Oregon lawmakers have proposed more than 3,400 bills this legislative session, most of which will fail to pass. That became obvious last week as hundreds of bills failed to cross an important legislative hurdle, signaling their all but certain death.
Friday marked the first major deadline for lawmakers and political groups hoping to advance their priority bills. By the end of the day, bills had to be scheduled for an upcoming work session or die, with limited exceptions.
So a host of bills are almost certainly kaput for the year, including proposals to escalate Oregon’s climate efforts, reduce the sale of products with synthetic chemicals and restrict non-agriculture businesses from operating on farming land.
The exceptions? Bills in the few committees that are exempt from the deadline. They include all joint committees and the committees in each chamber concerning rules, conduct and revenue. Bills assigned to those committees will continue to trickle in.
Here are some of the bills that are almost certainly dead this year:
- House Bill 3477 would have ramped up Oregon’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bill, sponsored by eight Democrats, would have required the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% below 1990 levels by 2030, and achieve 95% reduction by 2050.
- Senate Bill 555 would have barred the Legislative Policy and Research Office, which provides research to lawmakers, from making huge swaths of its research public. Legislative policy researchers supporting the bill said it was intended to keep individuals’ personally identifiable information private, but the bill as written would have placed sweeping restrictions on the information that could be released.
- Senate Bill 641 would have prohibited Chinese investors from purchasing farm land in Oregon.
- House Bill 2390 would have increased the amount of money offered to rural medical providers through a tax credit to a maximum of $10,000 for providers who practice more than 50 miles away from a major city. House Bill 2365, which is scheduled for a work session, aims to add mental health professionals, pharmacists, lab technicians and other health care specialists to the list of workers eligible for the tax credit.
- House Bill 378 would have removed fees for any Oregonians 65 or older to visit any state park or stay at any individual state-operated campsite.
- Senate Bill 77 would have placed restrictions on non-agricultural businesses, such as AirBnBs or boutique hotels, from operating on land designated for farming. The proposal would have required a person running a side business on farm or forest land to live in the same building that the business operates in, among other requirements.
- House Bill 3255 would have required all online retailers operating in Oregon to publicly list a phone number and email address at which customers could get answers.
- House Bill 3512 would have prohibited the sale of many products that contain long-lasting, synthetic chemicals commonly referred to as PFAS. Those products would have included dental floss, cleaning products, makeup products, cookware and products designed for use by children.
— Carlos Fuentes covers state politics and government. Reach him at 503-221-5386 or cfuentes@oregonian.com.
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