland owners in Eastern Oregon, the work group's final proposal is much broader than that original charge. Senator Golden, District 3, expressed reservations about the proposal, including disappointment at the small amount that would be directed to a community risk reduction fund, and its attempt to shift financial responsibility for wildfires away from the timber industry and onto the public. The Senate Interim Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire met on January 10 and heard 3 different wildfire funding proposals. First, Senator Steiner and Doug Grafe presented a modified version of their funding proposal . Representative Paul Evans, District 20, proposed funding a solution . His Legislative Concept, LC 22, would establish, by referral to voters, an Oregon Public Safety Authority, with taxing authority, capped at a maximum of $.25/$1,000 rate, to help fund wildfire programs across the State, as implemented by LC 23, the proposal’s second component. Finally, Senator Golden presented his funding concept, a referral to voters of what amounts to a renewal of the timber severance tax on larger timber companies (over 500 acres) to help fund wildfire programs. This would include funding for LC 81 , to establish a neighborhood protection cooperative grant program via the Department of State Fire Marshal (OSFM), to promote community wildfire resilience, among other things. Later that day, Senator Steiner and Doug Grafe presented their proposal again, to the House Interim Committee on Climate, Energy and the Environment. Late breaking: After providing her wildfire funding proposal, according to Oregon Capital Chronicle , Sen. Steiner will drop the $10 property fee. Details are not yet available. January 11 the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Natural Resources heard a brief overview of the 2023 Wildfire Season, and funding request, by Oregon Department of Forestry. Finally, later in the day, the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Public Safety received an overview of the 2023 wildfire season, and considered a funding request from OSFM. This request was met with several comments from committee members on the urgency to find long-term, reliable funding solutions for the growing wildfire problem in our State. Volunteers Needed What is your passion related to Natural Resources? You can help. Volunteers are needed. The short 2024 legislative session is Feb. 5-March 10. Natural Resource Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring. If any area of natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, at peggylynchor@gmail.com . Training will be offered.

Back to All Legislative Reports Social Policy Legislative Report - Week of 4/10 Social Policy Team Coordinator: Jean Pierce • After School and Summer Care: Katie Riley • Behavioral Health: Trish Garner • Criminal Justice/Juvenile Justice: Marge Easley / Sharron Noon • Education: Jean Pierce / Stephanie Engle • Equal Rights for All Ballot Measure: Jean Pierce Kyra Aguon • Gender-Related Concerns, Reproductive Health, Age Discrimination: Trish Garner • Gun Safety & Gun Issues, Rights for Incarcerated People: Marge Easley • Hate and Bias Crimes: Claudia Keith/ Becky Gladstone /rhyen enger • Health Care: Christa Danielsen • Housing: Debbie Aiona and Nancy Donovan Jump to a topic: Housing Criminal Justice Gun Safety Immigration Housing By Debbie Aiona and Nancy Donovan Governor Kotek recently announced funding amounts to address the state’s homelessness state of emergency tied to HB 2001 A . The bill requires specific goals to rehouse more than 1,200 households and create over 600 new shelter beds in emergency areas to reduce unsheltered homelessness by January 10, 2024. Each region submitted local plans for the Governor's Office to review and how they will meet specific goals to reduce unsheltered homelessness in their local area. The state is expected to provide technical assistance and partner with them to help them succeed. Listed below are funding amounts the state will award to regions within designated areas of Oregon's homelessness state of emergency. She also announced outcome measures each region is expected to achieve with this funding. Portland/Gresham/Multnomah County: $18.2 million to rehouse 275 households and create 138 shelter beds Eugene/Springfield/Lane County: $15.5 million to rehouse 247 households and create 230 shelter beds Central Oregon: $13.9 million to rehouse 161 households and create 111 shelter beds Salem/Marion, Polk Counties: $10.4 million to rehouse 158 households and create 79 shelter beds Medford, Ashland/Jackson County: $8.8 million to rehouse 133 households and create 67 shelter beds Hillsboro/Beaverton/Washington County: $8.0 million to rehouse 121 households and create 61 shelter beds Clackamas County: $4.4 million to rehouse 130 households. It also was announced that the funds appropriated for this companion bill in HB 5019 will be appropriated as indicated below. A total of $85.2 million will be allocated for local homelessness emergency plans. OHCS will reserve $3 million to ensure the goals of the emergency order are achieved. An additional $3 million will be used for a statewide landlord incentive, available to landlords participating in local rehousing efforts. However, the requests from all regions within the emergency order total $98.8 million, which is not enough funding to provide each region its full funding request. In addition, the early funding package included $33.6 million to help prevent homelessness for an estimated 8,750 households. This funding will be distributed statewide through existing eviction prevention programs. Recognizing that unsheltered homelessness impacts communities in every part of Oregon, the legislature also approved $26 million to address homelessness in counties that do not meet the emergency order threshold. OHCS is sending each region an announcement of its funding amount and will include an updated timeline for finalizing grant agreements with the goal of funding being available to communities by April 28, 2023. The Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM) and the state housing agency (OHCS) have supported establishment of Multi-Agency Coordinating (MAC) groups to oversee the money in each region and deliver emergency care. They are made up of a wide range of individuals, from people who are part of public housing authorities, local homelessness agencies, shelter developers, and landlords associations. The Governor, after several meetings with city of Portland and Multnomah County officials, said she has a lot of questions. Despite her concerns, she tentatively approved state funding to the city of Portland and Multnomah County and promised to provide state help to address some of her questions and concerns. However, the Governor wasn’t convinced that Clackamas County had the ability to increase shelter beds, so the funding was denied. SB 976 : Mortgage Interest Deduction Reform: There is a lot of interest in this bill because if passed; the state’s largest housing subsidy would see some of the savings redirected away from higher earning homeowners and would instead benefit low- and moderate-income home purchasers. In addition, resources resulting from reducing the subsidy would be used for homelessness prevention. The League submitted testimony in support of the reform. Senate Finance and Revenue held a hearing on this bill on April 12. HB 3151 : Manufactured home parks are one of the largest sources of unsubsidized housing in the country and make up 16% of the state’s affordable housing stock. HB 3151 would institute several provisions related to manufactured home parks. It would limit the types of improvements or repairs a landlord could require in a rental contract and extend the sunset for the Manufactured and Marina Communities Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee and legal assistance grants for low-income facility tenants addressing disputes to January 2, 2027. It would also allow manufactured home park loan funds to be used for development of new parks and require local governments to allow siting of those parks in certain non-residential zones. A HB 3151 hearing took place in Senate Housing and Development on April 12. SB 702 : Appraiser Certification and Licensure Training: This bill would require training to be adopted by the Appraiser Certification and Licensure Board for real estate appraisers and appraiser assistants to comply with state and federal fair housing laws. At the present time, appraiser education requirements do not include provisions specifically covering racial bias or appraiser responsibilities under state or federal fair housing laws. Appraisal training can be completed online or in person. National studies have identified race-based disparities in appraisals. In 2022, the Legislature appointed the Joint Task Force on Addressing Racial Disparities in Home Ownership and proposed to amend ORS 674.310 to add language including these topics in appraiser education requirements. A Public Hearing on SB 702 was held in House Housing and Homelessness on April 13. Immigration & Refugee By Claudia Keith Bills we are supporting or following: HB 2957 A the -4 amendment Work Session was held 3/29 . It passed out of committee unanimously to JW&Ms, -4 Staff Measure Summary . Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Fiscal. League Testimony . HB 3176 A - 3 : ‘Welcome and Reception’ program for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Work Session was 4/3 . Passed out to JW&Ms with 9/1 vote. Staff Measure Summary . Public Hearing was March 8 . Fiscal . Bills moved from Policy Committee to JW&Ms: SB 627 : Funding for universal (legal) fees for non-documented individuals ($15M) Sen Lieber. Passed out of Sen Judiciary, DO Pass, Feb 7, sent to JW&Ms with partisan vote. The League has supported this policy/funding category in the past. Fiscal Analysis . Bills of Interest or possible League support: SB 849 A Public Hearing 2/28 with -1 amendment . Preliminary SMS -1 : Work session was 3/14. Now in JW&Ms. Fiscal $20M grant fund. Requires professional licensing boards to provide culturally responsive training to specified staff members, publish guidance on pathways to professional authorization for internationally educated individuals and waive requirement for English proficiency examination for specified internationally educated individuals. Basic Needs SB 610 -5: Work Session 4/3 . Moved to JW&Ms. Establishes Food for All Oregonians Program within Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Fiscal , Staff Measure Summary . HB 2990A : Work session 3/27 . Moved to JW&Ms. Resilience Hubs. Directs Oregon Health Authority to develop and implement grant programs to support resilience hubs and networks in Oregon. Fiscal Statement Other Bills SB 216 Passed out of SCHC 3/1 , Now in House Behavioral Health and Health Care. PH 4/16 and WS 4/18 scheduled. Related to data collected by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), request of Governor Kate Brown. OHA set a goal of eliminating health disparities by 2030 including those based on race, ethnicity, language, or disability (REALD) and sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI). HB 2905 : Now in Senate Education, expands the list of individuals whose histories, contributions and perspectives are required to be included in social studies academic content standards and in related textbooks and instructional materials. Passed House Committee by Unanimous Vote . Public Hearing SCE 4/25 SB 421 A Work session 3/30 moved to JW&Ms with 6/1 vote, establishes a youth advisory council. Prescribes youth standards advisory council membership and duties. ODE to establish a work group to establish member selection process. Staff Measure Summary , Fiscal SB 613 : Creates Commission for Indigenous Communities. In Senate Rules. SB 612 Establishes Indigenous Language Justice Fund. Requires nonprofit organization in this state to serve as fiscal agent to receive disbursement of moneys for purposes related to supporting Indigenous languages interpretation in this state. In Senate RULES, WS 4/1 3 was cancelled. SB 911 Creates Commission for Original Peoples from South America, Central America and Mexico. In Senate Rules, WS was 3/28. Gun Safety By Marge Easley HB 2005 B , the omnibus bill that included a ban on undetectable firearms, an age restriction of 21 and over for purchase, and an expansion of public jurisdictions that can create gun-free zones, was scheduled for a House floor vote on April 12. However, the vote was postponed until May 2 and made a Special Order of Business, most likely to allow time for lengthy pro-con statements from members. Another firearms bill that has attracted attention is SB 393 A , which passed Senate Judiciary in a work session on April 4 and is headed to the Senate floor. A placeholder bill was amended to add clarity to the process by which a gun dealer completes a firearm transfer under the new permit-to-purchase regulations. After verifying that the purchaser has a valid permit, the gun dealer must receive a unique background check approval number from the Oregon State Police and allow 72 hours to elapse between receipt of the approval number and the transfer of the firearm. This amounts to a waiting period, which is strongly opposed by gun supporters. Criminal Justice By Marge Easley Senate criminal justice bills are now making their way to committee hearings in the House. The League is monitoring these bills that appear on upcoming agendas: SB 339 A had a public hearing on April 18. It adds harassment to the crimes that may require sex offender treatment and polygraph tests as a condition of probation, if recommended by the probation officer and if harassment involved touching of sexual or intimate parts of another person. On April 19, House Judiciary has a work session on SB 234 , which allows the Chief Justice to make rules for gathering non-identifying demographic information to evaluate disparities and impacts in the justice system. Also on the agenda is SB 306 A , which modifies statutes to allow for non-attorney associate members of the Oregon State Bar to practice law within a defined scope of practice. This is one of several bills this session to alleviate the shortage of public defenders in Oregon. On April 20, the following bills dealing with juvenile offenders will be heard: SB 902 permits those over 20 who are resentenced for a crime they committed when under 18 to continue temporary assignment to a youth correctional facility. SB 903 directs the Oregon Youth Authority to maintain demographic data, including race, ethnicity, and gender, of youth authority employees in order to evaluate how demographic disparities between youth and employees may affect the cultural appropriateness of programs. SB 904 A modifies the criteria for determining maximum allowable population levels for youth correction facilities.

