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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
House Bill 3262
Sponsored by Representative EVANS
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: Creates a fund that three state agencies may use to help protect from, recover from and
restore property damaged by wildfires. Specifies what the agencies may use the moneys in the fund
to do. Tells the State Fire Marshal to send some of the money to a fund that makes grants to rural
fire protection districts.Tells insurers to pay a fee to a state agency for each property insurance
policy the insurer issues in this state. Lets insurers get the money they pay back from policy hold-
ers. Tells the state agency to put the money from the fee into the fund that the other three state
agencies use. Sets a filing fee for property taxes and sets aside part of the fee for the wildfire pro-
tection fund.Sunsets the Act on July 1, 2033. (Flesch Readability Score: 67.0).
Establishes the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund and directs the
State Fire Marshal, the State Forestry Department and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
to make expenditures from the fund for various activities related to restoration, protection and re-
covery from wildfires. Requires the State Fire Marshal to reserve and transfer to a revolving fund
a certain percentage of moneys from the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection
Fund for grants to rural fire protection districts.
Requires an insurer each year to remit to Director of the Department of Consumer and Business
Services a surcharge for each policy of insurance that is property insurance. Permits an insurer
each year to recoup from insureds the amount the insurer remitted to the director. Requires the
director to deposit the proceeds of the surcharge into the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Com-
munity Protection Fund.
Imposes a filing fee for property taxes and requires remission of the proceeds of the fee, less a
specified percentage for administrative costs, to the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community
Protection Fund.
Sunsets July 1, 2033.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to wildfire recovery; creating new provisions; amending ORS 731.820; and providing for
revenue raising that requires approval by a three-fifths majority.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 731.820 is amended to read:
731.820. (1)(a) For the purpose of maintaining and paying the expenses of the Department of
the State Fire Marshal [and paying the expenses incident thereto] and for the purposes specified
in subsection (4) of this section, every insurer transacting insurance covering the peril of fire
shall pay a tax to the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, on or before
April 1 of each year, equal to 1.15 percent of the gross amount of premiums [received by it or its
insurance producers] the insurer or the insurer’s insurance producers receive from such busi-
ness, from and under [its] the insurer’s policies covering direct domestic risks in the preceding
calendar year after deducting the amount of return premiums paid and the amount of dividend pay-
ments made to policyholders or, in the case of a reciprocal insurer, the amount of savings paid or
credited to the accounts of subscribers, with respect to such policies.
(b) For the purpose of paragraph (a) of this subsection the following portions of the amounts
required to be reported by line of business in the annual financial statement required by ORS
731.574 [shall be considered] are premiums for insurance covering the peril of fire:
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.
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(A) Fire, 100 percent.
(B) Homeowners and farm owners multiple peril, 65 percent.
(C) Commercial multiple peril, 50 percent.
(D) Inland marine, 20 percent.
(E) Automobile physical damage, eight percent.
(F) Aircraft physical damage, eight percent.
(2) If an insurer ceases to do business or collectpremiumsondirectdomesticrisks,[it
thereupon] the insurer shall [make a] report to the director [of its] concerning any premiums sub-
ject to taxation as provided in subsection (1) of this section and collected or due as of the date when
[it] the insurer ceased to do business or collect premiums on direct domestic risks[, and not
theretofore] that the insurer has not reported previously, and shall [forthwith] immediately pay
to the director the tax [thereon] due on the unreported policies.
(3) If the director, during the period in which the director under ORS 731.836 may collect taxes
owing under this section, finds the amount of such taxes paid by an insurer to have been incorrect,
the director shall charge or credit the insurer with the difference between the correct amount of tax
and the amount actually paid.
(4) The director shall deposit 15 percent of the amount the director collects each year
under subsection (1)(a) of this section into the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community
ProtectionFund.
