Oregon’s 2025 legislative session: progress for the public interest, but more work to be done

With the Oregon state legislature’s 2025 session ending on Friday, lawmakers in Salem return home having won some key public interest policies for Oregonians– including passage of a new Right to Repair bill for wheelchairs, regulations to bring down costs and protect consumers in the health care marketplace, and improve Oregon’s statewide bag ban. 

See below for some highlights of bills passed by the state legislature in 2025. To win some of these victories, we worked as part of the Consumer Alliance of Oregon, a coalition that advocates for the rights and interests of consumers across the state by building the power and broad support needed to pass pro-consumer legislation.

Public interest victories:

Mobility devices gained the Right to Repair (SB 549 and SB 550)

While users of consumer electronics gained the right to fix their devices in 2024, wheelchair and mobility devices weren’t included in the original law. Now,  wheelchair users will have access to the parts, tools and information they need to fix their essential mobility devices or take them to an independent repairer. SB 550 added wheelchairs and complex mobility devices to Oregon’s existing Right to Repair law, while SB 549 requires Medicaid to respond to repair requests for mobility devices within 72 hours of receiving it. Starting on January 1, 2026, mobility devices can be fixed quickly, affordably and within the control of their users.

Better Bag Ban (SB 551)

While a state ban on single-use plastic check-out bags went into effect on January 1, 2020, for grocery stores, restaurants, and retail establishments, the law still allowed for the distribution of thicker plastic film bags. Because many people only use these thicker bags once before throwing them away – contributing to the plastic pollution problem – SB 551 updated the law to eliminate all plastic film bags at checkout.

High Value Health Care

• Protecting patients from surprise ambulance bills (HB 3243): Imagine experiencing a health emergency and rushing to the hospital in an ambulance. When you get home after receiving treatment, a bill comes in the mail for hundreds or even thousands of dollars – a charge you couldn’t evaluate and seek out affordable options for. Ambulance companies in Oregon are able to charge exorbitant prices for their services, which are often not covered by large-network insurance providers. Patients often don’t have a choice when they call an ambulance, and HB 3243 creates restrictions on how much ambulance services can charge and mandates the establishment of standard ambulance rates across the state.
• Preventing medical debt from affecting credit scores (SB 605): Even with transparent and fair pricing, health emergencies may bring costs that you can’t afford. It’s understandable – medical bills are steep, and you didn’t ask to get sick – but still, you  have to pay. Imagine that months later, you find that this unexpected charge has not only put you in financial debt, but it’s also wrecked your credit score. Now, thanks to SB 605, Oregon medical service providers are not allowed to report the existence or amount of medical debt you owe to a consumer reporting agency, and reporting agencies are not allowed to include medical debt items in your credit report.
• Continuing to address health care consolidation (SB 951): Through the state’s Health Care Market Oversight program, Oregon already has the authority to review and approve mergers between large health care companies. However, another way health care consolidation occurs, which often leads to higher costs and no increase in quality of care, is through private equity acquisition of health care practices. SB 951 ensures that doctors, not private equity, stay in charge of the decision-making process of their practice. 

Transparency and honesty in online sales (HB 3167 and SB 430)

When you buy something online you deserve to know how much it will cost. But for too long, companies have hidden the true cost of their products and services, advertising the base price without factoring in the service, delivery and other fees that can nearly double the advertised price. Buying tickets specifically gets even more complicated when you factor in scammers who advertise false tickets that look nearly identical to the real versions. Enter HB 3167 and SB 430. SB 430 requires online sellers to include all fees when advertising prices online and HB 3167 prohibits misleading advertising that scams would-be attendees of concerts and other events by selling fake tickets. 

Transparent auto financing (HB 3178)

Buying a car is often one of the most expensive purchases you’ll ever make. But in Oregon, buyers can drive their newly-purchased vehicle off the lot, only to find that the terms of their loans have completely changed weeks later. Right now, financing terms at dealerships in the state are subject to change within 14 business days. But HB 3178 shortens the window for those changes to 10 calendar days. When it goes into effect on January 1, 2026, Oregon consumers will be more confident that the terms of their car loans will be consistent.

Missed Opportunities:

Unfortunately, Oregon’s legislators didn’t cross the finish line on a few key bills that would have prevented a variety of wasteful and exploitative practices. OSPIRG will continue to work on these issues and hope that the bills get reintroduced next year.

Health care companies can still use opaque and confusing billing practices (SB 539 and SB 1060) 

With the consolidation of health care facilities in recent years, big health care companies are now sometimes tacking on hidden fees, often known as “facility fees” for simply walking through the door of a facility, even if it’s a small specialty clinic off the hospital’s campus or for a routine service that could be done more cheaply in a regular doctor’s office. These fees are often not covered by insurance, cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars and often come as a surprise to patients.

SB 539 would have protected consumers from this unfair practice by simply banning the most egregious kinds of facility fee charges, and requiring advance notice and reporting to state for all the rest.  Unfortunately, while the bill passed out of committee with bi-partisan support, it failed to pass through either chamber of the legislature.

But facility fees aren’t the only surprises allowed under Oregon’s health care system – all too often, all the charges are. When you need to seek out treatment at a hospital, selection shopping only gets you so far. Though they are required to provide consumer-friendly cost estimates, OSPIRG’s research has shown that less than half of the hospitals in Oregon provide useful and usable price-transparency tools for consumers to make informed choices about the care they seek. SB 1060 would have codified federal price transparency rules into state law. Unfortunately, the bill died in the Senate Rules Committee and was never voted on by the chamber. 

OSPIRG will continue to prioritize Oregon’s health care system on behalf of patients. Our work in 2026 will focus on, in part, to create a transparent and fair billing system where patients can make informed decisions on where to seek care based on price transparency and fair billing practices.

No solution enacted to address food waste (HB 3018)

Oregon wastes more than 800,000 tons (1.6 million pounds) of food each year – nearly 70% of which could have been eaten. At the same time, rising food prices are leaving more and more Oregon families hungry. Put together, the solution seems clear: we must distribute and dispose of our food better. This could have been achieved by HB 3018, a smart policy that would have increased statewide composting and created better programs to keep food out of landfills. At the same time, it would have standardized food date labeling for individuals to better know what food is edible and what has gone bad. 

OSPIRG collected more than 4,000 petition signatures in the spring in support of HB 3018, but the bill never advanced out of the state House of Representatives. In addition, we built support from dozens of local restaurants, food banks, student groups and community organizations. Now, it’s up to Oregon’s lawmakers to address the issue in 2026, and we’re ramping up our efforts this summer to demonstrate broad public support for the issue.