Back to All Legislative Reports Natural Resources Legislative Report - Week of 4/28 Natural Resources Team Coordinator: Peggy Lynch Agriculture/Goal 3 Land Use: Sandra U. Bishop Coastal Issues: Christine Moffitt, Peggy Lynch Columbia River Treaty: Philip Thor Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries: Joan Fryxell Emergency Management: Rebecca Gladstone Forestry: Josie Koehne Elliott State Research Forest: Peggy Lynch Northwest Energy Coalition: Robin Tokmakian Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife: Melanie Moon Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Advisory Committee: Sandra Bishop Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board: Water: Peggy Lynch Wildfire: Carolyn Mayers Ways and Means Natural Resource Budgets/Revenue: Peggy Lynch Please see Natural Resources Overview here . Jump to a topic: Air Quality Agriculture Bottle Bill Update Budgets/Revenue Climate Coastal Columbia River Gorge Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Elliott State Research Forest (ESRF) Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) Forestry (ODF) Governance Land Use & Housing Oregon Parks and Rec. Dept. Water Wetlands Wildfire AIR QUALITY SB 726 A requires the owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill to conduct surface emissions monitoring and report data as specified in the Act. LWVOR supports. The bill has been referred to the House Committee On Climate, Energy, and Environment where it will receive a public hearing on May 1st. AGRICULTURE By Sandra Bishop SB 1129 A Requires Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) to amend rules on urban reserves. The bill deals with prioritizing lands to be added to urban reserves. The bill passed the Senate and is scheduled for hearing April 28th in House Committee on Housing & Homelessness. HB 3560 A Expands the areas where childcare centers are allowed to be sited. The nexus with farm and forest land is a provision in the bill to allow a county to impose reasonable conditions on establishing a family child care home in areas zoned for exclusive farm use, forest use, or mixed farm and forest use. The proposal would also move statutes governing the siting of childcare facilities to the chapter of Oregon Revised Statutes relating to comprehensive land use planning. The bill has passed the House and is scheduled for hearing May 1st in Senate Committee on Early Childhood & Behavioral Health. BOTTLE BILL UPDATE By Sandra Bishop SB 992 is the omnibus bottle bill. The -3 amendment replaced the original bill, was adopted and the bill passed the Senate and has been assigned to the House Committee On Climate, Energy, and Environment . This bill is Portland-centric and contains various changes to the bottle redemption centers in Portland to address problems and make it easier for those who return and redeem beverage containers on a daily or near daily basis. It also contains a provision that would allow a winery to refuse to redeem containers of a type or brand they do not sell. The League has not taken a position on the specific changes proposed in SB 992, but has always supported the bottle bill and continues to support the most appropriate, effective, and environmentally sound recycling and recovery of beverage container materials. BUDGETS/REVENUE By Peggy Lynch Following are the budget bills we are watching in Natural Resources: Dept. of Agriculture: SB 5502 I nfo mtgs. March 24 and 25 with public hearing March 26. Meeting Materials Of critical importance is their request for a new IT system—ONE ODA--one of the many IT bonding requests this session. Dept. of Agriculture Fees: SB 5503 Info mtgs. March 24 and 25 with public hearing March 26. Columbia River Gorge Commission: SB 5508 Info mtg. and public hearing March 13. An KGW article explains a potential funding issue since both Oregon and Washington must provide equal funding for the Commission. April 27 is a critical decision date at the Washington legislature. A new OPB article updates the latest. Unlike Oregon, Washington state has a House and a Senate separate budget proposal. Hope is that Governor Ferguson will recognize the importance of this Commission’s work. Ferguson has until May 20 to approve the budget. Dept. of Environmental Quality: SB 5520 . Governor’s budget DEQ Fact Sheet Meeting Materials . info mtgs. April 7-9, public hearing April 16. League testimony Oregon Dept. of Energy: SB 5518 info hearing 2/10, Meeting Materials , public hearing 2/11. April 28: Natural Resources Subcommittee info hearing on Department of Energy - Grid Resilience. Meeting materials Oregon Dept. of Energy Fees: SB 5519 info hearing 2/10, public hearing 2/11 Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife: HB 5009 , public hearings Mar. 31 & Apr. 1-2; Meeting Materials , Apr. 3 ODFW Hatchery Assessment; See also the April 15 informational meeting on the Private Forest Accord and Aquatic and Invasive Species. Oregon Dept. of Forestry: SB 5521 . info hearing March 10 & 11. Public hearing March 12. Meeting Materials ; See the April 15 informational meeting on the Private Forest Accord. (See the Forestry and Wildfire sections for more information.) Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries: HB 5010 Public hearing Feb. 5-6; Meeting materials LWVOR testimony Aggregate industry testified against the staffing and fee increases. LWVOR points out that KPM #4 , mine inspections has consistently NOT met the small 20% target so, if staffing is needed to meet that target AND fees increased to pay for them, we will continue to support. LWVOR supports SB 836 , a bill that would significantly increase permit fees for mining related activities. See the agency’s presentation to understand the reasons for these increases. On March 25 the bill was moved to Senate Rules without recommendation. A performance audit was prepared. The League will continue to be involved in SB 836 because we need DOGAMI staff to do more than 14% inspections of mining operations. On 4/23 League did outreach to the Senate Rules Committee members with a history of LWVOR engagement with DOGAMI and explanation of our support for SB 836. Dept. of Land Conservation and Development: SB 5528 Governor’s budget DLCD Fact Sheet Public hearing Feb. 3-4; LCDC 1/24 presentation ; Meeting Materials LWVOR testimony Land Use Board of Appeals: SB 5529 Public hearing Feb. 27 LWVOR testimony . SB 817 is a bill to request a minor fee increase. It has passed the Senate. A public hearing was held on April 23 in the House Committee On Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water . Oregon State Marine Board: HB 5021 Public hearing Feb. 17 Meeting Materials See also the April 15 informational meeting on Aquatic and Invasive Species. Work Session set for May 7 along with HB 2558 A modifies the definition of "charter guide" for purposes of outfitter and guide laws. Oregon State Parks and Recreation Dept.: HB 5026 info hearings March 3-4, public hearing March 5. Meeting Materials LWVOR testimony in part to address comments by the Legislative Fiscal Office. Dept. of State Lands: SB 5539 Info hearing March 17. public hearing March 19. Meeting Materials . LWVOR testimony in support. The Joint Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Natural Resources will have an informational meeting on the Elliott State Research Forest on April 22 . Meeting materials . Work Session set for April 30 for SB 5539 and for SB 147A, Elliott State Research Forest policy and funding bill. Water Resources Dept.: SB 5543 Governor’s budget WRD Fact Sheet Here is a summary of the Governor’s budget. Governor's Budget and Agency Request Budget documents are available online here . Info Mtg. & Public hearing Feb. 18-20. Meeting Materials . LWVOR testimony . And the fee bills: support HB 2808 (Bill moved to Ways and Means) and support HB 2803 (The - 3 amendment was adopted, reducing the fees significantly which will cause the department a revenue shortfall should the amendment stand the scrutiny of Ways and Means where it now lies.) Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board: HB 5039 . Info mtg. & Public hearing Feb. 25-27 LWVOR testimony . Meeting Materials Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board 6-Year Limitation: HB 5040 (Limits expenditures of lottery funds from the Watershed Conservation Grant Fund for local grant expenditures by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board for a six-year period beginning July 1, 2025.) Info mtg. &Public hearing Feb. 25-26 Oregon Business Development Dept.: HB 5024 Info mtgs. 3/12, 13 & 17. Public Hring 3/18. Additional informational meetings: Held April 7 and Scheduled April 22. Oregon Dept. of Emergency Management: SB 5517 info hearing 4/7&8. Public hearing 4/09; Office of the Governor: SB 5523 LFO meeting materials . April 28 Public hearing Oregon State Fire Marshal: SB 5538 i nfo hearing 2/19, public hearing 2/20. Dept. of Transportation: SB 5541 info hearing 3/03-6, public hearing 3/11. Here is an article from oregonlive reporting on the potential 2025 transportation package with proposed revenue sources. The League signed on to a letter in support of increased transit funding . The Joint Committee on Transportation may begin having public hearings on elements of the 2025 transportation package starting May 12th. Dept. of Administrative Services: HB 5002 info hearings 3/03-5, public hearing 3/06. Meeting Materials Legislative Administration Committee, Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee, Legislative Fiscal Officer, Legislative Revenue Officer, Commission on Indian Services and Legislative Policy and Research Committee: HB 5016 Info hearings 4/29-30. Work Session 5/01 Lottery Bonds: SB 5531 : an average debt capacity of $564 million in each Biennium. Public hearing May 2. Emergency Board: HB 5006 This bill will be populated with an amount for the Emergency Board to spend at will and amounts in Special Purpose Appropriations if needed when the legislature is not in session. General Obligation Bonds, etc.: SB 5505 : an average debt capacity of $2.22 billion per Biennium. Public hearing held April 18. Second public hearing, this time on university and community college requests, will be held May 2. Six-Year Limitation/Bonds: SB 5506 (Limits for the six-year period beginning July 1, 2025, payment of expenses from fees, moneys or other revenues, including Miscellaneous Receipts, but excluding lottery funds and federal funds, collected or received by various state agencies for capital construction.) CLIMATE By Claudia Keith and Team See the Climate Emergency section of this Legislative Report. T here are overlaps with this Natural Resources Report. We encourage you to read both sections. COASTAL Ocean Policy Advisory Council Meeting, May 7. OPAC will meet virtually from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Meeting information will be made available via the Oregon Ocean Information website . Contact: Andy.Lanier@dlcd.oregon.gov COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE COMMISSION The League has been a supporter of the Commission since its inception. League members have served on the Commission. A shared responsibility between the states of Washington and Oregon, this year a Washington House of Representatives member is considering defunding the Commission. Funding must be equal between the two states. This KGW article explains the issue. April 27 is a critical decision date at the Washington legislature. LWVOR reached out to LWVWA and learned that they were unaware of this funding crisis. We understand that a conference committee is meeting to resolve the disagreement between the chambers. Not funding would be a violation of the Gorge Compact. DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (DEQ) By Peggy Lynch The League supports SB 830 , a bill that m odifies provisions of the on-site septic system loan program to allow for grants. It also allows for the program to consider mobile home parks in need of septic upgrades. A public hearing was held April 17 in the House Committee On Climate, Energy, and Environment . The League then shared with each committee member our testimony in support of HB 2168 , a bill that would fund this grant and loan program. A work session is set for May 1st. ELLIOTT STATE RESEARCH FOREST (ESRF) SB 147 clarifies the management of the ESRF into the hands of the Dept. of State Lands and sets up a separate fund account for monies received to manage the forest. The bill will have a work session in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on April 30. It had an informational meeting on April 22 . DEPT. OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL INDUSTRIES (DOGAMI) The agency gave a presentation on the proposed pilot project for a Geologic Carbon Sequestration Test Well on April 23 in the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment. FORESTRY (ODF) By Josie Koehne The League provided testimony in support of HB 3489 , a timber severance tax bill that would help fund ODF, provide funding for wildfires and monies that would go to counties where timber is harvested. A public hearing was held on April 24 where the League testimony supported also the -1 amendment proposed by the sponsor. The Legislative Revenue Office provided explanations of a variety of taxes on timber harvest before the hearing on HB 3489. The Board of Forestry April 23rd mtg. agenda is focused on a process for selecting a new State Forester. The Board wants to address their current role as appointee. However, they are aware of the Governor’s bill in the legislature. The League will continue to follow SB 1051 , assigned to the Senate Rules Committee