1. LOC Home
2. Advocacy: Legislative Advocacy
3. Legislative Priorities

2025-26 Legislative Priorities

2025-2026 Legislative Priorities Approved by LOC Board of Directors

Updated April 2026

The LOC adopts legislative priorities for two years at the beginning of an odd numbered year. The following represent the top priorities the LOC is working to advance through the end of 2026 and their respective outcomes at the conclusion of the 2026 legislative session.

1)    Community Infrastructure and Housing Development Funding - priority advanced

HB 5204 (2026) funded Governor Tina Kotek’s priority Regional Infrastructure Fund for $10 million cities with populations under 25,000 and $38 million in direct infrastructure funding. The LOC supported this effort.

HB 5011 (2025) reflects Oregon Housing and Community Service’s budget, which includes more than $880 million for housing development. Those funds are being made available to eligible developers now via OHCS development programs.

2)    2025 Transportation Package - priority stalled

The 2025 transportation package passed during a special session after failing to pass during the 2025 regular session. The majority of revenue increases that were part of that package have been referred to voters and a referendum is included on the May ballot. The LOC will re-evaluate this as a priority ahead of the 2027 session, where legislators will try again.

3)    Recreational Immunity - priority advanced

SB 179 (2025) passed, extending temporary recreational immunity provisions established during the 2024 session. SB 1593 (2026) would have established a permanent restoration and improvement of recreational liability waivers, but the bill did not advance. A similar measure, SB 1517 (2026) was amended with palatable recreational liability waiver provisions and passed.

4)    Behavioral Health Enhancements - priority advanced

The League supported efforts in the 2025 session to support behavioral health services and the workforce and engaged in conversations related to HB 2005 (2025) that modified civil commitment requirements. During the 2026 session, the LOC worked to protect investments in Oregon’s behavioral system made in previous session during the current budget environment.

5)    Lodging Tax Flexibility - priority advanced

The League was successful in its advocacy efforts to give cities more flexibility in the use of their transient lodging taxes with the passed of HB 4148 (2026). Under this bill, cities with a TLT passed after 2003 will be able to use half of that revenue for city services with the remainder going to tourism promotion.  

6)    Shelter Funding and Homeless Response - priority advanced

HB 3644 (2025) created the Statewide Shelter Program and includes baseline operational support for existing state funded shelter beds, strengthens coordinated regional homeless response, and expands eligibility for state dollars to safe park and tiny home sites that have previously not been eligible. In addition, HB 5011 (2025) included $204M for the Statewide Shelter Program for its first biennium, with $104M for the following biennium through 2030.

7)    Address Energy Affordability Challenges from Rising Utility Costs - priority advanced

The LOC is seeking to advance legislation to quell rising energy costs, usher in new energy transmission, and increase grid resilience. The 2026 session provided an opportunity to support two pieces of legislation, HB 4076 and HB 4031 which reduced the regulatory burden in siting renewable energy generation projects. The League is also actively working with the Oregon Public Utilities Commission to implement HB 2065 (2025) and HB 2066 (2025), legislation passed in 2025 establishing a statutory framework for microgrid technology

8)    Operator-In-Training Apprenticeships - priority did not advance

The LOC advocated for HB 3634 (2025), which would have provided $3.5 million to increase and diversify the supply of skilled professionals for water and wastewater utilities. The bill did not advance.

The LOC continues to advocate for water professionals training. The Legislative Water Caucus along with other key stakeholders passed HB 4005 (2026) which created a Water Professionals Appreciation Week. For additional information on our advocacy, see this white paper.

9)    Clarifying Time, Place and Manner for Public Camping - priority did not advance

Prior to the 2026 Session, the LOC Board voted to change the LOC position from support repeal or modification of the existing time, place, manner to statute to neutral on full repeal. The LOC board identified key modifications to the statute and directed LOC staff to engage in legislative conversations that support clarity and legal surety for cities, including addressing liability concerns. No bill to modify or repeal the statute received action during the 2026 Session.

