On June 6, dozens of new laws passed during the 2024 legislative session with an effective date of “91 days after adjournment” went into effect. These new laws include significant efforts to help more Oregonians afford a home, prevent firearm suicides, modernize emergency medical services, grow the semiconductor workforce, reduce hunger and more.
“I’m very proud of the way the legislature came together and delivered real progress for the people of Oregon in 2024. The laws going into effect today take aim at some of the most difficult moments in Oregonians’ lives and make them easier,” said Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber (D – Beaverton & SW Portland).
“The legislature’s job is to make Oregon a better place to live, work, and raise a family. The laws going into effect today will put more house keys in the hands of working families, ensure more Oregonians won’t go hungry, make our communities safer, and more. I am grateful for my colleagues who made this possible and look forward to accomplishing more together in 2025,” said House Majority Leader Ben Bowman (D – Tigard, Metzger and S. Beaverton).
Highlights of the laws going into effect include:
Producing More Affordable Housing (Senate Bill 1537)
Introduced at the request of Governor Tina Kotek — this new law creates a new revolving loan fund to make interest-free loans to local governments to help finance production of affordable housing and moderate income housing projects. The fund is seeded with $75 million.
The law also grants qualifying cities a one-time expansion of their Urban Growth Boundaries. Cities under 25,000 people can expand by 50 acres, while cities over 25,000 people can expand by 100 acres. In the Metro area, the cap is 300 acres. Cities must display that they have done comprehensive planning and permitting before expansion and demonstrate need for both housing and land.
SB 1537 further establishes the Housing Accountability and Production Office to support local governments as they work to achieve their housing production goals.
Supporting First Time Homebuyers (Senate Bill 1527)
SB 1527 removes administrative barriers so that more Oregonians can access the First Time Home Buyer Savings Account Program, making it easier to take advantage of the personal income tax subtraction. This program allows low- and median-income Oregonians to use the money deposited into this account for costs associated with buying a home, such as down payments and other closing costs.
Preventing Firearm Suicides (Senate Bill 1503)
This new law creates the Community Safety and Firearm Suicide Prevention Task Force, a 17-member panel charged with developing recommendations for ways to reduce suicides by firearm and associated community safety risks. SB 1503 identifies several issues the task force will study, including:
- How to better support youth and rural Oregonians experiencing suicidal ideation
- Barriers to suicide prevention support
- Barriers to implementing best practices for community safety and suicide prevention
- How domestic violence is a risk factor for community safety threats and suicide
- Risks to first responders
Modernizing Oregon’s Emergency Medical Services (House Bill 4081)
This new law works to make sure Oregonians get the emergency medical care they need by:
- Establishing an EMS program to administer a statewide program and improve EMS standards.
- Creating a State EMS Director position to oversee this program.
- Forming an EMS Advisory Board to develop the program and provide advice and recommendations.
- Starting Regional Advisory Boards to develop plans to implement best practices, informed by local resources and capacity within hospital trauma regions.
Growing Oregon’s Semiconductor Workforce (House Bill 4154)
In a more recent report, the Semiconductor Workforce and Talent Assessment found that the semiconductor and related manufacturing industry employs nearly 31,000 workers, with an average annual wage that’s approximately two and a half times the average statewide wage. HB 4154 requires the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to create a statewide semiconductor industry consortium, establishes the Semiconductor Talent Sustaining Fund to build an education-industry pipeline, and promotes STEM in education.
Reducing Hunger, Ensuring Equal Access to Hot Food (Senate Bill 1585)
SB 1585 creates a task force to work to reduce hunger and ensure equal access to hot food for Oregonians who are elderly, experiencing homelessness, or have a disability and receive support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) via federal programs like the Restaurant Meals Program (RMP). The RMP is a federal option program that states can sign up for to allow SNAP participants to buy meals from restaurants that choose to opt-in to the program. Nine other states already participate in the RMP.
