That's a wrap!
The 2023 long session in the Oregon Legislature was 160 days long and wrapped up on June 25th, 2023. The next session is a short session that will run from February 5th, 2024 - March 10th, 2024.
Advancing a healthy, resilient future in Central Oregon requires change at both the individual and governance levels. This past session, we had the opportunity to engage in the discourse of a lot of of impactful bills.
In each of the focus areas below, you can see which bills we focussed our time on.
2023 Focus Areas
Energy in Buildings: Healthier, more efficient and resilient buildings
Across the country, buildings account for 40% of the energy we use. Saving energy (and then producing the rest with renewables) saves individuals and businesses money, creates jobs, and makes our buildings healthier for their occupants. Energy efficiency is one of our greatest resources.
This past year, our Climate and Transportation Policy Manager, Neil Baunsgard, was part of the Resilient Efficient Building (REbuilding) Task Force that was tasked with delivering big ideas to decarbonize out built environment with sound policy concepts. The outcome of that work is the Building Resilience package that is comprised of four separate bills.
Building Resilience Fact Sheet. For more info on these bills, see contact info at the bottom of the Fact Sheet.
HB 868 alligns energy efficiency programs with state climate goals & support rapid deployment of heat pumps and weatherization/retrofit $!
Heat pumps are the most efficient heating and cooling technology available. Coupled with heat pump hot water heaters and weatherization, installing these efficient appliances can cut energy waste and household energy bills significantly. Strengthening our state’s energy-efficiency programs for existing homes and buildings, and streamlining efforts to distribute heat pumps to the communities that need them most will be critical to leveraging unprecedented federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes billions of dollars in incentives and rebates for households to install efficient, all-electric appliances.
SB 869 improves building code for new construction – more efficient, resilient, with less climate pollution (including from embodied carbon).
New homes and buildings must be prepared to protect us from the climate crisis and help us save on energy bills. Our communities are growing rapidly and housing is in high demand. Constructing clean, efficient, resilient
buildings will be a continuous need and a big job creator. Approximately a third of buildings that will exist in Oregon in 2050 have yet to be built, and most last for 50-100 years. Improving our state’s base building code can ensure that new construction and major renovations reduce both climate footprint of materials and operational energy waste. This will save families and businesses money on utility bills while maximizing benefits for low-income communities, renters, rural and BIPOC communities.
SB 870 improves the energy efficiency of existing large commercial buildings over time – huge climate pollution reduction potential!
Cutting energy waste from some of our state’s largest and most energy-intensive buildings can lower energy bills and significantly cut air and climate pollution. A Building Performance Standard for existing buildings would establish specific performance levels that buildings must achieve over time, and can be designed to target improvements in a variety of building aspects, including energy use, water use, and emissions.
SB 871 State buildings have a big role to play in helping drive efficiency and climate action statewide – while improving air quality – including in schools!
State and local governments have an important role to play in the transition to healthy, resilient buildings powered by clean energy, and can lead by example by adopting policies to improve the energy efficiency of and reduce pollution from state-owned and publicly- financed buildings. This is especially important when it comes to improving air quality and reducing energy costs in public schools.
HB 3166 requires OR Dept of Energy, in consultation with Housing and Community Services Department, to establish whole-home energy savings program and high-efficiency electric home rebate program. Also creates single resource that provides information and technical assistance to interested persons on available energy efficiency incentives and programs by coordinating information and data exchanges between entities.
Waste Policies: Reducing waste from upstream to downstream
Why do we advocate for waste reduction? Materials like plastic and electronics create environmental, social, and economic issues from production, to use, to disposal. We must enact policies and build systems that support responsible practices and set our communities up for success to reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, and compost.
2023 Legislative Session Successes!
Two of our priority bills passed and were signed into law in May.
Senate Bill 543 will phase out polystyrene foam foodware, packing peanuts and coolers and prohibit the use of PFAS, the toxic substances nicknamed “forever chemicals” because of their longevity, in food packaging starting January 1, 2025.
Senate Bill 545 instructs the Oregon Health Authority to update the state’s health code to make it easier for restaurants to provide reusable container options, no later than June 30, 2024.