and which transfers the authority to appoint a State Forester from the State Board of Forestry to the Governor. A public hearing was held March 24. Because the bill is in Senate Rules, there is no current deadline for action on the bill. See also the Wildfire section of this report below and the separate Climate section. GOVERNANCE The League continues to follow the bills listed on the March 17 agenda of the Senate Committee On Rules since some of the bills relate to the process of rulemaking. After legislation is passed, agencies are required to implement those laws. That action often requires rulemaking to clarify the details around that implementation. But the League is concerned when legislators “get a second bite at the apple” by relitigating the legislation when rulemaking is only meant to implement, not change policies or facilitate an agency’s mission. Separately, the League was invited to a conversation among state agency rules staff on addressing concerns of the Governor in an attempt to standardize the process statewide. The Governor has provided Rulemaking Guidance to state agencies : This document includes questions received from agencies since the Governor’s letter. This document includes additional resources for agencies including direction to post updates to the Transparency site, a website template that agencies can use (if they choose) to develop their pages, and links to other comprehensive agency rule making sites to review. There is a broader discussion to increase transparency and consistency in the state agencies’ rulemaking process. A second meeting related to the state agency rules process is set for June with an invitation to the League to continue to participate. We continue to watch a series of bills related to rulemaking which we might oppose: HB 2255 , HB 2303 , HB 2402 and HB 2427 . We are also concerned with HB 3382 , since the requirements of the Secretary of State to gather ALL the state agencies’ rulemaking, including all materials would be overwhelming. Individual state agencies provide that information on their rulemaking websites. We may sign on to a letter explaining our concerns to legislative leadership. Because the League is often engaged in rulemaking, we regularly comment on legislation that would affect changes in Oregon’s current Administrative Rules. We have provided testimony in opposition to HB 2692 , a bill that would create complicated and burdensome processes for agencies to implement legislation with their rulemaking procedures . LAND USE & HOUSING By Sandra Bishop/Peggy Lynch A presentation was provided to Senate Committee on Housing and Development on April 23rd by the Governor’s Office and others. This was an opportunity for Senate members to learn more about the House Chamber housing bills sent to Ways and Means. The Senate Committee will hold an informational presentation on Housing and Homelessness bills that have been sent to Ways and Means on April 30. HB 2647 passed the House floor and was assigned to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire. On April 29 it is set for a work session “solely for the purpose of moving it to another committee”. Usually that means to the Senate Rules Committee for further discussion, debate, to be moved to Senate floor or to die. HB 3921 is a similar bill in that it would allow by law land swaps for City of Roseburg/Douglas County per this preliminary staff analysis . The bill passed the House and will have a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Housing and Development on April 30 and a work session set for May 7. The League provided testimony in support of HB 3939 , a bill that provides a list of infrastructure projects to fund for smaller Oregon cities so they can build more housing. We have also supported HB 3031 A (already sitting in Ways and Means) but know there might be limited dollars this session so called out that link in our letter. The -1 amendment to HB 3939 was adopted and the bill moved to Ways and Means. HB 2316 : Allows designation of Home Start Lands to be used for housing. HB 2316 -4 frees up approximately 3,500 acres of state land of which can now be used for housing production, all within the urban growth boundaries. It provides revenue to the state from the sale of the land, and it also provides revenue to our cities because the land becomes taxable for property taxes five years after purchase. The bill was sent to Revenue with a subsequent referral to Ways and Means. See also the Agriculture section above and the Housing Report in the Social Policy section of this Legislative Report. WATER By Peggy Lynch Oregon's Integrated Water Resources Strategy (IWRS) provides a statewide inter-agency framework for better understanding and meeting Oregon's instream and out-of-stream water needs. Here is the IWRS website . Oregon's Water Resources Commission adopted the first IWRS in 2012 and the second in 2017. A League member served on the Policy Advisory Group for each. Oregon Revised Statute (536.220) was updated in 2023 to requires that the IWRS is updated every 8 years.  Draft 2 is now available for Public Review and Comment. Please submit your written comments to WRD_DL_waterstrategy@water.oregon.gov on or before May 7, 2025 . Bills we are following: Water Right Process Improvements ( HB 3342 ) . A - 4 amendment was adopted and the bill passed the House. It has been assigned to the Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire with a public hearing on April 29. Harney Basin Groundwater Management ( HB 3800 ). A work session was held and the bill was sent to House Rules without recommendation as to passage. Water Rights and Public Interest ( HB 3501 ) A work session was held and the bill was referred to House Rules without recommendation as to passage on a 6 to 3 vote. HB 3525 is related to tenants’ right to well water testing. The League submitted testimony in support. House Rules has a public hearing set for April 30 consider the A8 amendment that will extend the timeline for testing to 2027. A work session is scheduled for May 1st. HB 3364 makes changes to the grants programs at the Water Resources Dept. The bill passed the House floor, and had a public hearing on April 24 in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire where a work session is set for April 29. LWV Deschutes County submitted a letter in support of SB 427 , a water rights transfer bill meant to protect instream water flows. Possible work session scheduled for April 8. SB 1153 , an alternate bill provided with help from the Governor’s office, may have more of a chance of passage. It had a public hearing on March 25 with a work session April 8. These bills were moved to Senate Rules without recommendation as to passage to allow for further conversation. SB 1154 was amended by the -1 amendment and sent to Senate Rules without recommendation as to passage in a 4 to 1 vote. An article in the Oregon Capital Chronicle explains the bill and its controversy. League members may want to check the U. S. Drought Monitor , a map that is updated every Thursday. Here is a more complete website about drought in Oregon. The good news is currently Oregon is NOT in drought! However, the latest long-term forecast is for a hot (90 deg) May and a hot (100 deg) June! We all need to pay attention to the potential for harmful algal blooms. “When in doubt, stay out.” Visit the Harmful Algae Bloom website or call the Oregon Public Health Division toll-free information line at 877-290-6767 to learn if an advisory has been issued or lifted for a specific water body. As the weather gets warmer and more people and animals visit Oregon’s water bodies, it is important to watch for potentially deadly algal blooms. Information on current advisories can be found on the OHA’s cyanobacteria bloom webpage at healthoregon.org/hab . The OHA has an online photo gallery to help community members identify signs of potentially harmful blooms. WETLANDS The League participated in rulemaking on Removal-Fill Program Fees earlier this year. After review by the Dept. of Justice and comments received, adjustments to the proposed rules will be shared on May 1st. At that time, the Dept. of State Lands will be hosting a second comment period from May 1 – 31, as well as two public hearings online. More to come next week. A new Rulemaking Advisory Committee has been formed related to Permitting and Mitigation in Oregon's Wetlands and Waters. WILDFIRE By Carolyn Mayers Many wildfire-related bills saw some movement this week, though the future of, perhaps, the majority of them remains far from certain. SB 83 , which would repeal the State Wildfire Hazard Map and accompanying statues related to it, was passed unanimously by the Senate on April 24, and referred to the House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment. As of this writing no hearing has been scheduled. Also headed to that Committee, and scheduled for Public Hearings on April 29 are SB 75 A , which defines “high wildfire hazard area for purposes of developing an accessory dwelling unit on lands zoned rural residential, or a replacement building on lands zoned for resource uses”; and SB 85A , which directs the State Fire Marshal to establish a neighborhood protection cooperative grant program to help communities collectively reduce their wildfire risk. The League supports this bill as an extension of the work done in previous sessions. The Omnibus wildfire funding bill, HB 3940A , is scheduled for a Public Hearing before the House Committee on Revenue on May 1. All eyes will be on this hearing as wildfire season approaches and funding is shrouded in uncertainty. Oregon Department of Forestry has stated the minimum annual need for wildfire funding to address the growing wildfire crisis is around $280 million. It is quite unclear at present which of the several funding mechanisms in this bill, which were generated by the Wildfire Funding Workgroup, will move forward. Also in wildfire funding news, SB 1177 is still before the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue. This bill would establish the Oregon Wildfire Mitigation and Adaptation Fund and redirect the “kicker” to it, one- time, for financing wildfire related expenses, by using the interest earned. A 5% return would yield approximately $170-180 million per year, or just over half of the aforementioned projected ongoing costs to fund wildfire mitigation and suppression. SJR 11 also remains before the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue. It would dedicate a fixed, to-be-determined percentage of net proceeds of the State Lottery to a wildfire fund created by the Legislature. Its passage would mean an amendment to the Oregon Constitution, which would have to go to the voters for approval. Finally, HB 3489 , which imposes a severance tax on owners of timber harvested from public or private forestland, had a Public Hearing April 24 before the House Committee on Revenue. The League has supported a severance tax in past sessions and provided testimony at the hearing. The League is also still following other non-funding related bills, such as SB 926 , which would prohibit the recovery of certain costs and expenses from customers that an electric company incurs as a result of allegations of a wildfire resulting from the negligence or fault on the part of the electric company. It was passed by the Senate on April 23 and referred to the House Committee on Judiciary. SB 1051 , which transfers the authority to appoint a State Forester from the State Board of Forestry to the Governor, subject to Senate confirmation, remains in the Senate Rules Committee. HB 3666 has had no movement in the past week and remains in the Rules Committee. This bill would establish wildfire mitigation actions and an accompanying certification for electric utilities in an attempt to standardize their approach. Finally, while the effects of Federal cuts on staffing and other areas of wildfire mitigation and suppression generally remain uncertain, it was announced recently by the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM) that Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants funding has been ceased by FEMA. The BRIC grant program provided money to help communities prepare for natural disasters before they happen. This act will result in a loss of wildfire mitigation funding, along with many other needed preparedness actions. In addition, some funds already allocated will be withdrawn. OEM outlined the impact the April 4 announcement from FEMA canceling the fiscal year 2024 BRIC grant program has on Oregon in this April 24 announcement . This development adds to the urgency of finding viable and substantial wildfire funding solutions this session. Bills we are watching: Senate Bill 1051 , Governor Kotek is seeking the authority to choose the next State Forester. The Board of Forestry has begun the recruitment process. SB 926 would prohibit the recovery of certain costs and expenses from customers that an electric company incurs as a result of allegations of a wildfire resulting from the negligence or fault on the part of the electric company. The bill passed the Senate and has been assigned to House Judiciary. Volunteers Needed What is your passion related to Natural Resources? You can help. Volunteers are needed. The long legislative session begins in January of 2025. Natural Resource Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring. If any area of natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, at peggylynchor@gmail.com . Training will be offered. Interested in reading additional reports? Please see our Climate Emergency , Revenue , Governance , and Social Policy report sections.

