LOC News
Final Days of Session: A Status Update on the LOC’s Legislative Priorities
By law, the Oregon Legislature has until midnight on Sunday to conclude the 2025 session. They are likely to finish their work in the next 24-48 hours. While this summary provides an overview, please note that several pieces of legislation, which are part of the LOC’s nine legislative priorities for 2025-26, still need final votes in the chambers and Governor Kotek's signature.
On behalf of the entire LOC lobby team, we want to thank each and every city official who took the time to reach out to their legislators, provide them with input, and respond to our member alerts, including the latest one, which was sent out last evening. Your grassroots support has been essential in stopping legislation and passing other bills that are important to the LOC and your interests.
Stay tuned for a full session summary later this summer through our Legislative Bill Summary publication and a final Friday webinar recapping the 2025 session.
Here is a status update on the LOC’s 2025-26 legislative priorities:
1) Funding Infrastructure to Support Housing Development
HB 3031 – Housing Infrastructure (Awaiting Final Vote in Senate) - This bill establishes a new Housing Infrastructure program to fund water, sewer, stormwater, and transportation infrastructure linked to new housing development. The LOC supported the governor’s recommended budget level of $100 million, and the Legislature is on track to approve $10 million in this new program.
HB 5024 – Business Oregon Budget (Needs Governor’s Signature) - This bill includes infrastructure projects for municipalities to support housing development (SB 1530, 2024 and HB 4134, 2024). This money is a carryover, which means it was previously approved but has not yet been spent and was at risk of being swept by the state. Funding includes $77 million to support 44 individual housing projects in specific communities, as established by section 9 of SB1530 (2024).
HB 5006 – “Christmas Tree” Bill (Awaiting Votes in Both Chambers) - The bill includes infrastructure projects for named cities and is awaiting a final vote.
HB 5011 and SB 5505 – OHCS Budget (Needs Governor’s Signature) - The LOC advocated for Oregon Housing and Community Services' (OHCS) budget, which includes more than $650 million for housing development, encompassing homeownership and rental housing. SB 5505 is awaiting a vote in the House.
2) Transportation Package – HB2025B (Awaiting Votes in both Chambers) - We are expecting a framework that will likely outline the scope of the investment, including the projects to be funded, the scale of the tax increase, and the sources of revenue.
3) Recreational Immunity – SB 179 (Signed by Governor) - This bill establishes a permanent restoration of recreational immunity, providing cities with additional stability for park operations.
4) Behavioral Health Enhancements – HB 2005C (Awaiting House Approval) - The Legislature addressed long-standing deficiencies in Oregon’s civil commitment process this session. HB 2005A removes the requirement that a person be in imminent danger due to mental illness. Instead, it will allow people who are a danger to themselves and others in the foreseeable future to be vectored to behavioral health care by courts.
5) Lodging Tax Flexibility – HB 3962A (Failed to Advance in Senate) - The LOC is working to increase the flexibility to use locally administered and collected lodging tax revenue, which is currently preempted, to support other tourism-impacted services paid for out of a local government’s general fund. HB 3962A had many amendments but landed with changing the current 70/30 split to a 60/40 split in cities’ favor.
6) Shelter Funding and Homeless Response – HB 3644 (Needs Governor’s Signature) - The LOC advocated for a comprehensive funding framework for homeless response to support the needs of homeless shelters and response efforts statewide. The framework includes: baseline operational support for existing state-funded shelter beds; strengthened coordinated regional homeless response; and expanded state funding eligibility for safe park and tiny home sites that have previously not been eligible. HB 3644 passed and will be signed into law later this summer.
HB 5011 – Additionally, the LOC advocated for the necessary associated funding to support the state’s shelter system, which can be found in HB 5011. For the 2025-2027 biennium, $204 million was awarded to support sheltering efforts, and for the first time there is an indication of ongoing state-level funding for shelter efforts, with $104 million per biennium being set as the baseline through 2034.
7) Energy Affordability Challenges – SB 688 (Awaiting Vote in House) - The LOC advocated for the inclusion of performance-based regulations (PBR) as part of the Oregon Public Utility Commission’s (PUC) toolkit for evaluating energy rate increases. PBR’s incentivize performance, resiliency, and maintenance of the current grid, thus ensuring a focus on grid stability that is necessary to attract future economic opportunities for cities.
HB 3179 – Fair Energy Act (Needs Governor’s Signature) - The LOC advocated for the FAIR Energy Act after many cities brought concerns about recent energy rate increases through the LOC’s Energy and Environment policy committee. HB 3179 creates a process for the PUC to consider the economic impact of rate increases when deciding on general rate cases.
HB 3546 – The Power Act (Signed by Governor) - This legislation creates a process for investor-owned utilities (IOUs) similar to consumer-owned utilities (COUs) for separately classifying large energy producers like data centers. The bill will ensure that costs associated with the increased demand from these energy users are not passed on to residential utility customers.
8) Operator-In-Training Apprenticeships – HB 3634 (Failed to Advance) - This bill would have provided $3.5 million (initially $5.5 million) to increase and diversify the supply of skilled professionals for water and wastewater utilities. There is significant interest in this topic, and it was supported by the Legislative Water Caucus. The bill failed to receive funding from the Legislature’s Budget Committee.
9) Clarifying Time, Place, and Manner for Public Camping – SB 593 (Failed to Advance) - The LOC worked with city partners and other interests to craft legislation that would introduce additional clarity and provide cities with options for a safe harbor when addressing their homeless population. Despite our best efforts and significant grassroots advocacy, we were unable to convince legislative leadership and key committee chairs to schedule a hearing.
Contact: Jim McCauley, Legislative Director – jmccauley@orcities.org
Last Updated 6/27/25