More details on all our priority waste bills from the 2023 Legislative Session below...
Written Testimony in Support of SB 543, 544, and 545 from The Environmental Center.
Fact Sheet with information on SB 543, 544, and 544.
If you can’t repair your own things, do you really own them? In a time of planned obsolescence where stuff is made to be broken, this bill will empower repair rather than disposal by requiring manufacturers to provide us with the tools and manuals we need to fix our broken things. We support repair because it:
- reduces environmental damage by decreasing toxic electronic waste (eWaste);
- increases access to affordable technology; and
- supports small businesses and the local economy.
Fact Sheet from Right to Repair Coalition
Written Testimony in Support by The Environmental Center
Prohibits the use of polystyrene foam foodware including bowls, plates, cups, lids, clamshells, or other containers and prohibit the sale of polystyrene foam packing peanuts and coolers by January 1, 2025. The bill would also prohibit the use of toxic forever chemicals in foodware containers.
Written Testimony in Support by Beyond Toxics
Requites producers to reduce the amount of single-use plastic packaging and foodware by 25% by 2030 and move to reusable and refillable packaging.
Updates our health code to enable customers to bring reusable and refillable containers for food.
Transportation: Accelerate electric and people-powered mobility
Transportation accounts for 40% of our community’s carbon emissions. Our goal is to reduce vehicles miles traveled and then electrify the rest.
Our vision is a transportation system that moves people and goods safely and efficiently, and that meets the needs of all users, whether they walk, bike, take the bus, or drive. Safety is especially important for walkers and bikers — people won’t get out of their cars if they don’t feel safe. Walking and biking are also good for our health and they reduce car trips on our streets and highways, resulting in less congestion and carbon emissions.
Directs DEQ to create a rebate program for e-bikes.
HB 2613 Provides adequate funding to sustain state EV incentives, especially the Charge Ahead program which provides additional incentives for income-qualified households.
Energy Supply: Transition to clean and resilient energy
If we are going to become a fossil free and low carbon community, we need to transition to renewable and resilient energy sources.
HB 2816 requites data centers and cryptocurrency operations are a large and growing energy consumer in Oregon. We need to ensure these facilities are included in the state’s clean energy transition. HB 2816 sets similar targets to HB 2021, Oregon’s groundbreaking clean energy legislation, and creates parity between high energy use facilities included in HB 2021 and those outside of it.
HB 33778 requires Public Utility Commission, in consultation with OR Dept of Energy, to study development and adoption of microgrid systems and use of microgrid systems for increasing electric grid and energy resilience and report on those findings by Sept 2024.
Make Your Voice Heard in the State Capitol 101
Learn about our priorities that will help us decarbonize our community during the 2023 legislative session in Oregon. This event will include training on how to write an effective testimony or letter to legislators, give you time to write and workshop, and ask questions of our expert coalition partners. All written testimony can be submitted for public hearings in the following days and weeks! You can help us get these bills over the finish line!
Get Involved!
There are many ways to get involved in the 2023 legislative session. And luckily, many helpful resources already exist.
1. Sign up for for our e-news for timely action alerts.
We send our regular e-newsletter, Living the Green, every two weeks. We will include updates on important policies, and helpful instructions on how to get involved and when.
2. Learn more about bills and sign up for email updates through Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS).
- Here’s a tutorial on how to find info through OLIS.
- Sign up for bill alerts and updates through OLIS.
3. Tell your elected officials what is important to you.
- Find your State Senators and Representatives by clicking on a geographic area in the map or typing in your address.
- Write a letter or email to your elected official. Be sure to include which bills you are interested in and be specific that you want them to support those bills.
- Submit testimony.
- How to submit written testimony.
- Here’s an example: A few written testimonies we’ve submitted.
- How to testify live.
- How to submit written testimony.
4. Talk about these things with friends and family.
Individual action is most impactful when you share and communicate with those around you. It keeps issues like climate change relevant and top-of-mind. Chat with your friends, coworkers, and family about your own personal connection to the issue and why it matters to you. Whatever you do, just keep talking about the change you wish to see.