Follow revenue related items with the League of Women Voters of Oregon. Revenue Reports March 9, 2026 Legislative Report - Week of 3/9 The short session is over. The Governor still has to decide if she’s signing the legislation. And the work is not done. There was not enough revenue to fund the 2025-27 budget without cuts and new legislation as shared below. Read More March 2, 2026 Legislative Report - Week of March 2 Despite earlier alarms, Oregon programs and services can proceed largely unscathed in wake of Trump tax and budget cuts. Read More February 23, 2026 Legislative Report - Week of 2/23 We are beginning to see bills that were sent to Ways and Means because they had costs (fiscals) being assigned to Ways and Means Subcommittees. By next week we should see more bills being assigned to those Subcommittees if they might be fully or partially funded. A reminder: These Subcommittees have the ability to change policy in the bills sent to them as well as determine what and how much to fund them. Read More February 16, 2026 Legislative Report - Week of 2/16 The latest word is we are $650 million in the hole related to revenue needs vs. expenses. But this number doesn’t reflect all the legislation being considered this session. Read More February 9, 2026 Legislative Report - Week of 2/9 The long-awaited Revenue Forecast that will guide the spending for the 2026 legislative session, was delivered at the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee meeting on Feb. 4th. Read More February 2, 2026 Legislative Report - Week of 2/2 State agencies provided the Ways and Means Subcommittees with proposed cuts of up to 5% from their currently-approved budgets during the November Interim Days. Read More January 6, 2026 Legislative Report - Week of January 26 Everyone waits anxiously for the Feb. 4th Revenue Forecast so the legislature will know the expected revenue for the rest of this biennium to be able to rebalance the state budget. Read More December 1, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of December 1 On Nov. 19, legislators received the latest Revenue Forecast. (An in-depth version is here.) Oregonlive covered the forecast helpfully. They provide an in-depth Revenue Outlook. The Oregon Capital Insider also provided a good article. However, we still have two economies: One for the wealthy and one for low-income Oregonians—the “k” economy. Read More October 13, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of October 13 Oregon is better suited to address a significant downturn in the economy than the last major downturn because of Oregon’s Rainy Day and Education Stability Funds. But there are criteria that must be addressed in order to access those funds. Read More October 13, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of October 13 Oregon is better suited to address a significant downturn in the economy than the last major downturn because of Oregon’s Rainy Day and Education Stability Funds. But there are criteria that must be addressed in order to access those funds. Read More June 16, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of 6/16 Oregon House Bill 2321 seeks to study Oregon’s property tax system, with a focus on Ballot Measures 5 and 50. Ballot measure 5, passed in 1990, set limits on property taxes through a hybrid levy- and rate-based system originally intended to control rapidly increasing property tax costs. This was a departure from the previous property tax system, which relied on tax levies set by each district as a function of specific budget needs. Read More May 19, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of 5/19 The May 14th economic forecast highlights sluggish growth in the U.S. and Oregon economies, with an elevated risk of recession. Oregon’s GDP growth is forecasted to slow to 0.9% in 2025, marking a decline from previous estimates. However, stronger growth is projected for 2027, in anticipation of trade negotiations and a federal tax cut package. Read More May 12, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of 5/12 We are all waiting for the May 14th Revenue Forecast from our State Economist Carl Riccadonna at the Office of Economic Analysis to be presented to the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue at 8 a.m. The Economist will provide a verbal presentation with slides as well as providing a more complete in-depth report on his view of the world, the U.S. and Oregon’s economic outlook for 2025-27. Read More April 21, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of 4/21 House Bill 3049 (introduced) seeks to modify provisions for corporate excise tax exemptions for businesses operating in economically lagging areas. This bill was discussed during an informational session with the House Revenue Committee on 4/15/25 in response to a request for an interim report on the bill from LRO. Read More April 14, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of 4/14 House Bill 3049 was introduced at the request of Governor Tina Kotek for Oregon Business Development Department. It seeks to modify provisions for corporate excise tax exemptions for businesses operating in economically lagging areas. While this exemption exists in Oregon currently, the program is believed to be underutilized due to complex eligibility calculations. The new bill provides simplified methods to determine eligibility and employee wage requirements, and limits the amount of exemptions that a single business may claim. Read More April 9, 2025 Legislative Report - Week of 4/7 House Bill 2362 aims to implement tiered estate tax exemptions based on the size of the taxable estate. The exemption amount would vary based on the estate's value, and would phase out for larger estates. As a result, this bill would modernize Oregon’s estate tax exemption policy with respect to inflation and appreciation of assets over time. Read More Revenue Overview The League of Women Voters of Oregon is actively working toward a more accessible government, better educational resources, statewide privacy protections and more. Read More

Back to All Legislative Reports Social Policy Legislative Report - Week of 3/4 Social Policy Team Coordinator: Jean Pierce • After School and Summer Care: Katie Riley • Behavioral Health: Trish Garner • Criminal Justice/Juvenile Justice: Marge Easley / Sharron Noon • Education: Jean Pierce / Stephanie Engle • Equal Rights for All Ballot Measure: Jean Pierce Kyra Aguon • Gender-Related Concerns, Reproductive Health, Age Discrimination: Trish Garner • Gun Safety & Gun Issues, Rights for Incarcerated People: Marge Easley • Hate and Bias Crimes: Claudia Keith/ Becky Gladstone /rhyen enger • Health Care: Christa Danielsen • Housing: Debbie Aiona and Nancy Donovan Jump to topic: After School and Summer Care Behavioral Health and Related Public Safety Issues Healthcare Higher Education Housing Immigration/Refugee Violence Prevention and Gun Policy Education Update Volunteers Needed By Jean Pierce, Social Policy Coordinator, and Team After School and Summer Care By Katie Riley HB 4082 Summer Learning 2024 and Beyond was passed to allocate $30 million for summer learning in 2024 and implementation of a work group to plan for future funding and administration of summer learning and afterschool enrichment. Summer awards will be made to school districts by ODE. Allocations to school districts will be prioritized to districts with the largest number of kids in need. It will be up to the school districts to implement partnerships with community-based organizations to provide enrichment activities during non-school time. ODE is developing guidelines for appointments to the work group and the work group process. Behavioral Health and Related Public Safety Issues By Karen Nibler and Jean Pierce The final version of HB4002 A , the “Oregon Drug Intervention Plan'', was passed by both chambers , and the Governor has announced plans to sign it. This extensive bill covered behavioral health treatments by pharmacists, coverage by health insurance companies, Coordinated Care Organizations, county deflection programs, expungement, Drug Enforcement misdemeanor charges for possession, court processes, and continued funding for Behavioral Health Rehabilitation Network programs, which were initiated in the last session. The bill requires an Alcohol and Drug Commission study and Task Forces on Regional Behavioral Health Accountability and Safety of Behavioral Health Workers. The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission will monitor program grants and provide reports to the legislature. OCJC will provide grants for Opioid Use Disorder medications for county jail facilities, which has been identified as an urgent need. The final version is very similar to HB 4002 (2024), for which the League wrote testimony . One major downside of the bill is that The Criminal Justice Center has estimated that the bill would disproportionately penalize people of color. However, the Governor has pledged to protect against this when provisions of the bill are implemented. Companion Bills: HB 4001 A was passed by the Ways and Means Capital Construction Subcommittee to study specialty courts for drug offenses and costs of deflection programs in the Oregon Health Authority programs. HB 5204A provide s $211M to implement HB 4002 in the community corrections programs and $4M to train behavioral health workers. HB 4151 B supports the University of Oregon work on the youth behavioral health workforce. HB 4136 A was passed to provide funds to increase health care access and to divert from emergency rooms in Eugene, which is recognized for its mobile teams for substance abuse incidents. Both Chambers passed SB1553A, which added unlawful possession of a controlled substance on a transport vehicle to the list of C misdemeanors which interfere with public transportation. Citations will be supervised by Community Corrections officers. Healthcare By Christa Danielson HB 4149 : Lawmakers in both chambers approved House Bill 4149, which seeks to rein in prescription drug costs for pharmacies and patients by mandating reporting from Pharmacy Benefit Managers about how much money is actually returned to patients to lower their drug costs. This bill also has provisions to help protect rural pharmacies. The League submitted testimony in support of the bill. HB 4130 B This bill was stalled in the last week by legislators calling for a minority report. The League submitted testimony in support of this bill, which would have limited corporations from making medical decisions about health care for patients and strengthened bills that were already law to Ban the Corporate Practice of Medicine. We expect this bill will return next year. Higher Education By Jean Pierce HB5204A includes an appropriation of $4 M to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to distribute to universities in Oregon for the purpose of expanding the behavioral health workforce in the state. The bill passed both chambers and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. The League submitted testimony for this when SB1592 was requesting $6M. HB 4162: Relating to Higher Education Affordability did not pass this session. It would have appropriated money from the General Fund to make college more affordable by creating and awarding grants for basic needs programs at public colleges and universities. LWVOR submitted testimony in support. Housing By Debbie Aiona, Nancy Donovan The legislature’s end to the 2024 session included Gov. Kotek’s top legislative priority with a $376.2 million housing package to boost affordable housing construction, expand emergency shelters for people experiencing homelessness, and help counties acquire land to develop properties. The housing package contains three bills: 1. HB 1530 appropriates $279.6 million for programs addressing homelessness and eviction prevention, with specific allocations to culturally specific organizations. Part of the package includes housing for people recovering from substance abuse disorders. The bill provides funding for infrastructure projects throughout the state aimed at supporting housing development. Also funding for home repair, air conditioners, air filters, and heat pumps is included in the bill. The League submitted a letter in support. 2. SB 1537 is a companion bill to SB 1530. The bill appropriates a total of $89.5 million General Fund to three agencies: $10.6 million to the Department of Land Conservation and Development for the Housing Production and Accountability Office; $3 million to the Oregon Business Development Department; and $75.8 million to the Housing and Community Services Department. In addition, the bill creates a Housing Project Revolving Fund to provide no-interest loans to jurisdictions for infrastructure projects for moderate-income housing developments. 3. HB 4134 appropriates $7.1 million to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services to provide grants to cities for specified infrastructure projects that will benefit housing developments. At least 30 % of the dwelling units must be affordable to workforce income qualified households. The League submitted a letter in support. Individual Development Accounts: Unfortunately, only $5 million of the $10 million needed to serve the same number of people through the Individual Development Account (IDA) program was allocated in SB 1530. IDAs are available to lower-income Oregonians who want to save for goals such as a home purchase, home repair, small business start-up or expansion, post-secondary education, vehicle purchase, and emergency savings. Their savings are matched by the state using tax credit revenue. The tax credits are not yielding what is needed to maintain current service levels. IDA advocates requested $10 million from the general fund so the program could continue to serve the same number of people. Given competing demands for limited resources, the Legislature included $5 million in SB 1530. The League submitted a letter in support of the full $10 million. HB 5201 -- Lottery Bonds for Affordable Housing Preservation: Low-income housing advocates were unsuccessful in persuading the Legislature to allocate $30 million in lottery-backed bonds for the purpose of preserving at-risk low-income rental housing and manufactured home parks. Some of these units are affordable to very low-income households, the area of greatest need with residents most at risk of homelessness. The units are operating under expiring federal contracts, being converted to market rate, or in need of significant upgrades to maintain viability. Preserving existing units is more cost-effective than developing new housing. Housing and Community Services Department estimates it would cost $200 million per biennium to retain our existing stock. The advocates will be back next session encouraging allocation of preservation dollars. The League submitted a letter in support of HB 5201. See also Land Use and Housing in the Natural Resources Legislative Reports. Immigration / Refugee / Asylum By Claudia Keith HB 4085 A – Path to Citizenship, directs DHS to give grants for legal assistance to help noncitizens get lawful immigration. Fiscal $6.3M , adds 2 positions / 1.2 FTE. League testimon y, died in J W&Ms. HB 4085 -1 Preliminary SMS . SB1578A which directs the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to establish and maintain a management system to schedule appointments and process billing for health care interpreters was amended to limit the service to Oregon Health Plan Members. The amended bill was passed ,fiscal $1.4M, It’s not clear why the bill is in Legislative Council . Staff analysis of the measure reports that these interpreters are needed to facilitate communication between healthcare providers and patients with limited English proficiency as well as the deaf and hard of hearing. According to the latest U.S. Census American Community Survey, there are 216,654 people in Oregon with limited English proficiency. Find immigration/refugee funding items at the end of the session omnibus bill SB5701 , detail list HERE . Recent News: Will Oregon help asylum seekers again? As bill stalls, advocates say ‘allow us to support more families’ - oregonlive.com Violence Prevention and Gun Policy By Marge Easley SB 1503 Enrolled, establishing the Task Force on Community Safety and Firearm Suicide Prevention passed the House on March 6 with a 35 to 22 vote and is now on its way to the Governor’s desk. The bill, strongly supported by the League, garnered expected opposition from many Republican legislators due to the inclusion of the word “firearm” in the title of the task force. The task force will consist of 17 members, including legislators and representatives from state agencies, behavioral and public healthcare groups, and communities most impacted by suicide. The bill includes an allocation of $250,000 to the Oregon Department of Justice to support the task force and provide funding for outside research. Findings will be reported back to the Legislature over the next two years. HB 4156 B , which strengthens and modernizes Oregon’s anti-stalking law, passed the House on March 7 on a vote of 54 to 2. The bill, carried by Rep. Kevin Mannix, includes much-needed provisions for the crimes of cyberstalking and internet harassment. Education Update By Anne Nesse SB 1503 B passed the Legislature on 3/6, creating a new Task Force to reduce youth suicide in Oregon. This new task force is significant for education, because our State’s higher incidences of behavioral mental illness, and depression, are known to make learning more difficult. The task force is required to report to the interim committees of the Legislative Assembly related to health care. SB 1557 E , requiring the Oregon Health Authority to ensure that all children or youth up to age 21, who are eligible for home or community-based services in mental health receive the services to which they are entitled, passed the Legislature on 3/7. Subsidized childcare will be funded at approximately $170 M, for the Employment Related Day Care program. A program which pays almost the entire cost of child care for about 12,000 low-income families, preventing a budget deficit, noted in an article located here . Funding was allocated inside the omnibus funding Bill, SB 5701 A . SB 1552 B , creating a State Youth Advisory Board, and many other educational changes needed in an Omnibus Educational Bill, passed the Legislature on 3/7. HB 4105 The proposal for a Nurse Family Partnership was fully funded at $3.2 million in HB 5204-2, Section 12. HB 4105 is not moving forward, but the needed funding is. The following Bills which we were following did not have time, or the funding to pass the Legislature during the short session: SB 1583 A , would have prohibited discrimination when selecting instructional materials, or books used in state public schools, had passed the Senate on 2/27, but remained in House Rules without passage. This Bill had included additional language, already existing in current law, that had prohibited discrimination in selection of materials in public schools. HB 4078 A , would have directed ODE to implement a standardized method for school districts to electronically collect, and use student data, did not have time to pass during the short session. HB 4079 , attempted to remove the percentage cap on the amount of moneys that are distributed from the State School Fund to school districts for students eligible for special education. HB 4087 A , would have directed OHA to establish a pilot program for Emergency High Acuity Youth to stabilize behavioral health services. Volunteers Needed What is your passion related to Social Policy? You can help. V olunteers are needed. Social policy includes: housing, adult corrections, judiciary, juvenile justice, public safety, gun safety, violence prevention, health care, mental health, immigration and refugees, foster care, social services, and women’s issues. LWVOR actively lobbies for anti-poverty programs to help low income and those at-risk move toward financial stability. If any area of Social Policy is of interest to you, please contact Jean Pierce, Social Policy Coordinator, at socialpolicy@lwvor.org . Training will be offered.

