2024 Legislative Session Preview

While the 2024 Legislative Session doesn’t begin until early February, the Oregon Legislature will meet this week for what is called “Legislative Days”. During Legislative Days, no voting on legislation will take place, but policy committees meet to hold informational hearings and introduce legislative concepts, which gives Oregonians a preview of what bills to expect in the upcoming Session.

As a reminder, the 2024 Legislative Session is what we call a “short session” meaning there are only 35 days for lawmakers to complete all the legislative work it needs for the year. In Oregon, our legislature alternates between a long session and short session every year. Generally, a short session is not supposed to be used for major policy conversations, and is supposed to be used to address technical fixes, funding matters, and other “small bites at the apple”. However, we all know that this hasn’t necessarily been the case. Anyone remember a little bill known as Cap and Trade?

As of today, most agendas for the policy committees have been posted, and it looks like there could be several issues in the 2024 Session that may impact private property owners. In this post we are going to highlight a few Legislative Days hearings that are of interest to OPOA supporters. We are also going to provide quick links on how you can keep track of what Legislature is doing this session, watch hearings, and submit testimony if a bill is important to you. In our opinion, everyone should know what the legislature is up to and have a say in the outcome.

2024 Legislative Days Hearings: January 10 – January 12

Judiciary – Property Tax Foreclosures

On 1/12 at 2:30pm, both the House and Senate Judiciary Committee will be meeting jointly. In this meeting, the Committees will receive an informational hearing on property tax foreclosures. OPOA will be watching this hearing and any related legislation closely considering the recent SCOTUS decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, which held that local governments cannot keep windfall proceeds from private property foreclosures, without paying just compensation to the property owner. 

Natural Resources and Wildfire – Funding for Home Hardening, Insurance Rates, etc. 

On 1/10 at 8:30am, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire will have an informational meeting on Wildfire Funding Proposals. While this will be a significant policy debate for a short session, OPOA predicts that there will be near term legislation reforming how Oregonians help shoulder the costs of wildfire fighting services.

At this meeting, there will also be introduction of Legislative Concepts, including LC 81, which relates to wildfire risk reduction and continues the work of wildfire legislation from past sessions. As of now, LC 81 is a draft legislative concept that would potentially provide grant funds to help people pay to do defensible space and harden their homes in wildfire hazard zones. The concept also includes a precursor for a “risk reduction certification program” that if utilized could be favorable to insurance policy holders when insurance companies are underwriting their insurance premiums.

Housing – Shelter Operations, Financing Affordable Housing and Infrastructure, etc.

On 1/10 at 8:30am, the Senate Committee on Housing and Development will meet to hear presentations on shelter operation needs, recovery housing, affordable housing land acquisition, emergency rental assistance program, and financing affordable/moderate income housing. On 1/11 at 8:30am the House Committee on Housing has a full agenda of similar informational hearings related primarily to financing affordable and moderate-income housing, needed infrastructure, and system development charges. There will also be a much-anticipated presentation from OHCS on the implementation of past shelter operations funding.  

Like last Session, OPOA predicts homelessness and housing to be a significant topic this legislative session. OPOA will continue to be a vocal advocate for making significant changes to our planning and building system to reduce barriers to building needed housing.

Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water – FEMA BiOp

On 1/11 at 2:30pm, the House Ag and Natural Resources Committee will hold an informational hearing on the FEMA BiOp, which is a significant issue that could have major implications for Oregon property owners in the near future. There is no expected legislation on this issue. This hearing is purely informational to get legislators and the public up to speed on this issue. OPOA will write a separate post explaining the FEMA BiOp in more detail, but here is a quick overview.

In 2009, several environmental groups sued the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), alleging that its implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) violated the Endangered Species Act. As part of the settlement terms, FEMA agreed to cooperate with the United States National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in preparing a Biological Opinion (BiOp) on how FEMA’s implementation of the NFIP in Oregon impacts ESA-listed species and their habitat.  

In 2016, NMFS issued a BiOp which concluded that FEMA’s implementation of the NFIP in Oregon “jeopardized” the livelihood of 16 ESA-listed fish species as well as resident killer whales. As part of that BiOp, NMFS provided recommendations to FEMA about how it could change implementation of the NFIP in Oregon to avoid the identified impacts. NMFS recommended that FEMA implement a “no net loss of floodplain function” standard on all development within the mapped floodplain in approximately 30 Oregon counties.

In practice, local governments will have to adopt and enforce certain requirements to maintain participation in the NFIP. Participation in the NFIP by local government is important because it ensures that individuals and businesses can purchase federally backed flood insurance. This flood insurance would otherwise not be readily available. Therefore, to remain eligible for the NFIP, local governments will be required to update their land use and development codes to adhere to the “no net loss” standard, which will likely result in significant development restrictions in most parts of the state.

How to Virtually Participate with the Oregon Legislature

If you want to stay up to speed with the Legislative hearings, you can do so from the comfort of your own computer! Here are quick links on how to access certain information on the Oregon Legislative Information Service (OLIS) and submit virtual testimony.

• Visit OLIS to find information on the Senate, House, proposed legislation, watch hearings, virtually testify and track votes: Oregon State Legislature (oregonlegislature.gov).
• To watch the policy committee hearings schedules for the day simply hover over the Committees tab > Today’s Meetings > Click whichever hearing you are interested in to see the agenda, materials > Click the camera icon to watch the live feed OR you can search for a specific Committee and click on each day’s agenda: Committees Home (oregonlegislature.gov).
• To search for a specific bill, see its history through the legislature, or see votes, you can use the Find a Bill page: Citizen Engagement Find Bills and Vote Information (oregonlegislature.gov).
• To submit virtual testimony, you can either submit written testimony or sign up to testify via Microsoft Teams. Use the following guide to learn how to testify: Citizen Engagement How to Testify (oregonlegislature.gov).