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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
House Bill 2989
Sponsored by Representative NELSON; Representative CHOTZEN (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced.The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: The Act directs OHA to pay, in some cases, for a person’s medical care out of the
LEMLA if the person was injured by a peace officer. (Flesch Readability Score: 60.3).
Requires the Oregon Health Authority to pay out of the Law Enforcement Medical Liability
Account any copayment or other cost-sharing amounts owed by an individual for the cost of medical
services, or the entire cost of the medical services if an individual is a medical assistance recipient
or uninsured, for injuries related to law enforcement activity. Authorizes the authority to make the
final determination of whether injuries are injuries related to law enforcement activity. Directs the
authority to conduct outreach about the availability of funding and the process for submitting claims
forreimbursement.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to the Law Enforcement Medical Liability Account; creating new provisions; and amending
ORS 414.805 and 414.807.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 414.805 is amended to read:
414.805. (1) An individual who receives medical services while in the custody of a law enforce-
ment officer is liable:
(a) To the provider of the medical services for the charges and expenses therefor; and
(b) To the Oregon Health Authority for any charges or expenses paid by the authority out of
the Law Enforcement Medical Liability Account for the medical services.
(2) A person providing medical services to an individual described in subsection (1) of this sec-
tion shall first make reasonable efforts to collect the charges and expenses thereof from the indi-
vidual before seeking to collect them from the authority out of the Law Enforcement Medical
LiabilityAccount.
(3)(a) If the provider has not been paid within 45 days of the date of the billing, the provider
may bill the authority who shall pay the account out of the Law Enforcement Medical Liability
Account.
(b) A bill submitted to the authority under this subsection must be accompanied by evidence
documentingthat:
(A) The provider has billed the individual or the individual’s insurer or health care service
contractor for the charges or expenses owed to the provider; and
(B) The provider has made a reasonable effort to collect from the individual or the individual’s
insurer or health care service contractor the charges and expenses owed to the provider.
(c) If the provider receives payment from the individual or the insurer or health care service
contractor after receiving payment from the authority, the provider shall repay the authority the
amount received from the public agency less any difference between payment received from the in-
dividual, insurer or contractor and the amount of the billing.
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 2381 HB2989
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(4) As used in this section:
(a) “Law enforcement officer” means:
(A) An officer who is commissioned and employed by a public agency as a peace officer to en-
force the criminal laws of this state or laws or ordinances of a public agency; or
(B) An authorized tribal police officer as defined in ORS 181A.940.
(b) “Public agency” means the state,the federal government, a city, university that has es-
tablished a police department under ORS 352.121 or 353.125, port, school district, mass transit dis-
trict or county.
SECTION 2. ORS 414.807 is amended to read:
414.807. (1)(a) When charges and expenses are incurred for medical services provided to an in-
dividual for injuries related to law enforcement activity and subject to the availability of funds in
the account, [the cost of such services shall be paid by the Oregon Health Authority out of the Law
Enforcement Medical Liability Account established in ORS 414.815 if the provider of the medical ser-
vices has made all reasonable efforts to collect the amount, or any part thereof, from the individual
who received the services] the Oregon Health Authority shall pay out of the Law Enforcement
Medical Liability Account established in ORS 414.815:
(A) Any copayment or other cost-sharing amounts owed by the individual to the
individual’s insurer or health care service contractor for the cost of the medical services;
or
(B) If the individual is a recipient of medical assistance as defined in ORS 414.025 or
uninsured, the full cost of the medical services.
(b) The authority shall review a law enforcement agency’s determination, and make the
final determination, of whether an individual’s injuries are injuries related to law enforce-
mentactivity.
[(b)] (c) [When a law enforcement agency involved with an injury certifies that the injury is] When
the authority determines that an individual’s injuries are injuries related to law enforcement
activity, the [Oregon Health] authority shall pay the provider:
(A) If the provider is a hospital, in accordance with current fee schedules established by the
Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services for purposes of workers’ compen-
sation under ORS 656.248; or
(B) If the provider is other than a hospital, 75 percent of the customary and usual rates for the
services.
(d) The authority shall conduct outreach about:
(A) The availability of funding under this section to reimburse the costs of medical ser-
vices for injuries related to law enforcement activity; and
(B) The process for submitting a claim for reimbursement.
(2) [After] If the injured person is incarcerated [and throughout the period of incarceration], the
Oregon Health Authority shall continue to pay throughout the period of incarceration, out of the
Law Enforcement Medical Liability Account, charges and expenses for injuries related to law
enforcement activities as provided in subsection (1) of this section. Upon release of the injured
person from actual physical custody, the Law Enforcement Medical Liability Account is no longer
liable for the payment of medical expenses of the injured person.
(3) If the provider of medical services has filed a medical services lien as provided in ORS
87.555, the Oregon Health Authority shall be subrogated to the rights of the provider to the extent
of payments made by the authority to the provider for the medical services. The authority may
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foreclose the lien as provided in ORS 87.585.
(4) The authority shall deposit in the Law Enforcement Medical Liability Account all moneys
received by the authority from:
(a) Providers of medical services as repayment;
(b) Individuals whose medical expenses were paid by the authority under this section; and
(c) Foreclosure of a lien as provided in subsection (3) of this section.
(5) As used in this section:
(a) “Injuries related to law enforcement activity” means injuries sustained [prior to booking, ci-
tation in lieu of arrest or release instead of booking that occur] during and as a result of efforts by
a law enforcement officer to restrain or detain, or to take or retain custody of, [the] an individual,
regardless of whether the individual is cited or arrested.
(b) “Law enforcement officer” has the meaning given that term in ORS 414.805.
SECTION 3. The amendments to ORS 414.805 and 414.807 by sections 1 and 2 of this 2025
Act apply to injuries sustained on or after the effective date of this 2025 Act.
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