That’s a wrap! The 2025 Oregon legislative (long) session is over.

 

The legislature has officially worked out state budgets for the next biennium (2025-2027), and passed all kinds of new policies—soon to become law of the land.

We fought hard for ocean conservation and led a campaign to pass the Eelgrass Action Bill (HB 3580) and Rocky Habitat Stewardship Bill (HB 3587), which collectively would have invested $1 million to improve the management of these essential coastal habitats while engaging communities, stakeholders, and Tribal nations in the process. We’re saddened to say this effort failed. 

However, it did not fail due to lack of public or bipartisan support in the legislature. By the numbers, the campaign resulted in:

  • 308 supportive public testimonies submitted
  • 17 bill sponsors signed on -bipartisan
  • >150 postcards sent to legislators
  • >17 students lobbied in the capitol
  • 57 organizations and scientists signed their endorsement
  • 2 coastal Tribal nations endorsed (CTCLUSI and the Coquille Indian Tribe) 
  • 3,080 emails sent to legislators through our action alert
  • 2 priority listings by the Coastal Caucus and Environmental Caucus
  • 1,100 views on our video with Oregon Zoo

If you helped push this campaign forward, we see you and appreciate you more than you know! We are also deeply appreciative of Rep. Gomberg and his staff for their leadership and efforts pursuing these policies, along with all the bill sponsors who lended their name and support.

So, what happened?

The bills got stuck in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, who decides the state budget. As a result of current and expected federal budget cuts impacting many types of Oregon programs, Ways and Means was extra conservative with the little money they had to allocate– to set money aside to save services in the event of emergency (i.e. loss of medicaid–thanks “Big Beautiful Bill”). This means that many other important bills also died and state agency budgets were cut back. 

At least, that was the narrative…

Unfortunately, natural resources are far too often on the chopping block in tight budget years and ocean conservation programs are chronically underfunded (even when mandated). The Oregon Ocean Alliance members have seen this persistent trend over and over again…which is why we formed in the first place– and immediately campaigned for money to be allocated to ODFW’s Marine Reserve Program in 2024 (HB 4132). By the way, after winning this marine reserve bill, we had to fight to stop the Governor and the legislature from allocating the funding elsewhere. This was our “win” of the session–successfully protecting money we already fought for. 

This trend is also why we were campaigning for money (through HB 3587), just to implement the existing Rocky Habitat Management Strategy–over 7 years in the making. We don’t want our newly designated rocky habitat sites to become “paper parks” with no money to adequately implement these hard-earned and community-endorsed protections. 

The thing is…

We don’t buy that there simply wasn’t enough money for conservation. Explicit decisions made by the legislature directly contradict this claim.

For example, this session we also threw our weight behind the 1% for Wildlife Bill (HB 2977), which would have created a brand new revenue stream specifically for implementing conservation and wildlife management programs–to proactively prevent conservation programs from being slashed every time the budget is tight. This bill would have created a minor 1.25% tax increase on transient lodging, which would have brought in billions for the state to implement the nearshore ocean strategy and the State Wildlife Action Plan, collectively providing capacity to restore and protect habitat and recover and rehabilitate injured and imperiled species. Despite widespread public and stakeholder support, this bill was stopped from being scheduled for a final vote on the Senate floor on the last day of the legislative session.

There was also plenty of money dished out to developers. For example, in the final “Christmas Tree Bill,” $100 million was allocated to the Port of Coos Bay for modifying the estuary navigation channel for the proposed Pacific Coast Intermodal Port (PCIP)– a project that has not even been planned or permitted yet. Read more about the problems with this project here. The legislature also allocated $800 million for a baseball stadium in Portland.

Meanwhile, Oregon’s coast is more vulnerable now than ever before. 

Without HB 3580 and HB 3587 becoming law, our state’s eelgrass meadows will continue to decline with no plan to address the loss and DLCD’s Rocky Habitat Coordinator could lose her job– effectively hindering the state from addressing climate and human-imposed threats to our rocky habitats. Entire marine ecosystems and coastal economies are at great risk if the state continues to dismiss these key issues and fails to invest in coastal management.

