Rep. John Lively

Maddy summarySCR 204 is a concurrent resolution honoring the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) on its 120th anniversary. It formally recognizes the AOC's historical role in representing Oregon's 36 counties and its contributions to state governance, including supporting county services like elections, public safety, infrastructure, and advocacy for policies like property tax systems and transportation funding. The resolution has no policy impact or funding changes - it is purely ceremonial, celebrating the AOC's work without creating new obligations.

Maddy summaryOregon's legislature is requesting Congress permanently extend federal tax relief for wildfire victims, which expired at the end of 2025. This follows Oregon's 2024 state law (SB 1520) that provided tax relief for wildfire recovery, but required federal companion relief to prevent liability settlements from being taxed. The memorial specifically urges Congress to make permanent the temporary federal tax cuts established by H.R. 5863 (Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2023). This applies to wildfire victims in Oregon who faced federal taxation on recovery funds after recent catastrophic fires.

[ Places a surcharge on sales of beverage containers for purposes of wildfire prevention and response. ] [ Directs insurance retaliatory tax revenue to wildfire prevention and response. ] [ Transfers one-half percent of General Fund appropriations per biennium to funds for wildfire prevention and response. ] [ Transfers 50 percent of the amount held in the Oregon Rainy Day Fund to funds for wildfire prevention and response. ] Imposes a tax on the distribution of oral nicotine products. Directs the revenues to purposes related to wildfire. Directs a portion of the interest from the Rainy Day Fund to purposes related to wildfire. Removes the end date for completion of certain wildfire risk reduction projects. Makes certain changes related to the forest products harvest tax, forest protection districts, minimum assessments and surcharges, the Emergency Fire Cost Committee, forestland acreage assessments, zones for fire protection in certain areas and rural fire protection districts. [ Authorizes certain transfers from the State Fire Marshal Mobilization Fund. Requires the Legislative Assembly to make moneys available to the State Forestry Department and the Department of the State Fire Marshal to repay loans from the State Treasurer for wildfire suppression costs. ] Directs the State Treasurer to transfer moneys between agencies when requested for certain wildfire costs. Appropriates moneys to a borrowing agency if the agency has insufficient available moneys to repay transferred amounts. Creates an offset against fire protection costs for certain forestland. Removes transfer and reporting requirements relating to the State Forestry Department Cash Flow Repayment Fund. Provides for a grant program for retrofitting of dwellings for wildfire resilience. Takes effect on the 91st day following adjournment sine die.

Requires, for each dwelling unit rented by a landlord for which the source of drinking water is an exempt well in a ground water quality management area, that the landlord collect and test samples of drinking water from the dwelling unit for arsenic, coliform bacteria, lead and nitrates. Requires the Oregon Health Authority to adopt implementation rules. Becomes operative on January 1, 2027.

] Requires the Legislative Policy and Research Director to conduct a study on statewide attendance initiatives. Directs the Department of Education to convene an advisory committee to review the study and to recommend for adoption by the State Board of Education a policy regarding the improvement of school attendance. [ Requires the department to make available to the public data provided to the department by school districts and public charter schools related to students who are regular attenders and students who are chronically absent. ] [ Directs the department to develop best practices related to student absences and to develop a common coding system for school districts to record and report student absences. ] [ Modifies requirements and allowed uses of grants awarded to school districts to implement a parent notification and early warning system. ] Declares an emergency, effective on passage.

Directs the Public Utility Commission to consider the cumulative economic impact of an electric or natural gas company's proposed residential rate or schedule of rates. Requires an electric or natural gas company to file an analysis of the cumulative economic impact on the company's residential rate payers if the company's return on equity is subject to review and modification. Authorizes the commission to adjust rates to mitigate an increase in residential customer rates if the increase would affect the ability of customers to maintain adequate utility services. Prohibits any increase in residential rates from taking effect from November 1 to March 31. Directs the commission to require an electric or natural gas company to establish a multiyear rate plan for certain rate revisions. Prohibits, until January 2, 2027, or the date the commission adopts rules regarding multiyear rate plans, certain rate increases from taking effect within 18 months from the date of the last rate increase. Authorizes a public utility, upon approval by the commission, to issue bonds and securitize debt for costs and expenses incurred or to be incurred by the public utility associated with certain capital investments, retiring a generation asset, environmental remediation or an event in which the availability of electricity or natural gas within a regional energy market is significantly constrained. Requires an electric or natural gas company to provide and make public a visual representation of cost categories included in the company's residential customer rates and a report on any rate adjustments the company expects within the next 12 months. Declares an emergency, effective on passage.

Limits the kind of port districts that are required to be involved in strategic investment program agreements with respect to eligible projects that are located in the port district's territory. Takes effect on the 91st day following adjournment sine die.

Modifies provisions of law related to compensation for student athletes enrolled in a post-secondary institution of education. Declares an emergency, effective on passage.

] Directs the State Board of Education to ensure that [ academic content standards for core subjects include sufficient instruction on the causes and effects of climate change and strategies for responding to such causes and effects ] any revisions to the academic content standards for certain core subjects include standards that address the causes and effects of climate change and strategies for mitigating, adapting to and strengthening community resilience to those causes and effects . Applies to academic content standards that are reviewed and revised on or after the effective date of the Act.

[ Instructs the State Fish and Wildlife Commission to adopt rules that prohibit ] Prohibits a person from taking a beaver on waters or watersheds that are classified in a certain manner or on public land that is within the watersheds or within 200 feet of the ordinary high water mark of the waters. [ Creates an ] Provides exceptions, including an exception for employees of federal and state land management agencies.