New state laws rolling out January 1 safeguard Oregonians’ rights as consumers and tenants, improve access to health care, and protect personal safety. Oregon House and Senate Democrats made these issues priorities in 2025, defending workers and families here, while at the national level the Trump administration has shredded health care programs, rewarded huge corporations, and brought violence to innocent communities.
“We began the legislative session in January as Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, a moment that only strengthened our commitment to defend Oregon values,” said Senate Majority Leader Kayse Jama (D – E Portland, Boring & Damascus). “The laws taking effect in 2026 show Oregon leaders stepping up for working families by protecting consumers, widening access to health care, and keeping people safe, even as the federal government prioritizes tax breaks for huge corporations and grows more hostile to everyday people.”
“Oregon families are being squeezed by rising costs, and these new laws will help people afford everything from rent to concert tickets to medical care,” said House Majority Leader Ben Bowman (D – Tigard, Metzger & South Beaverton). “Oregonians shouldn’t get stuck paying hidden costs just to live their lives.”
A comprehensive list of legislation passed in 2025 is available at bit.ly/2025-wins.
These are the highlights among bills becoming law January 1:
Protecting Consumers and Household Stability
House Bill 3167, the Fan Fairness and Transparency Act, requires ticket sellers to disclose all fees upfront; prohibits speculative ticketing, where resellers list tickets they do not actually own; and ensures clearer labeling so buyers understand when they are purchasing from a secondary marketplace.
Senate Bill 430 prohibits extra costs like “convenience charges” or “service fees” from being tacked on to online purchases without warning. Under this new law, anyone selling goods or services online to Oregonians must include required fees and charges in the price they advertise or display on a website. Taxes or actual costs to ship a product do not have to be included in the price figure, but the seller still must declare those costs to the purchaser.
Senate Bill 688 ties utility profits to performance metrics, allowing the public utility commission to require that investor-owned power companies meet certain performance targets if they want to raise rates. Those targets can include reducing costs, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and ensuring low-income Oregonians aren’t cut off from power.
House Bill 3865, the Telemarketing Modernization Act, expands the definition of “telephone solicitation” to include texting; prohibits solicitations after 7pm, and limits allowable solicitations to three times per day.
Senate Bill 426 holds developers and contractors accountable when construction workers serve on a project but don’t get paid. This new law allows workers to sue project owners and direct contractors for unpaid wages, whether the workers are direct employees or subcontractors. It allows civil action to recover wages, benefits, and penalties, while requiring subcontractors to provide payroll and worker information upon request. The provisions will help prevent wage theft and improve transparency in Oregon’s construction industry.
House Bill 3521 gives prospective tenants more protections for getting back a deposit they put in before signing a rental agreement. Beginning January 1., landlords have to return the deposit if the potential tenant finds serious problems that make the home not habitable. Those could be things like a leaky roof or window, inadequate heat, unsafe drinking water, accumulated trash, or nonworking locks.
House Bill 3378 requires landlords to give tenants options for safely locking and unlocking a rental home’s doors without relying solely on an app on the tenant’s own mobile phone. Beginning January 1, landlords will have to offer alternatives like an access code, fob, key card, or another physical key.
Improving Access to Health Care
Senate Bill 605 stops medical debt from going on your credit report. Beginning January 1, medical service providers—like hospitals and clinics—are prohibited from notifying consumer reporting agencies that you owe money for your care or how much. The reporting agencies also are banned from including in your report any amounts they know or should know are medical debts.
House Bill 3064 requires health plans regulated by the state to cover treatment of perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. The health plans include individual and family plans, small business plans, and plans overseen by the Oregon Educators Benefit Board (OEBB) and the Public Employees’ Benefit Board (PEBB). Beginning January 1., such plans must pay for services like hormone therapies, osteoporosis prevention and treatment, and hormone therapies.
Senate Bill 1137 requires health insurance plans to cover breast reconstruction surgery that uses a patient’s own tissue for reconstruction, instead of implants. The plans must pay for this form of breast reconstruction under the same or better terms and conditions they have for reconstruction procedures with implants.
Protecting Personal Safety
House Bill 2299 strengthens Oregon’s laws against non-consensual intimate image distribution. Beginning January 1, the definition of such images expands to include AI‑generated deepfakes. The bill creates first- and second‑degree offenses, elevating the crime to a felony for repeated violations and extending protections to all victims of intimate-image abuse.
Senate Bill 548 raises the state’s legal minimum age for marriage from 17 to 18 years old. Until now, 17-year-olds could officially marry in Oregon when they had one parent or guardian’s permission, and the young person’s own consent was not required. The previous policy had allowed more than 2,900 adult men to get Oregon marriage licenses with teenage girls between 2000 and 2021. Prior to Senate Bill 548, an adult’s sexual contact with a minor who is three or more years younger is a crime, but not if the two were married. Raising the minimum marriage age strengthens legal protections against sexual exploitation
Senate Bill 170 toughens penalties on people who commit workplace violence repeatedly. SB 170 makes assault in the fourth degree a more serious crime when the victim is assaulted while performing their job duties and the defendant has assaulted others while at work or because of a victim’s occupation. Aimed at deterring repeat violence against workers across professions, this law reinforces protections for employees in vulnerable roles and promotes safer working environments throughout Oregon.