Even more concerning are the coast-wide ramifications of federal budget cuts and agency lay-offs that are already impacting livelihoods, marine research and innovation, ocean monitoring, maritime safety, fisheries, coastal planning, infrastructure upgrades, and so much more. 

We hate to say it could get much worse…but the proposed elimination of NOAA’s Coastal Zone Management grants in 2026 could dismantle the entire Oregon Coastal Management Program (OCMP) if the state does not step up and back-fund it. Currently, the state does not invest in this program, making it particularly vulnerable. While federal funds progressively dwindle, the OCMP has been asked to do more than ever and faces extreme challenges addressing climate impacts like sea level rise, habitat and biodiversity loss, increasing development pressure, and coastal hazards. The OCMP also implements the Territorial Sea Plan, helps coastal governments update land use plans, inventories coastal resources for spatial planning, coordinates agencies and stakeholders, and conducts federal consistency reviews to protect local and state interests when a developer or the federal government proposes a project that could impact coastal resources (i.e. offshore wind or the above mentioned PCIP). The OCMP is also leading the initiative to update the state’s 39 Estuary Management Plans. Simply put, this program is critical to coastal conservation and all of our work at Oregon Shores.

Oregon must meet the moment and increase its investment in natural resource agencies and programs that manage and conserve coastal resources. From diverse recreational opportunities to rare wildlife, iconic tide pools, and sustainable fisheries– we have too much to lose.

At Oregon Shores, we will not stop fighting for our vision of a resilient Oregon coast where all people and nature thrive together.  

So, what can we do?

We can sound the alarm that our coastal communities, economies, and ecosystems are in jeopardy if the federal government defunds NOAA coastal programs AND if the state continues to deprioritize the coast. 

Who needs to hear this? 

The Governor’s office, your state and federal representatives, your local government and newspapers, your neighbors, families, and friends. 

How to take action:

  1. Find your legislators. 
  2. Draft and email or call their office. 
    1. State reps: If they sponsored the Eelgrass Action Bill (HB 3580), Rocky Habitat Stewardship Bill (HB 3587), and 1% for Wildlife (HB 2977) thank them for their support and ask that they continue to back these initiatives in the future. If they didn’t sponsor, let them know these policies are important to prioritize in future sessions. Let them know coastal management is at risk. 
    2. Federal reps: Tell them to oppose cuts to NOAA’s coastal and climate science programs in the 2026 federal budget and to oppose increased leasing of the ocean for oil and gas development. If your congressman is Cliff Bentz (District 2), he especially needs to hear this message. 
    3. Make it personal. Share why these issues are important to you and Oregonians broadly–if you don’t live on the coast, that’s okay! The coast is treasured by all Oregonians.
  3. Post on social media or share this article
  4. Consider drafting an Op-Ed in your local newspaper
  5. Share these messages with the Governor’s office by leaving a comment

Thank you for your continued support of both Oregon Shores and your coastal and ocean ecosystems. We have too much to lose, so let’s band together and support one another.

 

For more on wins and losses of the session:

  • Wins:
    • A key bill of opposition that would impact wetlands did not move forward (SB 400). Others were made less bad as a result of our (and many other groups’) activism including seafood processing effluent bill (HB 3814), opening up lands outside Urban Growth Boundaries (HB 2316), and shoreline stabilization standards (SB 504)
    • Good bills that passed include the plastic bag ban (SB 551), marine debris/derelict vessel program (SB 795), advancing climate education (HB 3365), restrictions on beaver trapping (HB 3932), and the extension of offshore wind roadmap process (HB 3963)
    • ODFW Marine Reserves and Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia funding was protected in the agency budget
  • Losses: 
    • Bills of support that didn’t pass include the Wildlife Stewardship bill (HB 2980), Make Polluters Pay (SB 1187), the environmental rights constitutional amendment (SJR 28), the Oregon Ocean Science Trust bill (HB 3786), and of course, the Rocky Habitat (HB 3587) and Eelgrass bills (HB 3580) and 1% for Wildlife (HB 2977)
    • One bad bill of opposition (SB 1047) passed, which allows a proposed golf course application near Port Orford to be expedited in land use review
  • Estuaries
  • Marine Conservation