It’s important to understand that in addition to the top nine issues above, the remaining legislative recommendations brought forward by the LOC policy committees remain part of the overall focused advocacy efforts. We also use the LOC’s Municipal Policy and Organizational priorities to evaluate all legislation. 

Contact: Nicole Stingh, Legislative Director - nstingh@orcities.org

 

 

 

Get Involved - Join the LOC's Advocacy Efforts in 2026!

As we enter the 2026 session, member grassroots advocacy will remain a key factor in the LOC’s ability to achieve our top legislative priorities and protect our members from continued efforts to reduce “Home Rule” authority. The LOC lobby team will reach out throughout the session and in the interim to ensure we can expand our reach with every state elected official. Those local-state relationships in your communities are critical to the overall outcome of the legislative process.

Stay tuned during the session for weekly legislative reports and calls to action, and tune into the weekly Legislative Update Webinars every Friday at noon through the session.

Your lobby team is up to the challenge, and I’m confident every member city is as well. Join us in our efforts to represent your local community’s interests.

Contact: Nicole Stingh, Legislative Director - nstingh@orcities.org

LOC Organizational Priority

In addition to adopting legislative priorities for 2025-26, the LOC Board has adopted an overarching organizational priority that will be a focus for grassroots advocacy between cities and their respective legislators, and for the LOC’s advocacy team to use as a key message with legislative leadership and the governor’s office.

The purpose of this organizational priority is to make it clear to the state that cities play an integral role in providing critical core services to our citizens but are being asked to do more with fewer resources. In past legislative sessions, the LOC has seen unfunded mandates, attacks on local revenues and preemption of local control. Many cities are facing significant budget challenges that have been intensified by recent events, but the need for critical core service delivery remains and is even more important due to these unprecedented times. The LOC is urging the state to partner with us, and more importantly, to avoid legislation that could further restrict a city’s ability to meet core service delivery and address the challenges of city budgets.

The LOC’s Intergovernmental Relations team will be communicating the following specific principles below as part of this organizational priority.

Reform Oregon’s Property Tax System.  The LOC Board added this organizational priority to elevate it as a priority for organizational change. The current system based on Measures 5 and 50, which were adopted by voters in the 1990s, is inequitable to property owners and jurisdictions alike; is often inadequate to allow jurisdictions to provide critical services; removes meaningful local choice; and is incomprehensible to most taxpayers. Reform has been a longstanding priority for cities, and the LOC will continue to advocate for constitutional and statutory reforms to enhance local choice, equity, fairness and adequacy.

Avoid Unfunded Mandates. As a result of recent and past legislative action, cities have been inundated with mandates that require additional resources to implement new programs or work without the necessary funding to support these new programs and workload. This shifts resources away from important core service delivery.

Preserve Local Decision-making and Problem-solving Authority. Local control and decision-making remain a core function of local government and must be preserved to most effectively address challenges that Oregonians face. What works in one city may not work in another. While cities often experience similar overall challenges, the factors that drive those challenges are often unique and, as a result, solutions need to be tailored to address the unique aspects of each community.

Preserve Local Revenue Streams. Only a few tools are available for cities when it comes to funding essential, local services. It’s critical that cities remain in control of finite revenues from state shared revenues, franchise/right-of-way fees, lodging taxes, system development charges, rate revenues and property taxes. These revenue streams should be preserved at all costs. Cuts or limitations to these revenue resources represent cuts to the core services that our citizens rely on and expect.

Serve in a Supportive Role to Provide Local Tools and Resources. We ask the state to partner with us to recognize the budget realities and constraints of local governments, and to work with us to identify opportunities for targeted investments and tools to address needs at the local level. The cost of providing services has increased and revenues have not kept pace.

Avoid Shifting Additional Costs to Local Government Partners. Decreased general fund and lottery revenues could result in further shifting of state programmatic costs onto local governments. This includes programmatic and agency funding that currently relies on a split of general fund and fees that may be paid by local governments. Any increase in fees to support state programs should be accompanied by an equitable increase in general fund investment. Increased costs to local governments mean increased costs for our citizens, or further cuts to the services they rely on.