SECTION 2. ORS 731.820, as amended by section 1 of this 2025 Act, is amended to read:
731.820. (1)(a) For the purpose of maintaining and paying the expenses of the Department of the
State Fire Marshal [and for the purposes specified in subsection (4) of this section], every insurer
transacting insurance covering the peril of fire shall pay a tax to the Director of the Department
of Consumer and Business Services, on or before April 1 of each year, equal to 1.15 percent of the
gross amount of premiums the insurer or the insurer’s insurance producers receive from such busi-
ness, from and under the insurer’s policies covering direct domestic risks in the preceding calendar
year after deducting the amount of return premiums paid and the amount of dividend payments made
to policyholders or, in the case of a reciprocal insurer, the amount of savings paid or credited to
the accounts of subscribers, with respect to such policies.
(b) For the purpose of paragraph (a) of this subsection the following portions of the amounts
required to be reported by line of business in the annual financial statement required by ORS
731.574 are premiums for insurance covering the peril of fire:
(A) Fire, 100 percent.
(B) Homeowners and farm owners multiple peril, 65 percent.
(C) Commercial multiple peril, 50 percent.
(D) Inland marine, 20 percent.
(E) Automobile physical damage, eight percent.
(F) Aircraft physical damage, eight percent.
(2) If an insurer ceases to do business or collect premiums on direct domestic risks, the insurer
shall report to the director concerning any premiums subject to taxation as provided in subsection
(1) of this section and collected or due as of the date when the insurer ceased to do business or
collect premiums on direct domestic risks that the insurer has not reported previously, and shall
immediately pay to the director the tax due on the unreported policies.
(3) If the director, during the period in which the director under ORS 731.836 may collect taxes
owing under this section, finds the amount of such taxes paid by an insurer to have been incorrect,
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the director shall charge or credit the insurer with the difference between the correct amount of tax
and the amount actually paid.
[(4) The director shall deposit 15 percent of the amount the director collects each year under sub-
section (1)(a) of this section into the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund.]
SECTION 3. Sections 4, 5 and 6 of this 2025 Act are added to and made a part of ORS
chapter477.
SECTION 4. (1) The Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund is
established in the State Treasury, separate and distinct from the General Fund. Moneys in
the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund are continuously appro-
priated to the Department of the State Fire Marshal for the purposes specified in this section
and section 5 of this 2025 Act.
(2)(a) At the written request of the State Fire Marshal, the State Treasurer shall trans-
fer moneys from the balance available in the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community
Protection Fund on August 1 of each year to the following funds in accordance with the al-
locations specified in each subparagraph of this paragraph:
(A) Sixty percent to the State Fire Marshal Fund. The State Fire Marshal shall retain
the transferred moneys in a special account and expend the moneys as provided in section
5 (1) of this 2025 Act.
(B) Twenty percent to the State Forestry Department Account. The State Forester shall
retain the transferred moneys in a special subaccount and expend the moneys as provided
in section 5 (2) of this 2025 Act.
(C) Twenty percent to the Watershed Conservation Grant Fund. The Oregon Watershed
Enhancement Board shall retain the transferred moneys in a special account and expend the
moneys as provided in section 5 (3) of this 2025 Act.
(b) Each agency that receives a transfer of funds from the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness
and Community Protection Fund under paragraph (a) of this subsection shall keep a record
of the account or subaccount into which the agency deposits the transferred moneys, indi-
cating the source of the transfer and the activity or program against which the agency
charges any withdrawal. An agency may invest the moneys in the applicable account or
subaccount described in paragraph (a)(A), (B) or (C) of this subsection in the same manner
as other state moneys. The agency must credit any interest earned on investments to the
appropriate account or subaccount.
(c) The State Fire Marshal shall reserve 15 percent of the moneys transferred from the
Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund to the State Fire Marshal
Fund under this subsection for transfer to the revolving fund described in section 6 of this
2025 Act.
(d) Each agency that receives a transfer of funds from the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness
and Community Protection Fund under paragraph (a) of this subsection may retain a portion
of the transferred moneys to pay the agency’s costs in administering the account or subac-
count into which the agency deposits the transferred moneys.
(e) If moneys credited to an account or subaccount are withdrawn, transferred or oth-
erwise used for a program other than a program or activity described in section 5 of this 2025
Act, interest accrues at the rate specified in ORS 82.010 on the amount withdrawn from the
date of the withdrawal until the moneys are restored.