Back to All Legislative Reports Governance Internships Legislative Report - Week of 3/20 Governance Team Coordinator: Becky Gladstone and Chris Cobey Artificial Intelligence: Lindsey Washburn Campaign Finance Reform: Norman Turrill Conflicts of Interest/Legislative Ethics: Chris Cobey CEI - Critical Energy Infrastructure : Nikki Mandell and Laura Rogers Cybersecurity Privacy, Election Issues, Electronic Portal Advisory Board: Becky Gladstone Election Systems: Barbara Klein Emergency Preparedness: Cate Arnold Immigration, Refugee, and Asylum: Claudia Keith Redistricting: Norman Turrill, Chris Cobey State Audit Working Group: Sheila Golden Voting Rights of Incarcerated People: Marge Easley Jump to a topic: Election Methods Cybersecurity and Public Records Rights of Incarcerated People Government Ethics By Norman Turrill, Governance Coordinator, and Team Election Methods By Barbara Klein The wide-reaching Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) bill ( HB 2004 ), which LWVOR endorsed, along with 38 other organizations, drew a large audience, both in-person and virtually at the hearing on March 16. So many people wished to testify, and were unable to do so, that this bill and a related RCV bill ( HB 3509 ) were placed on the March 21 legislative schedule as well. Legislators and representatives from both major parties, representing Alaska, New Mexico and Utah spoke in support of RCV. The LWVOR submitted testimony on HB 2004 and plans testimony on HB 3509 to be shared on the next legislative report. Note that HB 3509 also requires RCV for nonpartisan elections and offices of the state legislature, whereas HB 2004 includes only federal and statewide offices. Amendment -1 to HB 2004, requested by Rep. Dan Rayfield, chief sponsor of the main bill, primarily expands the franchise by allowing RCV to be used for school boards. Specifically, RCV could be used for the nomination of candidates and election to the school board. Cybersecurity and Privacy By Rebecca Gladstone SB 1073 Growing data management risks justify this bill to establish a state Chief Privacy Officer (CPO). This office in DAS would coordinate cybersecurity services with data governance and transparency / privacy concerns, would set rules, develop and share educational materials and forums. We again recommend reading our privacy and cybersecurity work. We support the networking for state agency CPOs and others around the state. SB 1073 “may adopt” implementing rules, including that the SoS and Treasurer would be “directed” to adopt “the same or similar” rules. We are concerned that siloing to exempt the SoS, the Treasurer, and now an amendment requested to also exempt the AG, may hamper rapid response protection from the array of services we are supporting in other bills this session. Separating our state government branches’ administration here is meant to retain balance of power, yet effective defensive collaboration is warranted. We call on this prospective CPO and Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to collaborate closely. See our testimony for the related bills and the hearing video . SB 166 This bill is moving in one week from public hearing to work session, not promising for the multiple concerns we recommend be addressed, our testimony . This three-part bill would codify that actual voting on ballots is not revealed (never has been). It only addresses protecting elections workers, offending substances shall not be thrown at them, and elections should have cybersecurity plans. We recommend further amending, citing extensive references to our earlier relevant testimony. Technical harassment definitions should be expanded, as we note, for example to doxing, with extensive privacy issues, and extended to protect all involved in elections, even voters, from harassment and intimidation, as reported last fall, OPB . We anticipate valuing having these protections in place before the 2024 elections. We link our other testimony to support for elections as critical infrastructure, for cybersecurity, and for protecting our cyber defense plans, as mentioned in the bill below. SB 619 A - 1 amendment is on file now for the AG’s consumer privacy bill, which LWVOR strongly supports ( our testimony ). A work session is scheduled for 1pm March 28, in the Sen Judiciary. HB 3111 passed a March 21 work session after passing from the House with no opposition votes, and a March 16 Sen Rules public hearing. This privacy protection bill exempts some personal information for some public employees, focusing on retirees. As we advocated for SB 293 Enrolled (2021), we urge for less piece-meal privacy protection. See our testimony in support , repeating our previous calls for improvements. Watching: SB 234 OJD rules for gathering info to evaluate judicial system disparities. Regarding privacy. Passed Senate floor on partisan lines, public hearing in H Judiciary, March 8. No work session set yet. Upcoming: SB 216 This health information privacy bill is moving, assigned to H Behavioral Health and Health Care, about disclosure of identifiable data. Three -1 versions are on file. Creates an exception to ORS 181A.823, which prohibits public agencies from collecting data about an individual's immigration or citizenship status or country of birth, so that the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and the Department of Human Services (DHS) may collect data related to national origin in accordance with standards adopted by an advisory committee. Prohibits personal data collected by OHA and DHS related to race, ethnicity, language, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity from being disclosed as a public record, allowing for release of data only if it is anonymized and aggregated. The bill would allow agency data collection about individuals to eliminate health disparities. This affects privacy, to collect and protect data for race, ethnicity, language, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Oregon law (ORS 181A.823) restricts public agencies from collecting data related to immigration, citizenship status, or country of birth. Rights of Incarcerated People By Marge Easley HB 2345-1 , which mandates that reasonable efforts will be made to limit the length of time an incarcerated person can remain in segregated housing (solitary confinement), is scheduled for a work session on April 3. The bill also establishes a committee to study the implementation of this new mandate. Here is League testimony in support of the bill. After passing out of Senate Rules on March 9 with a do pass recommendation, SB 579 A , which would allow prisoners to register and vote, remains in Ways and Means. According to the Fiscal Analysis, the Secretary of State anticipates the fiscal impact of this measure to be $749,007 from the General Fund for two positions (1.00 FTE) and associated costs for the 2025-27 biennium. Government Ethics By Chris Cobey SB 168 : Senate Rules held a public hearing 3/21 on this bill that would expressly prohibit public employees, while on job during working hours or while otherwise working in official capacity, from promoting or opposing appointment, nomination or election of public officials. SB 207 : Senate Rules gave a do pass recommendation and sent this bill to the Senate floor for 2nd reading 3/21. This bill was at the request of Oregon Government Ethics Commission and would authorize it to proceed on its own motion to review and investigate, if the commission has reason to believe that a public body conducted meetings in an executive session that were not in compliance with laws authorizing executive sessions. SB 292 A : Senate Rules scheduled a public hearing 3/23 with an A2 amendment. This bill would narrow the applicability of the requirement that members of a district school board must file verified a statement of economic interest (SEI) to only those members of districts with specified number of students or districts that are sponsors of virtual public charter schools. The League believes that all public officials should file an SEI and that smaller jurisdictions are where the most conflicts of interest occur, which could be revealed in SEI filings. SB 661 : Senate Rules adopted a -2 amendment and sent it to the floor with a do pass as amended recommendation. This bill would prohibit a lobbyist from serving as chair of an interim committee, legislative work group or legislative task force. Campaign Finance No bills on campaign finance have yet been scheduled for a hearing. Redistricting There has been no movement on redistricting in the legislature. People Not Politicians has started collecting signatures on IP 19 petitions downloadable from its website. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED. Worthy causes go unaddressed for lack of League volunteers. If you see a need and can offer your expertise, please contact our staff at lwvor@lwvor.org .

