Please speak up NOW to help us stop three bad rules bills targeting state rulemakings, agency discretion, and executive functions.
The three bills — HB 3569, HB 2692, and HB 2454 — follow the ongoing federal trend of blurring the lines between the three branches of government, and gives the regulated industry a leg up in rules. The bills will have an outsized impact on water, including the work of the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).
Please help protect our rivers and streams, and the agencies charged with protecting them, by urging lawmakers to oppose these misguided bills. With the 2025 legislative session nearing its end, things are moving so quickly we need you to speak up NOW.
All three bills are in different “decision points” in the legislative process, so comments must be submitted on the three individually. Here’s how:
- HB 3569: This requires agencies to invite the chief sponsor of a bill to serve on a rules advisory committee (RAC). HB 3569 will politicize the rulemaking process, grant undue influence, and stymie open and transparent discussion amongst RAC members. It is also unnecessary because existing law already includes the means to ensure rules comply with the scope and the intent of legislation, and existing process already allows legislators to be involved, including being able to speak at meetings to convey the intent of any bill. HB 3569 is not only unnecessary, but potentially counterproductive in achieving the stated goal behind it.
ACT NOW on HB 3569! This bill has made it through the House and will be up for a Senate Floor vote very soon, so please contact your Oregon Senator TODAY and tell them HB 3569 is a bad idea for the reasons we’ve noted above. Please make sure your opposition is in the email subject line as well. - HB 2692: This bill makes changes to rules processes and judicial review, and also gives industry and others in the regulated community an outsized role in agency rules advisory committees (RAC). Under HB 2692, a RAC must have as many members of the regulated community as there are from all other interests combined (agencies, tribes, conservation groups, public, etc.). The bill and its amendments also introduce new standards of judicial review, one of which would completely hamstring agencies like the OWRD when incorporating newly-learned science and data. HB 2692 gives a leg up to industry in agency rulemakings — and enshrines outdated agency practices as not changeable, without full rulemaking. This bill is currently in the House Rules Committee awaiting a work session.
ACT NOW on HB 2692! Please contact Representative Ben Bowman, the chair of the House Rules Committee, and urge him to oppose HB 2692 and not schedule it for a work session. Again, please make sure your opposition is noted in the subject line. - HB 2454: This bill creates and directs a Legislative Audit Officer to investigate, review the activities and actions of, and conduct oversight of executive branch agencies — and allows any citizen to “cause” the officer to investigate an agency. This could have a chilling effect on agencies, undermine the governor’s role as executive, and allow a platform for those who don’t like what the agency is doing to invite legislative interference. This bill has moved out of the House Rules Committee and is now in Ways and Means.
ACT NOW on HB 2454! Please contact Senator Kate Lieber and Representative Tawna Sanchez, the co-chairs of the full Ways and Means Committee, and urge them to oppose this bill and not schedule it for a work session. Be sure your opposition is noted in the subject line.
PLEASE ACT TODAY: As we’ve noted, all three of these bills will have an outsized effect on water. While our state agencies are finally moving water management into the 21st century, these dangerous rule bills will set things backwards if adopted. Help us protect balanced processes and the public voice by contacting your legislators today!