(3) The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall pay into the
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State Treasury to the credit of the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection
Fund all moneys the director receives from the surcharge described in section 8 of this 2025
Act. The director may retain from the moneys the director receives an amount sufficient to
pay the director’s costs of collecting the surcharge, and related costs.
(4) The total amount that the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business
Services and all agencies listed in subsection (2)(a) of this section may retain from the
moneys in the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund to pay costs
associated with administering a fund, account, subaccount, expenditure, grant or program
described in this section or section 5 of this 2025 Act may not exceed, in the aggregate, more
than 10 percent of the balance of the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Pro-
tection Fund on August 1 of each year.
(5) The State Fire Marshal, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and the State
Forestry Department may accept, from whatever source, gifts or grants of moneys given for
the purposes set forth in section 5 of this 2025 Act. Each agency shall deposit any such
moneys into the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund. All moneys
deposited in this manner are available for allocation as described in subsection (2)(a) of this
section, unless the donor or grantor of the moneys specifies a condition for the use of the
moneys, in which case the agency that received the gift or grant shall use the moneys in
conformance with the condition the donor or grantor specified.
SECTION 5. (1)(a) The State Fire Marshal shall expend moneys or provide grants from
the special account of the State Fire Marshal Fund described in section 4 (2)(a)(A) of this
2025 Act to assist communities in:
(A) Preparing for and protecting against wildfires;
(B) Funding full-time firefighters; and
(C) Developing and implementing, in coordination with the State Forestry Department,
community wildfire protection plans and programs that are based upon or that comply with
standards promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA and the
Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network or that otherwise serve community needs for
protection against wildfires.
(b) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt rules to guide the State Fire Marshal’s imple-
mentation of the programs described in this subsection. At a minimum, the rules must:
(A) Specify the purposes, goals and criteria for funding projects under paragraph (a) of
this subsection, along with criteria for evaluating the success of each project;
(B) Specify the purposes, goals and eligibility criteria for grants under paragraph (a) of
this subsection, along with criteria for determining whether a grant recipient has made use
of grant moneys in accordance with the purposes and goals; and
(C) Provide forms and specify application procedures by means of which a community
may apply for a grant under this subsection.
(2)(a) The State Forestry Department shall use moneys from the special subaccount of
the State Forestry Department Account described in section 4 (2)(a)(B) of this 2025 Act to
provide grants or implement programs that:
(A) Restore landscape resiliency;
(B) Promote wildfire prevention education in coordination with the Department of the
State Fire Marshal;
(C) Reduce hazardous fuel levels to improve forest health; and
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(D) Reduce forest vulnerability to drought, insect infestation and disease by taking ap-
propriate forest management actions such as thinning and prescribed burning.
(b) In implementing the programs described in paragraph (a) of this subsection, the State
Forestry Department shall give priority to programs, activities or projects that protect lives,
communities and infrastructure, that improve and enhance watershed health, water quality
and resiliency in response to changes in the climate and that achieve reductions in wildfire
risk. After seeking and receiving necessary permissions and cooperation, the department
may conduct programs on federal, state, tribal, local and private lands.
(c) The State Forestry Department shall establish a committee that includes represen-
tatives from other committees upon which the department relies for advice concerning the
types of programs described in paragraph (a) of this subsection and representatives from
insurers that are subject to the requirements of section 8 of this 2025 Act. The committee
shall advise the department concerning priorities and allocation decisions the department
makes under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection.
(3)(a) The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board shall use moneys from the special ac-
count of the Watershed Conservation Grant Fund described in section 4 (2)(a)(C) of this 2025
Act to provide grants for programs, activities and projects on federal, state, tribal, local and
private lands that:
(A) Restore landscape resiliency;
(B) Reduce hazardous fuel levels to improve forest health;
(C) Reduce forest vulnerability to drought, insect infestation and disease by taking ap-
propriate forest management actions such as thinning and prescribed burning; and
(D) Support recovery activities such as reforestation, watershed rehabilitation, drinking
water protection, slope stabilization and erosion control in areas that were subjected to
wildfires.