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LILY YAO (she/her) LILY YAO (she/her) Youth Council President Lily attends South Eugene High School where she is actively involved in student government, competes in Speech and Debate, and plays varsity tennis and club Ultimate. As an environmental advocate, Lily has served as a regional leader intern with Our Future, a project of Partners for Sustainable Schools that has aimed to create a statewide, student-led climate justice network since 2022. At the same time, in roles as a City of Eugene Sustainability Commissioner and member of the Eugene Youth Advisory Council, she seeks to educate herself and others about the climate while becoming more civically aware. Similarly, as a founding member of the Lane County delegation of the Oregon YMCA Youth and Government program, she has had the unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience advocating for policy solutions and participating in government simulations of the legislative process, which has further sparked her interest in civics education. Alongside her commitment to environmental issues, Lily is passionate about disaster preparedness. In her role as a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 10 Youth Preparedness Council, she has educated youth in her local community and collaborated with the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM) to promote disaster resilience. Her experience includes presenting at the 2024 Oregon Prepared: Emergency Preparedness Workshop, hosted by OEM, and as a panelist with Resource Tap Disaster Support Services at the 2024 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, the largest and oldest conference of its kind. In addition to her advocacy work, Lily believes in promoting cultural diversity and understanding. In addition to English, she speaks both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and is involved in various efforts to foster inclusivity and celebrate cultural heritage. This has included acting as a Mainstage Production Assistant for the Oregon Asian Celebration. Her commitment to bridging cultural gaps, as well as her passion for S.T.E.M., are demonstrated by her selection as a 2024 TechGirls Finalist. This year, Lily is taking on the role of Co-Voter Strategist with the League of Women Voters of Oregon Youth Council. She is dedicated to empowering young voters and increasing voter turnout among young people. In serving on the Youth Council, Lily hopes to learn more about the civic process, reach out to her community, and advocate for voters across Oregon. youthpresident@lwvor.org

Back to Legislative Report Revenue Legislative Report - Week of 3/9 Revenue Team Coordinator: Peggy Lynch REVENUE Patricia Garner, Josie Koehne, Peggy Lynch The short session is over. The Governor still has to decide if she’s signing the legislation. And the work is not done. There was not enough revenue to fund the 2025-27 budget without cuts and new legislation as shared below. The Feb. 4 Revenue Forecast guided the spending for the 2026 legislative session. Carl Ricidonna, Oregon’s State Economist, provided his report, along with Michael Kennedy, Senior Economist. See pages 17 and 20 for the important numbers. And the Legislative Revenue Office’s Forecast Summary . LWVOR participated with several other volunteer and non-profit organizations in the unofficial Oregon Revenue Coalition that worked together to find ways to preserve Oregon revenue in the light of lost federal income from Congress’s passage of H.R.1 which would cut major sources of funding for Medicaid, SNAP and many other services. ( Signed on to letter in January.) We focused on a bill to limit the damage caused by Oregon’s rolling connection to federal income tax law, since legislation to disconnect from the federal law failed in the 2025 long session. This session SB 1507 A passed (Senate (17-13) on Feb. 16 and House (34/21/4/1) on Feb. 25 ) that disconnected from certain sections of the federal code that the Legislative Revenue Office (LRO) reported would save Oregon $311.6 million in revenue this biennium and $313.9 million in the 2027-29 biennium, while providing increased funding for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) at a cost of $26.2 and $52.7 million per biennium respectively. The League has long supported an increase in the EITC. Summaries of the 44-page bill and its amendments can be found here . LWVOR testimony in support. At least one legislator is considering collecting signatures to place portions of the bill on the ballot per this Oregonlive article. Of concern is that the referral process allows petitioners to select parts of the bill. In this case, they could leave off the increase in the EITC while only asking voters to stop the disconnect—which, in part, is expected to pay for that EITC increase. HB 5204 is the final bill that balances the budget as required by state law. In the bill, the legislature made over $128 million in cuts , mostly in agency services and supplies and by not filling vacancies and shifting remaining funds around to fill in some gaps. This was fewer cuts than anticipated at the start of the session. But they also funded or rebalanced some agency programs and staff. The -2 amendment was adopted . See the 4 Analysis documents for the budget additions and reductions, Budget Notes and final LFO recommendation. Passed the House and Senate Mar. 6. Oregonlive article and the Oregon Capital Chronicle addressed the 2025-27 budget rebalance. The Oregonian did a final budget review . SB 1601 was the Program Change bill. The -3 amendment was adopted and includes rebalance of ODOT’s programs in Section 11-23 and clarifies the 1% of lottery monies for county fair upgrades and repairs. Passed the Senate and House Mar 6. SB 5701 amends the limits established during the 2025 legislative session for the maximum amount of bonds and other financing agreements that state agencies may issue. The proceeds from the issuance of bonds are included as revenues in agency budgets. The -2 amendment and the LFO Recommendation includes increases in general obligation and lottery revenue bonds authorized. Bond sales are not anticipated until the spring of 2027. Passed the Senate and House Mar. 6. SB 5702 : Establishes and modifies limits on payment of expenses from specified funds by certain state for capital construction . Capital Construction 6-year limitation. -1 amendment LFO Recommendation Mar. 5 passed Senate. Mar. 6 passed House. SB 5703 : Modifies amounts allocated from the Administrative Services Economic Development Fund, Veterans' Services Fund, Criminal Fine Account, Oregon Marijuana Account and Fund for Student Success. Mar. 5 passed Senate. Mar. 6 passed House. HB 5203 : Approves certain new or increased fees adopted by state agencies. The bill includes the Dept. of State Lands Wetlands processing fees set forth during rulemaking for which the League engaged. Fee Ratification. LFO Recommendation Mar. 6 Passed the House and Senate. SB 1510 : Updates the terminology used to describe certain income earned by multinational corporations to reflect a change in the term used in federal law a bill. This omnibus bill, with amendments, would provide an opportunity to explore additional tax policy for consideration in the 2027 session. It is easier to understand the many provisions of SB 1510 by reviewing the summary provided by the Legislative Revenue Office of the bill and its -4 amendments . Feb. 24: Passed the Senate (28/1/1). Passed the House Mar. 4. HB 4014 : Establishes the Task Force on Taxation of International Income with the amendments. -2 amendment replaced the “study” bill. Staff Measure Summary . Due to this complicated tax policy, parties agreed to use the interim to consider impacts on this federal tax policy on Oregon revenue. Passed the House floor (32/26/2). On to the Senate floor at adjournment. Business interests want to have this conversation behind closed doors rather than an open public Task Force. The bill died but the conversation will continue. SB 1511 : A bill modifying the estate tax that would have increased the $1 million exemption to the estate tax to $2.5 million failed this session. The tax rates would have been greatly increased for the highest valued estates but fewer estates would pay an estate tax. For the first biennium, the revenue would have been about the same as our current estate tax SB 1511 . The revenue staff provided this analysis on the A -3 amendment that was approved by the Senate) with no expected revenue loss for this biennium, but $35 million by 2029-31. The bill did not pass out of House Revenue by end of session, but may be back in the long session. Two bills focused on increasing tax incentives for economic development faced intense debate and scrutiny, and one , SB 1586 , was withdrawn on March 3 due to much public outcry about tax breaks for data centers and the expansion of the Metro’s Urban Growth Boundary into land zoned as rural agricultural land, in violation of the 2014 Grand Bargain. OPB provided an article on this contentious bill. LWVOR testimony in opposition to the bill and additional testimony opposing the -7 amendment . The bill remained in Senate Finance and Revenue at the end of session, but is likely back in some form in 2027. The other economic development bill, HB 4084 A introduced by Governor Kotek, would fast track the permitting process for certain new business development t o be completed within 120 days, by means of a specially appointed Joint Permitting Council to oversee the each permitting agency’s permitting process. This section of the bill aligns with a federal program: Permitting Council’s FAST-41 Assistance for States. In addition, in the bill as introduced, all local property taxes abatements for Enterprise Zones were to be extended. This bill was also controversial because of these extensions since it would allow data centers which are hotly contested throughout the US, and which are the primary recipients of these tax credits, to not pay local property taxes for many years. After several amendments, three were incorporated into the final bill. LWVOR comments . The final bill included these provisions as summarized by LRO: Removes the $40 million General Fund appropriation to OBDD for deposit into the Industrial Site Loan Fund. (However, HB 5204 included $10 million for the Regional Infrastructure Fund, $5 million to support horse racing events at county fairgrounds, $5 million cash and $10 million bonds into the Industrial Site Loan Fund, and $10 million in lottery bond funds. The bonding bill provided targeted investments in sewer and water projects statewide to help with increased housing development demands.) Modifies SB 1507 (2026) to limit the tax credit for job creation to certain specified qualified industries. To qualify for the tax credit, a taxpayer must receive an attestation-based certification from Business Oregon, who will develop the tax credit application process, establish job creation determination methodology, and further define the term “qualified industry” through rulemaking. Excludes any qualified property of an authorized business in an enterprise zone with an operating data center from entering into a written agreement with the enterprise zone sponsor to 1) extend the period during which the qualified property is exempt from taxation beyond the allowable three years; 2) agree to flexible hiring timelines; and 3) approve alternative performance criteria. Prohibits data center properties from authorization as an eligible business firm prior to 90 days after the adjournment of the 2027 legislative session. An amendment was added at the end that puts this one-year moratorium on all new data center development certifications by Business Oregon, starting three months after the close of session. This allows the Governor’s Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee time to consider the various impacts of data center development on Oregon, and to report back to the Legislature with their recommendations. It also limits the existing Standard Enterprise (for urban areas) tax break to three years, but allows all other currently operating data centers, including those in rural areas of the state, to continue to receive tax breaks through the extended time periods as outlined in the bill. Oregonlive provided a great analysis of the impact of data centers. Oregonlive update on data centers in this legislation. Oregon data center operators will save nearly a half-billion dollars in local property taxes this year through three different incentive programs. Kotek’s legislation, House Bill 4084 , would expand the fastest growing of those three programs. HB 4148 : Allows city and county services for which net local transient lodging tax revenue may be used to be provided either directly by the city or county or indirectly by a special district. The -7 amendment adopted that changes the percentage to 50/50 and passed the House floor Feb. 25 (40/12/4/4). Mar. 5 Passed the Senate (23/6/1). SJR 201 : Kicker Reform: Proposed an amendment to the Oregon Constitution to require a portion of surplus revenue that would otherwise be returned to personal income taxpayers to be used for funding public kindergarten through grade 12 education, community colleges and wildfire prevention and suppression, if surplus revenue exceeds a certain threshold. OPB covered a story about the bill . T he League has long supported kicker reform but we also note that, with our new state economist, another kicker is not expected in the near term. The bill did not get a Work Session. HB 4136 : Disallows, for purposes of personal income taxation, a mortgage interest deduction for a residence other than the taxpayer’s principal residence , unless the taxpayer sells the residence or actively markets the residence for sale. The bill had one public hearing on Feb. 16 and died in committee. The League is hopeful that a version of this bill will return in 2027. HB 4125 : Prescribes methodology for the preparation of revenue estimates used in the budgeting process and as applicable to the surplus revenue refund process — potential kicker reform. Public Hearing Feb. 2. The bill died in Committee . On Feb. 20, the US Supreme Court declared that President Trump does not have authority to impose widespread tariffs under a specific federal statute. Oregon’s Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, led the coalition of states arguing that the President did not have this authority. HB 4061 B passed that provides monies to help Oregon businesses hurt by these tariffs. Budget Report . The bill passed the House on Mar. 3 and passed the Senate Mar. 6. On Thursday Mar. 5, Rayfield and officials from 23 other states filed a lawsuit against the new tariff at the U.S. Court of International Trade, with Oregon again leading the way. “Budget aftershocks from the Trump cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will keep hitting Oregon in future years,” said Senator Jama. “Oregon lawmakers must continue working together to make resources stretch and to help families thrive.” As we await the May 20th Revenue Forecast, we watch for data that may change the forecast. Oregonlive reports that Oregon exports are down. Then we now have a war with Iran that, so far, has increased gas and diesel prices. That increases costs to state agencies, local governments, Oregon businesses and individuals. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — supply more than a third of the world’s urea, an important nitrogen fertilizer, and nearly a quarter of another one, ammonia. And they all use the Strait of Hormuz to export their products. So that means less food production and an increase in food prices. The February national jobs report was not good (loss of almost 100,000 jobs) and the national unemployment rate rose to 4.4%. (In Oregon, we’re at 5.2%.) As we watch the U.S. and Oregon’s economy, we note the Oregon Capital Chronicle Jobs Report article , of special concern as Oregon is an income tax state. According to this Oregonlive article , Oregonians are working the fewest hours since 2010. Oregon workers are spending less time on the job, another indication that the state’s labor market continues to sag. The average Oregonian worked less than 33 hours a week in December, according to federal data. That’s the lowest number since 2010, when the state was still digging out from the Great Recession — even worse than the sharp decline that accompanied the pandemic. As we continue to be concerned about the economy, we note a study related to AI: Brookings Institution study on AI job losses and adaptability points out metros most at risk – Portland Business Journal Roughly 30% of workers displaced by artificial intelligence will struggle to find new jobs, according to a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research and Brookings Institution. While 70% of highly AI-exposed workers would likely be able to transition to another job, the rest may have trouble adapting “due to limited savings, advanced age, scarce local opportunities, and/or narrow skill sets. ”What’s more, of the displaced workers in low-adaptive jobs, 86% are women. The League will continue to work with the Oregon Revenue Coalition and others as we address the need for increased revenue to pay for the services Oregonians need. The Ways and Means Co-Chairs warn of increased demand and federal funding cuts for the 2027-29 and 2029-31 biennia. It's time to work with state agencies as they develop their 2027-29 budgets. Here’s some budget guidance that agencies have received: 2027-29 Budget Guidance: Governor's Letter and CFO 2027-29 Budget POP Guidance . Bottom line: The Governor has asked state agencies to provide a “neutral” budget. If they want to add a program or staff, they need to find a program or staff to remove from their budget request. You can contact the agency you want to engage with as they work to provide proposals to the Governor around June. See other sections of the Legislative Report for information about specific agencies or areas of concern.

