2025-26 Legislative Priorities
2025-2026 Legislative Priorities Approved by LOC Board of Directors
Updated February 2026
As part of the legislative priorities, the LOC Board added one additional priority in response U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Johnson v. Grants Pass. This issue was not part of the original ballot because there was no decision from the court at the time ballots were created. The LOC Board of Directors reviewed options to address this issue during its October 16 meeting, and passed a resolution represented in Legislative Priority #9 below.
The following represent the top priorities the LOC will advance over the next two years. It’s important to understand that in addition to the top nine issues below, the remaining legislative recommendations brought forward by the seven policy committees remain part of the overall focused advocacy effort from the LOC’s lobby team. We also use the LOC’s Municipal Policy and Organizational priorities to evaluate all legislation. Listed below each priority description are the primary LOC contacts for each:
1) Community Infrastructure and Housing Development Funding
HB 3031 (Passed) – Governor Kotek’s priority infrastructure created the Housing Infrastructure Financing Program and provided $10 million in funding. The program provides grants, loans, and forgivable loans for transportation, water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure tied to specific housing developments. Program rules went into effect on February 1st – see Business Oregon website for more details. The LOC supports the governor’s recommended budget level of $100 million. For more details, see this white paper.
HB 5011 – 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.
Michael Martin – mmartin@orcities.org
Alexandra Ring – aring@orcities.org
2) 2025 Transportation Package
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. The LOC will re-evaluate this as a priority ahead of the 2027 session, where legislators will try again.
Nicole Stingh – nstingh@orcities.org
3) Recreational Immunity
SB 179 - Legislation establishing a permanent restoration of recreational immunity has passed the Senate unanimously and is now headed to the House for additional consideration. For additional information on recreational immunity see this white paper.
Scott Winkels – swinkels@orcities.org
4) Behavioral Health Enhancements
HB 3051 - The LOC will attempt to protect investments in Oregon’s behavioral system made in previous session during the current budget environment.
Scott Winkels – swinkels@orcities.org
5) Lodging Tax Flexibility
HB 3556 - The LOC aims to increase the flexibility to use locally administered and collected lodging tax revenue currently preempted to support tourism-impacted services. For more details, see this white paper.
Scott Winkels – swinkels@orcities.org
6) Shelter Funding and Homeless Response
HB 3644 - This bill 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.
HB 5011 - Included $204M for the Statewide Shelter Program for its first biennium, with $104 for the following biennium through 2030.
For additional information on LOC’s homeless advocacy see this white paper.
Alexandra Ring – aring@orcities.org
7) Address Energy Affordability Challenges from Rising Utility Costs
The LOC is seeking to advance legislation to quell rising energy costs, usher in new energy transmission, and increase grid resilience. See the LOC Bulletin article from March 21, which goes into greater detail related to current legislative proposals. For additional information on LOC’s advocacy, see this white paper.
Greg Miller – gmiller@orcities.org
8) Operator-In-Training Apprenticeships
HB 3634 (2025)- This legislation would have provided $3.5 million to increase and diversify the supply of skilled professionals for water and wastewater utilities. The bill didn’t pass out of Ways & Means Committee during the 2025 Legislative Session. The LOC continues to advocate for water professionals training. The Legislative Water Caucus along with other key stakeholders are pushing HB 4005 which will create a Water Professionals Appreciation Week. For additional information on our advocacy, see this white paper.
Michael Martin – mmartin@orcities.org
9) Clarifying Time, Place and Manner for Public Camping
SB 593 - The LOC worked with city partners and other interests to craft legislation that would introduce additional clarity and provide cities with options for safe harbor when addressing their homeless population. The bill did not move forward. Post-session, we evaluated the approach and continue to watch the conversation closely with an eye towards reducing liability and increasing clarity, while balancing cities’ differing stances on the existing statute. For additional details on LOC’s advocacy, see this white paper.
Alexandra Ring – aring@orcities.org
Scott Winkels – swinkels@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.
Past Priorities
Other Legislative Priorities
Oregon Municipal Policy (OMP) - The OMP is one of the LOC's foundational documents and describes policy stances adopted by the League's membership.