From wolves to water, Eastern Oregon lawmakers strike balancing act to move bills forward

Eastern Oregon state lawmakers have often walked a tightrope in Salem —proposing deeply conservative bills that have little chance of passing while also working with Democrats to advance more pragmatic legislation.

The 2025 session is no different. Representatives for the region are sponsoring a bill that would ban transgender students from participating in girls’ sports and legislation to restrict abortion access.

Those efforts echo national political divides, and both have virtually no hope of passing while Oregon Democrats hold a supermajority in the legislature.

But a whole host of bills — covering everything from wolves and nitrate pollution, to mental health and housing — have gained traction across the aisle. They show how Eastern Oregon Republicans work in the minority to wield soft power in Salem, in the hope they can bring home some wins for their districts before the long session wraps up this summer.

Wolves

State Sen. Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, and state Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, both have backgrounds in cattle ranching and are the chief sponsors of two bills meant to boost the state’s compensation program for livestock and working dogs killed by wolves.

Senate Bill 777 makes changes to the compensation formula that could lead to higher payouts to ranchers. The Legislative Fiscal Office estimates the increased payments would cost the state roughly $1 million, an issue Senate Bill 985 would address by adding another $2 million to the state budget for the program.

Nash and Levy have argued that the current program is being underutilized in northeast Oregon, where the wolf population is the highest. Passing the bills would help balance conservation interests and ranchers’ livelihoods, they said.

Bethany Cotton, the conservation director for Eugene nonprofit Cascadia Wildlands, didn’t buy that argument. She said in February testimony that these bills would allocate money toward lost livestock when it could go toward preventative efforts to promote coexistence between farms and wolves.

“Please provide prevention, not band-aids,” she said.

SB 777 easily passed the Senate on Tuesday with only one senator opposed. It now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration. SB 985 has been referred to the Joint Ways and Means Committee.

Early childhood support

Senate Bill 1167 is expansive, directing $12 million to early childhood programs across the state to pay for navigators to help expecting parents connect with social service programs. The bill would also expand Baby Promise, the state’s subsidized child care and education program for low-income families.

Eastern Oregon could claim a big portion of the funding. About a third of the money would be earmarked for the Blue Mountain Early Learning Hub to provide services in Umatilla, Morrow and Grant counties. Spearheaded by Sen. Lisa Reynolds, D-Portland, the bill also has backing from Levy.

Marissa Loiland, the director of early learning services at the InterMountain Education Service District in Umatilla County, told lawmakers during a recent hearing that the bill could help solve some issues specific to rural areas. Service providers are often spread out across many miles, she said, and the navigators could help reach families that would ordinarily have a harder time getting help.

A work session to further consider the bill in the Senate’s early childhood committee is scheduled for April 1.

Groundwater quality

Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, visited the Lower Umatilla Basin in 2023 and heard from residents affected by decades of nitrate pollution in groundwater.

Hartman is now trying to strengthen legal protections for people who rely on domestic wells for drinking water.

State law already requires home sellers with domestic wells to test their water supply and disclose the results to the buyer. House Bill 3525 would require landlords do the same for tenants, and House Bill 3526 would allow home buyers to sue sellers who fail to share testing data.

Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, who has worked on water quality issues in southeastern Oregon, is sponsoring the proposals.

The Oregon Farm Bureau was among those who opposed one of the bills, arguing that it could lead to more regulations harmful to farmers. The bills were backed by several environmental groups at a February public hearing.

Cheyenne Holliday, the advocacy manager for Portland-based environmental nonprofit Verde, said the bills would be a boon for public health and tenants’ rights.

“I have lived in a home that relied on a domestic well, and one of the most unsettling experiences was simply not knowing if the water was safe,” she told lawmakers.

“There was no regular testing, no required disclosure, and no clear information about contaminants being present. Every time I turned on the tap, I had to trust that it was safe, because I didn’t have any other choice.”

The House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources and Water plans to to consider the bills further at a March 31 work session.

Rural mental health

As a former leader for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Nash lobbied for the creation of a mental health helpline for farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers. Now in his first term as a legislator, Nash is trying to get it permanently funded.

Senate Bill 779 would send $2 million to keep the AgriStress Helpline operational. The legislature approved establishing the service in 2023. In a February public hearing, Nash, who is sponsoring the bill with Levy, said the money would be put in an investment fund so that interest accrued on the account could sustain the helpline in the future.

“The ‘pull yourself up by your boot strings’ mentality often prevents our community members from seeking help, making resources like the AgriStress Helpline vital to breaking the cycle,” Levy said in the hearing.

According to Oregon State University’s Extension Service, which oversees the program, AgriStress received 51 calls and texts in 15 months of operation. The bill was passed out of the Senate Committee on Childhood and Behavioral Health earlier this month and heads next to the Joint Ways and Means Committee.

Housing

Eastern Oregon has long suffered from a shortage of housing. One bill aims to give the housing supply a boost.

House Bill 3939 would grant nearly $16 million to rural communities across the state, with more than half of that going to Eastern Oregon cities like Baker City, Ontario and Burns. The funding is specifically designated for housing-related infrastructure like roads, utilities and high-speed internet.

The bill’s chief sponsor is Rep. Lucetta Elmer, R-McMinnville. It’s also backed by Owens and Sen. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte. McLane was elected last year to represent a wide swath of Central and Eastern Oregon.

Elmer said in a press release that the bill would help fund the construction of more than 3,000 housing units across rural Oregon. It would require each housing project to set aside 30% of its units to be rented or sold at 130% or less of the county’s area median income and projects must be completed within five years of getting the funds.

The next public hearing for the bill is set for April 7.