The COIN Legislative Team will, once again, be watching and participating in hearings, watching for bills that reflect the values of our members, and making recommendations for endorsement or opposition. 

Please scroll down on this page to see bills we are tracking, organized by categories. Note that some of the bills may be ENDORSED by COIN, others OPPOSED by COIN, and still others are being WATCHED by COIN, as amendments and further work on the bills continue. COIN volunteers won't be able to track all of the bills, but will focus on those that potentially have the most impact on the things our members value.  Also, watch closely for any ACTION ALERTS for bills. We'll post these when there are bills that need some help from COIN members - calling your state senator or rep, submitting testimony, or spreading the word on social media.  Submitting testimony is really important and it doesn't have to be difficult or scary. It can be as simple as a couple of sentences about why you support or oppose a bill. For some excellent tips on how to provide written or oral testimony on a bill, check out SOCAN's Testimony Tips.  

If you know of a bill you think COIN should be tracking, email us at COINLegTeam@gmail.com.  Here's a description of the process that COIN uses to endorse or oppose legislation. Here's a Blank Worksheet that COIN Legislative Team members use to research their bills.  If you are interested in helping track legislation with us, please sign up here.  the Blank Worksheet for using with your bills. 

To learn more about tracking legislation on the OLIS (Oregon Legislative Information System) website, check out this great  video by Cheryl Conway,  OLIS for Beginners, and also this great primer by Alan Journet, What's an OLIS?

You can also check out the legislation COIN endorsed and opposed in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Our volunteers are tracking a lot of bills on a variety of topics. Here's a list of the topics in order, so you can click on any of the following and jump to the topic of your choice, or you can scroll down through all of the bills in the sections below.

JUMP TO A TOPIC:

SJR 28 - The Right to a Healthy Environment    COIN is WATCHING this bill, pending endorsement. 

Senate Joint Resolution 28 is the product of the Oregon Coalition for an Environmental Rights Amendment (OCERA), a grassroots effort to amend the Oregon constitution to affirm that all Oregonians have a fundamental, enforceable right to  a healthy environment.  COIN is a founding member of OCERA, and members of COIN’s Climate, Energy and Environment Team have been active members from the beginning, so we will most likely be endorsing this bill as we go through our endorsement process. Over 30 grassroots organizations and hundreds of individuals are also active coalition members. The chief sponsors of SJR 28 are Senators Golden, Manning, and Prozanski, and Representatives Gamba, Anderson, and Tran. In addition, 7 Senators and 8 Representatives have joined as co-sponsors.  Here's a more thorough explanation of the resolution and why we need it. You can also learn more bout this effort on OCERA's website. 

LC 3563 - Oregon Climate Superfund Act    COIN is WATCHING this bill, pending endorsement.

The Oregon Climate Superfund Act, currently LC 3563, will be introduced by Senator Jeff Golden. It will hold fossil fuel companies responsible for some of the immense costs of pollution from greenhouse gas emissions they are responsible for. These companies will be required to use a portion of the profits they have received to pay for the repair and mitigation of some of the damages caused by the emissions and to support appropriate climate resilience efforts. State agencies will create resilience plans addressing specific impacts on  Oregon’s natural and human-built infrastructure. Payments into the fund will be assessed in proportion to a company’s share of greenhouse gas emissions over a historical period.  COIN will most likely be endorsing this bill as we go through our endorsement process.

SB 80 - Prohibition on large new or expanding factory farms in Oregon Groundwater Management Area.  COIN is WATCHING this bill, pending endorsement.

Large factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are linked to dangerous levels of nitrate in groundwater and surface waters in areas where they are located; large factory farms are also linked to devastating public health impacts such as cancers, blue baby, and respiratory illnesses. They undermine local economies, in particular small sustainable family farms and subject millions of animals to abject cruelty.  

Oregon's 11 mega dairies alone produced 4 billion pounds of waste in 2022,  ⅔ of what Oregon’s human population produced. The manure lagoons where waste is stored seeps into the groundwater and is basically dumped or applied on nearby fields as “fertilizer”, causing runoff into surface water like streams, rivers, lakes. This means nitrates and phosphorus in the groundwater and surface water; it fuels algae blooms which kill fish and cause dead zones. ON top of that, factory farms’ air emissions are not regulated, meaning methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, nitrous oxide, and harmful particulate matter, GHG, are emitted into the air unchecked.

Voluntary measures to control factory farm growth in groundwater management areas have not worked. Now there is a growing public health, economic, and environmental crisis in communities in GWMAs. It is an environmental justice issue.  COIN is a supporting member of Stand Up to Factory Farms; find more info here. 

Nuclear Energy Proposals:

SB 215 Repeals the 1980 Ballot Measure Law with voter referral.

SB216 Repeals the 1980 Ballot Measure Law without voter referral.

SB 635 Directs Oregon State University, original developer of NuScale's Small Modular Nuclear Reactor (SMNR) design,  to conduct a feasibility study on nuclear energy generation in Oregon.

HB 2038 Tells ODOE  to  study the advantages of nuclear  energy - but not the disadvantages - and  to give  a  report  on  its  findings.

HB 2410 Allows the Energy Facility Siting Council to issue a site certificate for a small modular reactor energy facility demonstration project in Umatilla County.

HB2426 is the House version of SB 215, above.

SJR30   This bill will make approval of Initiative Petitions more difficult. COIN is WATCHING this bill.

Proposes an amendment to the Oregon Constitution to require petition signatures for initiative laws to contain at least eight percent of the total votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the last general election at which a Governor was elected divided equally among the congressional districts of this state. Proposes an amendment to the Oregon Constitution to require petition signatures for initiative amendments to the Oregon Constitution to contain at least ten percent of the total votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the last general election at which a Governor was elected divided equally among the congressional districts of this state. 

HJR11  This bill is the House version as SB30.

SB 611 - Establishes the Food for All Oregonians Program to provide food for young people and seniors who would be eligible for SNAP benefits but for their immigration status. COIN is WATCHING this bill, pending endorsement.

COIN is a member of the Food for All Oregonians coalition. For more info, go here. 

SB 611   Food for All Oregonians         COIN is WATCHING this bill, pending endorsement.

Establishes the Food for All Oregonians Program in the Department of Human Services to provide food for persons under 26 years and over 55 years who would be eligible for SNAP benefits but for their immigration status. 

SB 611 Worksheet

COIN is a member of the Food for All Oregonians coalition. For more info, go here.