The Bill Graveyard

The 2025 legislative session in Oregon saw an unprecedented number of bills introduced. Unfortunately, many good bills didn’t make it across the finish line, and some of the worst bills made it farther than they should have, taking up valuable committee hearing time that could have been used to pass meaningful legislation.

Good Bills that Died

SB 88 Get the Junk Out of Rates. This bill would have limited the ability of utilities to charge ratepayers (as opposed to shareholders) for lobbying, litigation costs, fines, marketing, industry fees, and political spending.

HB 3081 One Stop Shop 2.0. This bill would have created a navigation program at ODOE to actively help Oregonians access federal, state, local, and utility energy efficiency incentives all in one place.

SB 1153 Safeguarding Streamflows. This bill would have modernizedOregon’s water transfer laws to ensure water is managed sustainably and equitably to protect ecosystems, communities, and future water needs.

1187 (2025) & SB 1541 (2026) Climate Resilience Superfund. This bill is an innovative policy that would have held the largest fossil fuel polluters responsible for the climate harms they’ve caused and made investments in resiliency, mitigating climate disasters, and other community benefits for the most vulnerable Oregonians, all without raising taxes.

Special Focus HB 2980 The Wildlife Stewardship Program. The Wildlife Stewardship Program would have supported wildlife coexistence between humans and wildlife which are increasingly impacted by habitat loss from climate change.

HB 2977 1% for Wildlife. This bill would have supported Oregon's struggling fish and wildlife which are experiencing an extinction crisis by increasing the statewide transient lodging tax

HB 3062 Healthy Communities Act. This bill would have combined technical and community input to identify land use conflicts and potential public health impacts on hospitals, care facilities, and schools from nearby industrial uses.

HB 3143 Landowners Living With Beavers Bill. This bill would have provided funding that supports beaver coexistence strategies for private landowners.

HB 3477 Climate Target Modernization Bill. This bill would have added new goals for achieving net zero emissions by no later than 2050 and updated Oregon’s greenhouse gas reduction targets to reflect the best available science.

HB 3580 Eelgrass Action Bill. This bill would create a task force to recommend eelgrass conservation targets for the state and address gaps and barriers to increased protection.

HB 3587 Rocky Habitat Stewardship Bill. This bill would have moved the Rocky Habitat Management Strategy forward by providing vital agency support and establishing small grants programs for coastal communities.

HB 3628 Transmission Authority. This bill would have established the Oregon Electric Transmission Authority to address gaps in Oregon's grid and advance solutions.

SB 1187 Superfund Bill. This bill would have made polluters pay to create a climate superfund to clean up pollution.

SB 1542 Measure What We Drive. This bill would have increased transparency, accountability, and climate alignment in Oregon’s transportation spending, ensuring investments to support cleaner, community-centered mobility.

SB 1543 Guardrails for Good Governance. This bill would have established a transportation debt management policy for transparent, financially responsible ODOT decisions, and reform the Transportation Commission to improve representation, participation, and accountability.

SB 1582 Community-Based Power. This bill would have expanded community-powered clean energy by building out virtual power plants, cutting costs for families and improving grid resilience.

SB 1588 Upgrade and Save. This bill would have helped families make their homes healthier, safer, and more energy-efficient, lowering utility bills while boosting local contracting jobs.

SB 4080 Balcony Solar or Plug-in Solar. This bill would have allowed more Oregonians, including renters, to power their homes with affordable, portable solar devices to expand clean energy access.

SB 1526 FORGE: Fund for Oregon's Resilience, Growth, and Energy. This bill would have created a revolving loan fund and other financing tools to support affordable, long-term investment in clean energy and resilience projects in Oregon, leveraging outside funding sources to expand access without new state costs.

Bad Bills that Died

HB 2403 Predator Districts Bill. This bill would have allowed predator damage control districts to fund the killing of Oregon’s wildlife without the consideration of non-lethal methods.

HB 3119 ACT Rollback. This bill would have prohibited DEQ from implementing the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule until 2027.

3103-5(2025) & HB 4105 (2026) Minimum Logging Level Bills . Both HB 3103-5 (2025) and HB 4105 (2026) would have required a minimum logging level for state forest land and would have added a new legal right to sue regarding the logging level. However, HB 4105 limited who could sue to " "any individuals or entity entitled to the receipt of revenues derived from state forestland” (i.e., timber operators and counties that receive funds from logging on state forest lands) which raised equal protection concerns. 

HB 4006 Water Law Exemptions for Select Irrigators. This bill would have exempted select irrigators from Oregon’s permit amendment and transfer laws, fundamentally changing Columbia River water right management and setting a dangerous statewide precedent.

HB 4049 Weakened Groundwater Protections in Harney Basin. This bill would have reduced state oversight and worsened groundwater depletion, harming ecosystems, rural communities, and other water users.

SB 1586 Hillsboro UGB Expansion. SB 1586 would have rezoned prime farmland in Washington County for industrial use, threatening farms and local communities while offering costly corporate tax breaks, bypassing stakeholder process, increasing taxpayer-funded infrastructure costs, and driving sprawl that undermines Oregon’s long-standing land use protections.

Bill of Concern HB 3858 Sprawl Across Farm and Forest Lands. Would allow an unknown number of units of land across the landscape to be developed with housing, causing negative conflicts with farming, forestry, and wildlife habitat and migration corridors.

Bill of Concern SB 1034 New Barriers to Clean Energy Development. This bill would have prevented the Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) from siting large energy projects if the Council finds a project does not follow local land use rules-- even if those rules conflict with statewide land use goals.

Bill of Concern SB 216 Nuclear Waste Repository Requirement Repeal. This bill would have repealed the law that requires there to be a place for radioactive waste to be disposed of before a nuclear power plant may be sited in Oregon.

Bill of Concern SB 1584 Salmon Credit Bill. This bill would have created a land and waterway mitigation credit program allowing developers to offset damage to salmon habitat in one location by funding restoration elsewhere, raising concerns about weaker protections, added complexity, and duplication of existing programs.

Bill of Concern SB 4073 Agency Rulemaking Bill. This bill would have complicated agency rulemakings and made Rulemaking Advisory Committees (RACs) inequitable.