(b) In making grants under paragraph (a) of this subsection, the board shall give priority
to programs, activities or projects that:
(A) Improve and enhance watershed health, water quality and resiliency in response to
changes in the climate; and
(B) Achieve reductions in wildfire risk.
(c) The board shall establish a committee that includes representatives of owners and
managers of federal, state, tribal, local and private lands described in paragraph (a) of this
subsection and representatives of insurers that are subject to the requirements of section 8
of this 2025 Act. The committee shall advise the board concerning priorities and allocation
decisions the board makes under this subsection.
(4) The State Forestry Department and the board shall each, by rule, devise appropriate
standards for identifying and measuring improvements attributable to, and outcomes that
result from, the respective grants, programs, activities and projects for which the depart-
ment has responsibility under subsection (2)(a) of this section and for which the board has
responsibility under subsection (3)(a) of this section. Subject to the judgment of the depart-
ment or board, as appropriate, and to the advice of the appropriate committee described in
subsection (2)(c) or (3)(c) of this section, improvements and outcomes may include, but are
not limited to:
(a) The number of acres of land the grants, programs, activities and projects have
brought to a measurable level of protection against wildfire;
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(b) Comparative response times for fire protection resources before and after expenditure
of grant moneys or implementation of the programs, activities or projects;
(c) Comparative measurements of property lost before and after expenditure of grant
moneys or implementation of the programs, activities or projects;
(d) Estimates of savings in public expenditures for fire protection that result from ex-
penditure of grant moneys or implementation of the programs, activities or projects;
(e) Changes in assessments of the risk of property damage or destruction before and af-
ter expenditure of grant moneys or implementation of the programs, activities or projects;
and
(f) Other measurements that program stakeholders identify or suggest.
(5) The Department of the State Fire Marshal, the State Forestry Department and the
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board shall jointly:
(a) Consult and cooperate with each of the other agencies identified in this subsection in
adopting rules to implement the areas of responsibility each agency has under this section;
and
(b) Coordinate with each of the other agencies in developing and implementing programs
and activities to the maximum extent practicable in order to reduce duplication and over-
lapping or redundant efforts.
(6) By December 31 of each year, the State Fire Marshal, the State Forester and the
executive director of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board shall submit a joint report
to the Governor and to an interim committee of the Legislative Assembly with oversight
over forestry issues, with copies to insurers that are subject to the requirements of section
8 of this 2025 Act and to stakeholders associated with the agencies’ grants, programs, ac-
tivities and projects under this section. The report must describe in detail the agencies’ ac-
tivities under this section and, at a minimum, must include:
(a) A list of the amounts the agencies expended from the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness
and Community Protection Fund during the previous 12 months;
(b) A list of the projects the agencies funded or conducted in the previous 12 months,
together with the cost of each project and a summary of the goals and results of each
project;
(c) A list of all grants the State Fire Marshal awarded within the previous 12 months
under subsection (1)(a) of this section and section 6 of this 2025 Act, along with a list of the
grant recipients, the amount each grant recipient received and the purpose and goals of each
grant;and
(d) A list of projects, grants and other activities the agencies have planned for the up-
coming calendar year.
SECTION 6. (1) The State Fire Marshal shall use the amount reserved in the State Fire
Marshal Fund under section 4 (2)(c) of this 2025 Act to create a revolving fund from which
the State Fire Marshal may make grants to rural fire protection districts located within
areas of this state that are at a high risk for wildfires and that lack necessary critical ca-
pacities for responding to wildfire emergencies within the boundaries of the rural fire pro-
tectiondistrict.
(2) The State Fire Marshal by rule may determine which areas of this state are at a high
risk of wildfires and the criteria for determining whether a rural fire protection district
lacks necessary critical capacity for responding to wildfire emergencies.
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SECTION 7. Section 8 of this 2025 Act is added to and made a part of ORS chapter 742.