Back to All Legislative Reports Natural Resources Legislative Report - Week of March 2 Natural Resources Team Coordinator: Peggy Lynch Agriculture/Goal 3 Land Use: Sandra U. Bishop Coastal Issues: Christine Moffitt, Peggy Lynch Columbia River Treaty: Philip Thor Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries: Joan Fryxell Emergency Management: Rebecca Gladstone Forestry: Josie Koehne Elliott State Research Forest: Peggy Lynch Northwest Energy Coalition: Robin Tokmakian Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife: Melanie Moon Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Advisory Committee: Sandra Bishop Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board: Water: Peggy Lynch Wildfire: Carolyn Mayers Ways and Means Natural Resource Budgets/Revenue: Peggy Lynch Please see Natural Resources Overview here . Jump to a topic: Agriculture Budgets/Revenue Climate Coastal Issues Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Forestry (ODF) Governance Land Use & Housing Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Recycling Regional Solutions Transportation Water Weather Wetlands Wildfire AGRICULTURE Sandra U. Bishop HB 4153 : Relating to farm stores. This bill would allow large stores in permanent structures on Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zoned land and would allow for major expansion of agri-tourism. Two public hearings were held. A Work Session was held 2/17 in House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water. The bill was moved out of committee (8-3) with a Do Pass with -3 amendments and referred to Ways and Means Committee. The – 3 amendments do not adequately address concerns brought up in League testimony . The League continues to oppose the bill. On Feb. 27, the Ways and Means Capital Construction Subcommittee held a Work Session and moved the bill to the Full Committee where we expect it to be considered on March 2. LFO Recommendation Staff Measure Summary Please see the League’s Action Alert. HB 4130 : Relating to farm use . As introduced this measure would clarify the meaning of preparing farm products and by-products. Public hearing Feb. 2. Surprise Work Session Mar. 2. Will look for possible amendments to be posted since the “relating to” clause is very broad! BUDGETS/REVENUE Peggy Lynch See the Revenue section of this Legislative Report for in depth information. We encourage you to read ALL sections. CLIMATE Claudia Keith and Team See the Climate Emergency section of this Legislative Report. There are overlaps with this Natural Resources Report. We encourage you to read both sections. COASTAL ISSUES Christine Moffitt SB 1525 would establish the Blue Economy Task Force to study and report on economic development plans or strategies for the “blue” (coastal) economy and opportunities for the state to nurture sustainable blue economy businesses while preserving and protecting Oregon’s coastal ecosystems. It would authorize the Oregon Ocean Science Trust (OOST) to create a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) entity to advance the trust’s mission. The League has been a continual supporter of the OOST. Public hearing set for Feb. 4. -3 amendment Work Session Feb. 16. Heard in Ways and Means Capital Construction Subcommittee on Feb. 27 where it passed to Full Ways and Means. We expect it to be on March 2 nd Full Committee agenda. HB 4097 would simply authorize creation of the tax-exempt entity. It has passed both chambers and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. SB 5701 : Modifies previously approved lottery bonding provisions. (Includes monies for the Port of Coos Bay) Bond Authority. The bill was described as simply a correction/allocation issue. League members will follow up. Public Hearing Feb. 13 where the issue wasn’t raised. OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT News Release : Draft Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap Available. The public may comment from February 17 – April 3, 2026. Public meetings are also scheduled for our south coast communities starting Feb. 25 th . The League provided Comments on HB 4080 in 2024. Note that the schedule and meeting locations may have changed. website . Public Access Rulemaking has begun to clarify how local governments will address protection of public access to Oregon beaches. The next meeting is May 13. Undersea Infrastructure and Easements in Oregon’s Territorial Sea Rulemaking . The next meeting is March 11. DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (DEQ) HB 4102 : Modifies the authority of the Department of Environmental Quality to enter into agreements with regulated entities to expedite or enhance a regulatory process. It would allow DEQ to hire third-party contractors to expedite environmental permitting, as a response to DEQ’s sizable permitting backlog. Tech organizations and other advocates said the bill would speed up permitting for large projects and give businesses the certainty they need to grow jobs in Oregon. LWVOR opposed the bill in written testimony , expressing great concern about the use of outside contractors to perform important permitting work, especially if those contractors are paid by the regulated businesses. Bill passed the House. We appreciated Rep. Gamba’s statement on the House floor regarding …”the potential influence on a permitting process without further sideboards.” The bill was assigned to Senate Energy and Environment with a Public Hearing Feb. 16 . An amendment has been posted that may address our concerns but goes well beyond our request as others also opposed the bill and the amendment may well also address their concerns as well. Senate E&E heard testimony on the proposed amendment, which essentially would replace the House-passed bill in an effort to ward off environmental opposition and win support from labor. Much of the discussion was technical, centering on whether the bill's new language duplicates that of DEQ's existing contractual rules. Of interest, an Intel representative stated on the record that Oregon does “underfund our permitting agencies.” Work Session Feb. 25. Passed the committee (3/1/1) without amendments. On to the Senate floor. FORESTRY (ODF) Josie Koehne The Board of Forestry is meeting March 4. News Release . Kacey KC, the new Oregon State Forester and Director of the Oregon Department of Forestry, starts work March 1. The following is a list of bills we are watching: HB 4004 : Provides that additional taxes otherwise imposed upon disqualification of land from certain forestland special assessment programs may not be collected if the disqualification is due to the suspension of reforestation requirements as a result of insects or disease. Work Session Feb. 11. The bill passed the House Committee On Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water after adoption of -11 amendments , -13 amendments and -14 amendments and sent to House Revenue where the – A 17 amendment was adopted and was sent to the House floor. It passed the House and will now have a Public Hearing and Work Session in Senate Finance and Revenue on Mar. 2. HB 4105 : Directs the State Forester to determine the available state forestland, establish sustainable harvest levels for harvesting timber on state forestland and manage available state forestland. Allows certain persons to seek a court order if the State Forester fails to establish sustainable harvest levels or manage available state forestland. The bill has a subsequent referral to Ways and Means. LWVOR opposed a version of this bill in 2025. Public Hearing Feb. 11. LWVOR testimony in opposition. Work Session Feb. 16. Bill passed the Committee (10/1) and was sent to Ways and Means. Please see the League’s Action Alert. SB 1590 A : Prohibits public bodies from assisting the federal government with privatization of certain federally owned lands. Public Hearing Feb. 3. Work Session Feb. 13. Bill was amended and moved to the Senate floor on a 3 to2 party line vote. Bill passed the Senate 17/11/2 on Feb. 19 and was sent to the House Ag et al committee where there was a Public Hearing on Feb. 23 and Work Session Feb. 25. The bill passed the committee and is set to be voted on in the House chamber GOVERNANCE Peggy Lynch The Natural Resources Team often follows bills related to permitting and rulemaking processes. Among the bills we are following: HB 4073 : Modifies provisions relating to administrative law. As with HB 2692 (2025), this bill creates burdensome and inefficient Administrative Rules Processes. LWVOR 2025 testimony . Public Hearing Feb. 10. The League signed on to a letter in opposition to the bill. HB 4019 : Requires certain agencies to base approval or denial of an application for a new permit on the rules and standards that are applicable at the time that the agency determines the application is complete. HB 4020 : Requires certain agencies to specify the authority justifying the denial of a permit application and provide the applicant a guide on how to contest the denial. Public hearing 2/03 -1 amendment was discussed and staff summary provided. LWVOR provided Comments . Work Session Feb. 12. Bill passed the Committee but was sent to Ways and Means due to potential fiscal concerns. The League appreciates recognition of agency costs to implement the bill. The -1 amendment was adopted. Work Session in Ways and Means Natural Resources Subcommittee on Feb. 25. -A2 amendment LFO Recommendation . On Feb. 27 it passed the Full Ways and Means Committee. Rep. Reschke wondered about the bill and why there was only ONE testimony on the bill (ours!). Rep. Bowman explained that he had conversations with interested parties and the bill simply provides a roadmap and better information regarding permits. Good news: our letter was obviously read! The bill now goes to the House floor for a vote. HB 4021 : Requires certain agencies to make adoption, amendment or repeal of administrative rules effective only on January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1. Public Hearing Feb. 10. -2 amendment Work Session Feb. 17. The League’s concern is related to the need for rules to be adopted and implemented in a timely manner. If this bill passes, we will monitor that issue. The bill passed the Committee with the amendment, passed the House floor Feb. 20 and moved to the Senate Rules Committee. Public Hearing Feb. 25. Work Session Feb. 26. - A3 amendment was adopted and the bill now goes to the Senate floor for a vote. HB 4084 A : Establishes the Joint Permitting Council. The bill creates a fast-track permitting process for major projects, expands economic “enterprise zones,” and would have invested $40 million in industrial land site readiness to promote manufacturing. The Governor’s testimony on the bill at the Feb. 4 th Public Hearing. A -1 amendment was adopted. The bill passed the House Committee On Economic Development, Small Business, and Trade . Staff Measure Summary . The bill moved to House Revenue. Public Hearing Feb. 16. Both Wilsonville and Eugene provided testimony in support of such an allocation in the Feb. 13 hearing on SB 5702 . Work Session Feb. 19. -A 14 amendment was adopted and the bill moved to Ways and Means. A Work Session was scheduled on Feb. 26, but the bill was pulled due to these conversations around data centers and the tax breaks given. Staff Measure Summary provided that would substitute the $40 million with a lesser amount. LFO Recommendation . We await learning when the bill will go to the Capital Construction Subcommittee, perhaps as soon as Monday, Mar. 2. The League has been involved in conversations around these important policy and tax issues. Governor Kotek Data Center Advisory Committee has been convened. The Oregonian provides insights into the effects of tax breaks on data centers in HB 4084: Oregon data center operators will save nearly a half-billion dollars in local property taxes this year through three different incentive programs. Kotek’s legislation, House Bill 4084 , would expand the fastest growing of those three programs. SB 1586 : Modifies the tax credit allowed for semiconductor research. Creates and amends certain programs offering tax breaks related to advanced manufacturing, enterprise zones and regionally significant industrial sites. Directs certain state agencies to establish deadlines within which the agency intends to process applications for permits and make the deadlines available to the public. Directs certain state agencies to publish a catalog of permits issued by the agency within 60 days after the effective date of the Act. This Oregonlive article provides a great review of the bill. The League OPPOSES . Public Hearing Feb. 16. -4 amendment was posted on Feb. 16. Public Hearing Feb. 18. Another Public Hearing Feb. 23. See the meeting materials posted in the Analysis section of the bill’s Overview for more information. We continue to expect further amendments . -7 amendment was posted Saturday morning (9:27a) from Sen. Sollman. It seems to be a replacement of the bill. LWVOR provided testimony opposing the amendment on Feb. 23. Currently the bill remains in Senate Finance and Revenue with no Work Session scheduled. Please see the League’s Action Alert. LAND USE & HOUSING Peggy Lynch Bills we are watching: HB 4035 : Expands eligibility for cities and Metro to amend their urban growth boundaries under a Temporary program. Authorizes the Land Conservation and Development Commission to issue grants to implement the commission’s duties. Public Hearing Feb. 5. Work Session Feb. 12. -3 amendment was adopted and the bill passed the committee to the House floor where it passed on Feb. 18 and is headed to the Senate Housing and Development. Public Hearing and Work Session Feb. 24 where the -A 4 amendment was adopted. The bill passed and now goes to the Senate floor. HB 4082 : Adds to a temporary UGB addition program an option for each city or Metro to also add to its urban growth boundary a site for manufactured dwelling parks, or for housing for older persons, that is affordable for households with incomes not more than 120 percent of area median income. Public Hearing Feb. 3. Work Session Feb. 10 where -2 amendment was adopted. This Oregonlive article explains the conversation around this bill. Feb. 17: Bill passed the House. Headed to the Senate Housing and Development where there was a Public Hearing Feb. 24. Work