Please see Climate Emergency Overview here.

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Many Climate Emergency priority policy and or funding bills the league supports are expected to move to JWM or the floor. The deadline for posting work sessions for most first chamber policy committees was Monday Feb 16, find details below. (note: bills in any joint, rules or revenue committees have no deadlines) 

Climate Priority Bills

The League may have testimony and/or join coalition letters.

• SB 1541A  Make Polluters Pay (MPP), new SMS, Senate Energy and Environment, PH 2/5 and work session 2/10, -2 amendment, moved to Joint Ways and Means (JWM). LWVOR submitted testimony.  Creates the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program to assess financial impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and recover costs from responsible entities. Multiple state agencies are involved including, Department of Land Conservation and Development, Department of Environmental Quality, Oregon Health Authority, and Land Conservation and Developmet Commission. The oversight body is Environmental Quality Commission (EQC).  The League has joined the Make Polluters Pay Campaign. This climate legislation is a national effort covered today by the New York Times, reporting that a number of other states are in the process of passing and/or implementing.

• SB 1526A, new SMS, Fund for Oregon Resilience, Growth, and Energy, work session was 2/9, Senate Energy and Environment (SEE) moved the bill to JWM, League testimony. Creates financing tools, including a revolving loan fund, to provide more affordable, accessible long-term financing for clean energy and resilience infrastructure projects in Oregon. This is modeled on a number of other states’ legislation, some as "green" banking nonprofits.

• SB 1582, Community-Based Power: Distributed Power Plants, SEE possible work session 2/16. Distributed power plants (DPPs) bring together customer resources like rooftop solar, battery systems, and smart thermostats to help maximize grid efficiency by using energy sources already connected to the grid to balance grid loads. This bill requires each investor-owned utility to develop a DPP program and file it with the PUC, which would adopt annual procurement targets for DPP grid services, along with annual performance incentives for the utilities to achieve those targets.

• HB 4046-2, Nuclear Study Bill, House Climate, Energy, and Environment (HCEE), work session 2/12, moved to JWM unanimously as amended. New SMS, directs the Oregon Department of Energy, subject to the availability of funding, to conduct a study on nuclear energy, including advanced nuclear reactors. The -2 amendment, a substantial rewrite of the original bill negotiated with opponents, seemed to satisfy committee members that the study could be unbiased as to nuclear energy issues. 

• HB 4031A: new SMS, first reading in Senate 2/16, House passed on 2/12. Exempts a renewable energy facility from needing a site certificate from the Energy Facility Siting Council if the facility qualifies for certain federal renewable energy tax credits and construction is scheduled to begin on or before December 31, 2028.

• HB 1597 SEE PH 2/4 , possible WKS  2/16. A number of amendments will be considered. Makes a power provider disclose the costs to store the waste made from making any electric power. SMS

Senate Energy and Environment  2/11

The meeting started 15 minutes late with Sen. Sollman announcing that the scheduled work sessions for SB 1582 (Virtual Power Plant programs), SB 1588 (Upgrade and Save) and SB 1597 (nuclear waste storage costs) were carried over to Mon. 2/16, the final day for 1st chamber passage. Instead, attendees were treated to an informational meeting on the nuclear energy study bill HB 4046.

Other bills we are following:

Work sessions:

• HB 4029 - Requires a solar energy contractor or person that installs a solar energy system to have a license appropriate for the scope of work the solar energy contractor or person will perform. (Carried over from 2/5)

• HB 4144 - Requires producers of batteries or battery-containing products to join a battery producer responsibility organization and implement a battery producer responsibility program for the collection and recycling of batteries.

• HB 4080 - Allows a retail electricity consumer to install and use portable solar photovoltaic energy devices with up to a total maximum generating capacity of 1,200 watts. 

• HJM 201 - Urges Congress to pass legislation to permanently extend federal tax cuts for wildfire victims. 

Public hearings:

• HB 4077 - Authorizes a public utility, upon approval by PUC, to issue bonds and securitize debt for costs and expenses incurred or to be incurred by the public utility associated with a self-insurance or captive insurance program. (Carried over from 2/5)

• HB 4046 - Directs ODOE, subject to the availability of funding, to conduct a study on nuclear energy, including advanced nuclear reactors. 

News

Other states follow Oregon’s lead in targeting data centers’ energy costs | OregonLive

Oregon Treasury & Oregon Divest 

New 2025 Treasury : Climate-Positive Investing : Invested for Oregon

Report Tracking Net zero climate positive investment strategies .

Oregon pension shows climate progress, private markets drive emissions | Private Equity Stakeholder Project.org

Oregon State Treasury should engage or divest from companies fueling a new era of resource conflicts. (Divest Oregon . ORG)

Climate Lawsuits/Our Children’s Trust

There are a number of active federal lawsuits. Columbia University Law ( CUL) Climate Litigation Jan 30 Updates . Another source: CLU  - Sabin Climate DB lists 97 lawsuits, (active and dismissed) mentioning Oregon.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:  What is your passion related to Climate Emergency ?  You can help. Volunteers are needed.  The short legislative session begins in January of 2026. Many State Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly year-round and need monitoring.  If any area of climate or natural resources is of interest to you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, or Claudia Keith Climate Emergency at peggylynchor@gmail.com Or climatepolicy@lwvor.org.  Training will be offered.

· Natural and Working lands, specifically Agriculture

· Transportation and ODOT state agency

· Climate Related Lawsuits/Our Children’s TrustDA

· Public Health Climate Adaptation (OHA)

· Regional Solutions / Infrastructure (with NR team)

· State Procurement Practices (DAS: Dept. of Admin. Services)

· CE Portfolio State Agency and Commission Budgets

· Oregon Treasury: ESG investing/Fossil Fuel divestment

Interested in reading additional reports? Please see our Governance, Revenue, Natural Resources, and Social Policy report section