SECTION 8.(1)(a) Every insurer that transacts insurance in this state shall remit to the
Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services an annual surcharge of $5
for each policy of insurance the insurer issues in this state that is property insurance, other
than policies of motor vehicle liability insurance or insurance that covers a tenant’s loss of
personal property from residential premises. The surcharge is in addition to and not in lieu
of any other tax, fee or charge that the insurer is otherwise liable to pay. The insurer shall
remit the proceeds of the surcharge each calendar year as provided in paragraph (d) of this
subsection.
(b) An insurer shall pay the surcharge described in paragraph (a) of this subsection on
the total number of policies the insurer retains in the insurer’s portfolio on December 31 of
each year.
(c) Regardless of the number of policies of insurance an insurer issues that are property
insurance, the minimum amount that an insurer that transacts insurance in this state must
remit to the director each calendar year under this subsection is $1,000.
(d) Each insurer shall pay the amount due to the director under this subsection not later
than July 15 of each year.
(2)(a) Not later than August 15 of each year, the director shall issue a notice of arrears
to each insurer that fails to pay the amount due under this section by July 31 of that year.
In the notice, the director shall provide an opportunity for the insurer to appeal the amount
in arrears, shall specify the amount and schedule of any applicable late fees or penalties and
shall indicate a date by which the insurer must pay the amount in arrears or be subject to
the late fee or penalty and possible referral to the Department of Revenue for collection of
the amount due.
(b) If the director determines after the insurer’s appeal that the insurer’s debt is valid
and that the amount of the debt is correct or if the insurer has not paid an amount in ar-
rears by the date indicated in the director’s notice, the director shall make a final determi-
nation of the amount due from the insurer, liquidate the debt and refer the debt to the
Department of Revenue for collection under ORS 293.250.
(3)(a) Each insurer that is subject to the requirement set forth in subsection (1) of this
section may recoup the amount for which the insurer is liable by one of the following
methods:
(A) The insurer may each year charge and collect from each of the insurer’s insureds
not more than the amount of the surcharge on each of the insured’s policies of insurance
that is property insurance.
(B) The insurer may recoup the surcharge through the insurer’s premium rates.
(b) An insurer that, in the first year after the surcharge is due, does not recoup under
paragraph (a) of this subsection the entire amount the insurer remitted to the director under
subsection (1) of this section may, during the following year, recoup the remaining amount
by collecting a surcharge that exceeds the amount specified in paragraph (a) of this sub-
section by not more than the amount necessary to recoup the surcharge.
(4)(a) A surcharge that an insurer collects under subsection (3) of this section is not a
premium for any purpose, including liability for any tax upon premiums or any commissions
that an insurance producer may receive.
(b) If an insurer elects to collect a surcharge under subsection (3)(a) of this section, the
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insurer shall disclose the amount and nature of the surcharge on a bill or policy declaration
the insurer provides to an insured.
(5) The director shall deposit all moneys the director receives under this section into the
Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund established under section 4
of this 2025 Act.
SECTION 9. The surcharge described in section 8 of this 2025 Act applies to policies of
insurance that an insurer issues or renews on or after the effective date of this 2025 Act.
SECTION 10. (1) An annual filing fee of $10 is hereby imposed on all property tax ac-
counts in this state having a total real market value greater than $350,000 as shown on the
assessment and tax roll for the property tax year to which the filing fee relates.
(2) The filing fee shall be shown on the assessment and tax roll and collected in the same
manner as ad valorem property taxes imposed on the tax account are collected, subject to
the same provisions relating to refunds, delinquency and appeals, as applicable.
(3)(a) The tax collector may withhold four percent of the amount of the filing fees col-
lected to reimburse the county for the costs of administration relating to the filing fee.
(b) The balance of the filing fees shall be deposited in the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness
and Community Protection Fund established under section 4 of this 2025 Act and may be used
for any purposes for which moneys in the fund may be used.
SECTION 11. Section 10 of this 2025 Act applies to property tax years beginning on or
after July 1, 2026.
SECTION 12.The amendments to ORS 731.820 by section 2 of this 2025 Act become op-
erative on July 1, 2033.
SECTION 13.Sections 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 of this 2025 Act are repealed on July 1, 2033.
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