Session Feb. 26 where the - A 4 was adopted and the bill now moves to the Senate floor. SB 1586 : Modifies the tax credit allowed for semiconductor research. Creates and amends certain programs offering tax breaks related to advanced manufacturing, enterprise zones and regionally significant industrial sites. Adds rural reserves in Washington County to Metro to be used for high technology and advanced manufacturing purposes. See more on this omnibus bill in the Revenue Legislative Report. The League has major concerns about sections of this bill. Oregonlive article provides a great review of the bill. The League submitted strong testimony in opposition. Public Hearing Feb. 16. -4 amendment was posted on Feb. 16. Public Hearing Feb. 18. Another Public Hearing Feb. 23. See the meeting materials posted in the Analysis section of the bill’s Overview for more information and look for possible additional amendments. -7 amendment was posted Saturday morning (9:27a) from Sen. Sollman. It seems to be a replacement of the bill. LWVOR provided testimony opposing the amendment on Feb. 23. Currently the bill remains in Senate Finance and Revenue with no Work Session scheduled. Please see the League’s Action Alert. HB 4108 : Requires a city to annex noncontiguous land upon receipt of a petition from all owners of the land that satisfies four eligibility criteria. Public Hearing held Feb. 3. Work Session Feb. 12. The League supports the concept of this bill as good planning with the -1 amendment . A -2 amendment was adopted limiting this policy as a “pilot project” for the City of Eugene. We are disappointed that the bill was narrowed, but glad to see some movement on this important land use issue. The bill passed the House on Feb. 18 and headed to the Senate Housing and Development for a Public Hearing and Work Session on Feb. 26 where a -A 4 amendment was adopted and the bill now goes to the Senate floor for a vote. The 2025-27 Policy Agenda 2025-27 Policy Agenda was approved by LCDC on Oct. 24. There will be seven rulemakings on Housing alone, including: Housing Rulemaking for HB 2138 and HB 2258 (2025) and Rulemaking to clarify and allow housing and other needed development outside of wetlands. The rulemaking would create an optional, alternative compliance pathway for wetlands resources when a city is preparing bill annex lands from the urban growth boundary (UGB) to accommodate needed housing and economic development. LCDC had a presentation on Feb. 27 th ( DSL presentation on wetlands at LCDC on YouTube Feb. 27 at the 3-4:15p Meeting time.) See their Rulemaking page for more info on all the rules work being done by this agency. See also the Housing Report in the Social Policy section of this Legislative Report. OREGON DEPT. OF FISH AND WILDLIFE (ODFW) Melanie Moon HB 4134 is a bipartisan bill that would increase the state tax from 1.5% to 2.75% for transient visitors to Oregon including camping, hotels and vacation rentals. The money would be used for wildlife habitat and a myriad of other programs. LWVOR signed on to a letter in support . High Country News provides an article on this bill. Public Hearing Feb. 4 . The Oregon Capital Chronicle also covered this bill. Work Session Feb. 16 in House Revenue. -1 amendment adopted. Feb. 24: House passed the bill (36/22/2). On to the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee with a Public Hearing Feb. 26 and another Public Hearing & Work Session Feb. 27 where it passed the committee 3/0/2. Then we hope it passes to the Senate floor where it needs 20 votes to pass. Please see the League’s Action Alert. RECYCLING HB 4144 A : Requires producers of batteries or battery-containing products to join a battery producer responsibility organization and implement a battery producer responsibility program for the collection and recycling of batteries has a Work Session in Ways and Means Natural Resources Subcommittee Feb. 23. Passed Full Ways and Means Feb. 25. On to the House where it passed (42/0/17/1). To the Senate chamber. REGIONAL SOLUTIONS The Regional Solutions Program : Within each of the 11 Regions, which are tied to Oregon’s federally designated Economic Development Districts, a Governor-appointed Advisory Committee sets Regional Priorities and a cross-functional Team of state agency staff works together to move projects forward. To receive their reports, use this signup page . The public is welcome to attend virtually or in person. Go to the program website and to the region to find the agendas and meeting materials posted a few days before the meetings. Public Comment is usually scheduled. Upcoming Regional Solutions Advisory Committee (RSAC) Meetings: Regional Solutions Greater Eastern (Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, and Wheeler Counties) March 10th from 2:00-4:00pm Mid-Valley (Marion, Polk, and Yamhill Counties) March 12th from 1:30-3:30pm Northeast (Baker, Union, and Wallowa Counties) March 13th from 2:00-4:00pm South Central (Klamath and Lake Counties) March 17th from 10:00am-12:00pm Southern (Jackson and Josephine Counties) March 25th from 12:00-2:00pm South Valley/Mid-Coast (Benton, Lane, Lincoln, and Linn Counties) March 26th from 1:00-3:00pm TRANSPORTATION (ODOT) The Oregon Capital Chronicle provides some daylight on the ODOT budget discussions for 2026: Kotek told reporters Tuesday that lawmakers had reached a compromise on which transportation programs to cut, but offered few specifics on the depth of those changes. The details of such a compromise have not yet been made publicly available, allowing lawmakers to avoid any pushback from transportation workers or union leaders who hold significant political sway in Salem. But the governor maintained that the plan focuses on savings from job vacancies, avoiding layoffs, and taking funding from infrastructure improvement projects that have yet to begin. “Tough choices were made to get to our compromise,” she said. “And no one loves the proposal, but it will make sure that the agency can function through the end of the biennium and past the end of the biennium to provide basic services: Plowing roads, operating DMVs, things like that.” See last week’s report on the variety of funding pots that are being considered. The League will be sad to see loss of Safe Routes to School funding, and we hope for a solution that considers the need for transit statewide. We are also concerned with the loss of trained ODOT staff. It will be important for legislative leaders to begin work on a long term funding solution for 2027. Bills we are watching: SB 1599 : Moves the election date for the parts of chapter 1, Oregon Laws 2025 (special session), referred to the people by Referendum Petition 2026-302 , to the primary election held on May 19, 2026. Bill was assigned to the new Joint Special Committee On Referendum Petition 2026-302 . Public Hearing Feb. 9. Work Session Feb. 12. -2 amendment adopted and bill passed the committee on a party line vote. Headed to the Senate floor where it passed Feb. 23 (17/13). It is now tentatively scheduled for the House chamber vote on Mar. 2. HB 4126 : Get the Data for a Better Road User Charge (RUC): Require ODOT to report the total biennial cost of maintenance and preservation for the state’s road system, and to report the total mileage driven. This data could later be used to calculate the RUC. Public Hearing and Work Session set for Feb. 16. -2 amendment was adopted and the Committee moved the bill to Ways and Means. Fiscal Impact Statement HB 4008 : Transit Funding Task Force To determine the level of funding needed to maintain adequate transit service statewide and explore funding mechanisms to achieve that funding. (House Transportation Committee) The League supports. Public Hearing and Work Session Feb. 16 -5 amendment adopted 5/2 and bill was sent to Ways and Means. Fiscal Impact Statement : if the work required by this task force, or if the cumulative enactment of other legislation with interim committees and task forces exceeds Legislative Fiscal Office expenditure levels beyond those assumed in the 2025-27 budget, additional General Fund resources may be required. From ODOT press release : Learn more about our capital improvement plan for state and federally funded projects by visiting the draft 2027-2030 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, also known as the STIP, online open house . The online open house will be available through March 20. We may use your comments to make adjustments as we begin designing projects in the STIP. All comments will be included in the public comment record. This record will go to the Oregon Transportation Commission before they approve the final STIP in June. WATER Peggy Lynch Bill of concern: HB 4049 : Directs the Water Resources Commission to encourage and approve voluntary agreements between ground water users in the Greater Harney Valley Groundwater Area of Concern to achieve reasonably stable ground water levels. -3 amendments posted. Public Hearing Feb. 4. Work Session Feb. 16. The League understands that Rep. Owens and the Governor’s Office are in negotiations. It is unclear if this bill is really needed to address the representative’s concerns. The -3 amendments were adopted and the bill was moved to Ways and Means. League members may want to check the U. S. Drought Monitor , a map that is updated every Thursday. Governor Kotek has declared a drought in eight counties ( map ) . Here is a more complete website about drought in Oregon. We all need to pay attention to the potential for harmful algal blooms ( HABs) . “When in doubt, stay out.” Visit the Harmful Algae Bloom website or call the Oregon Public Health Division toll-free information line at 877-290-6767 to learn if an advisory has been issued or lifted for a specific water body. Information on current advisories can be found on the OHA’s cyanobacteria bloom webpage at healthoregon.org/hab . The OHA has an online photo gallery to help community members identify signs of potentially harmful blooms. WEATHER The best guess of the various forecasters is that sometime between June and September the world will enter an El Niño cycle. When that happens, prepare for bedlam. Each El Niño event in recent decades has gotten steadily worse, because each one drives the temperature to a new record. WETLANDS Peggy Lynch The Dept of State Lands and Dept. of Land Conservation and Development attended the Feb. 27 th Land Conservation and Development Commission meeting where they did presentations on wetlands. You can watch on YouTube Feb. 27 at the 3-4:15p meeting time. Materials Presentation 1 Presentation 2 The next meeting of the Wetlands Rulemaking RAC, originally planned for February 23, 2026) will be postponed until later in the spring. Please stay tuned for a new meeting date after the close of the 2026 legislative session. DLCD’s rulemaking webpage. WILDFIRE Carolyn Mayers It’s been a fairly uneventful week in wildfire legislation. Here is what’s happening: SB 1540 A which endeavors to align insurance company wildfire risk assessment with homeowner and community level mitigation efforts in an attempt to help address the rising cost of homeowners insurance, is scheduled for a Public Hearing before the Senate Rules Committee Monday, March 2. There is growing pessimism around this bill’s chances. SB 1541 remains in Ways and Means. This is Senator Golden’s Climate Superfund bill would provide, among other things, funding toward wildfire mitigation and disaster recovery. (See Also Climate Emergency Legislative Report) SB 1551 A would invalidate deed restrictions and planned community governing documents prohibiting the removal of non-fire-hardened building materials or installation of fire-hardened building materials on residential properties. This bill had a Public Hearing and Work Session before the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness on February 26, and was sent to the floor with a do-pass recommendation and passed. It is currently awaiting a vote on the House floor. HJM 201 , which urges Congress to pass legislation to permanently extend federal tax cuts for wildfire victims, has passed the House and the Senate. In other news, there was a meeting of the Local Officials Advisory Committee (LOAC) on February 24. One item of interest was a Lane County petition for wildfire sheltering timeframe revisions. After the Labor Day fires in 2020, emergency measures were passed to allow for 5 years of temporary sheltering in different locations, such as campgrounds, for people who lost their homes to wildfire. At that time, it was thought 5 years would be an adequate amount of time. As it turns out, there are still many people who have not yet been able to rebuild. This petition requests the time frame be extended another 5 years, to give people the opportunity to remain where they are sheltering until such time as their homes are rebuilt. The request will go to the Land Conservation and Development Commission at their next meeting. Meeting material, which have all the details, may be found on this page. Finally, as reported in this article from KPTV, loss of funding may result in 30 early wildfire detection cameras being shut down across the State. This is technology that has proven to be instrumental in authorities being able to respond quickly to wildfires, keeping them contained, and the loss of the the use of them would be potentially catastrophic in the face of increasing wildfire risk in Oregon. OPB also covered this story: Almost half of the University of Oregon’s network of cameras to monitor wildfires is at risk of being discontinued, according to an administrator. The Oregon Hazards Lab’s network of cameras operates 24-7 and covers some of the most remote, rugged, and inaccessible areas of the state. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED : What is your passion related to Natural Resources? You can help. Volunteers are needed. We particularly need help tracking legislation concerning • Air Quality (Dept. of Environmental Quality) • Columbia River Gorge Commission • Hanford Cleanup • Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife • Parks and Recreation Dept. • Recycling/Materials Management (Dept. of Environmental Quality) • Toxic Control Interested in reading additional reports? Please see our Climate Emergency , Revenue , Governance , and Social Policy report sections.