OPOA Legislative Session Update: Salem Passes Half-Way Mark

The 2024 Legislative Session has passed the half-way mark. Any bill that was not posted for a work session by last Friday, except for those in a committee on Rules, Revenue, or Ways and Means, is now “dead” for the Session.

Legislators and Lobbyists are working to get their remaining bills out of the first chamber by February 29th. This means that except for bills in those aforementioned special committees, bills that do not move over from the House to the Senate (or vice versa) will also be considered “dead” for the session.

After that point, all policy committees will conclude their work. The remaining bills must make their way through the Rules, Revenue, joint committees, or the full Ways and Means committee, and/or be voted on before “sine die” on March 10th. That is when the Session will be over, and the Governor will sign or veto the bills that passed.

I have been in the Capitol daily working to help pass legislation that supports private property rights, and amend or kill any bill that makes it harder for private property owners to utilize their land. Here is an update on the status of certain bills that may be of interest to private property owners:

Bills Still Alive:

SB 1537 – Governor Kotek’s omnibus housing bill. Requires local governments to approve certain adjustments to land use regulations for housing development within an urban growth boundary. Requires local governments to process certain applications relating to housing development as limited land use decisions. Develops alternative processes to amend urban growth boundaries to include land for affordable and moderate-income housing, etc. 

SB  1511 – Directs the State Fire Marshal to establish a neighborhood protection cooperative grant program. Directs the Department of Consumer and Business Services, the Department of the State Fire Marshal and the State Forestry Department to develop a plan and implementation timeline for establishing an insurance-related risk reduction certification program.

SB  1545 – Authorizes a county to allow a homestead rebuilt by the same owner on the same lot to replace the homestead destroyed by the September 2020 wildfires to have a specially assessed value equal to the destroyed homestead’s real market value for the 2020-2021 property tax year, to the extent of the square footage of the destroyed homestead.

SB 1564 – Requires DLCD to develop model ordinances or land use regulations for cities of different sizes to implement housing and urbanization requirements.

HB 4056 – Allows former owner, or their heirs or successors, to claim from the county any surplus from a property tax foreclosure. Establishes conditions and time limitations for making a claim. Requires county tax foreclosure notices to include information about claims.

HB 4058 – Creates a residential property wholesaler registration. Prohibits residential property wholesaling without registration, with exceptions. Punishes a violation by imprisonment, fine, and civil penalties. Requires written buyer’s representation agreement and written listing agreement. Requires real estate licensees to disclose shared compensation. Prohibits real estate licensees from entering into long-term agreements that require buyers or sellers to use their services in the future.

HB 4042 – Authorizes the Oregon Business Development Department to provide financial assistance to projects related to industrial land, etc.

HB 4063 – Requires Metro counties to plan for needed housing on urban unincorporated lands. Allows serial middle housing land partitions to be considered a single partition and extends the applicability of middle housing land divisions to townhouses. Requires the county assessor to accept a mortgage on real property as an application to have a manufactured structure recorded in the county’s deed records, etc.

Bills Now Dead:

HB 4046 – Allows an occupying homeowner outside of an urban growth boundary to site one additional family dwelling unit on the tract of the home.

SB 1559 – Modifies state greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. Replaces the term “global warming” with “climate change” in provisions related to the Oregon Climate Action Commission.

SB 1586 – Removes from state law an exception that allowed for residential property owners to engage in housing discrimination based on certain protected characteristics in certain circumstances.

If you have any questions about any of these bills, please send our team an email, and be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to get an update on what bills ultimately pass this Session.

The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not represent the opinions or positions of any party represented by the OPOA Legal Center on any particular matter.