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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
House Bill 3834
Sponsored by Representative LEVY B; Representatives EDWARDS, RESCHKE, WRIGHT
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 is about insuring against damage or loss caused by wildlife. The Act tells an
agency to create a program for covering losses by private insurers that sell policies to protect
against the damage or loss. The Act creates a new fund for the program. The Act gives money to
put in the fund. (Flesch Readability Score: 74.4).
Directs the Oregon Department of Administrative Services to establish a program to provide
reinsurance against the risk of economic loss for insurers that issue policies of insurance against
damage or loss caused by wildlife.
Establishes the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund, separate and distinct from the General
Fund, for the department to use for reinsuring insurers that issue the policies.
Appropriates moneys to the department for deposit in the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund.
Declares an emergency, effective on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to compensation for damage caused by wildlife; and declaring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. Sections 2 to 7 of this 2025 Act are added to and made a part of ORS 278.315
to 278.415.
SECTION 2.(1) As used in this section and sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this 2025 Act:
(a) “Insurer” has the meaning given that term in ORS 731.106.
(b) “Policy” has the meaning given that term in ORS 731.122.
(c) “Reinsurance” has the meaning given that term in ORS 731.126.
(d) “Subject property” means crops, forage and livestock and buildings, structures or
equipment used in agricultural operations, as defined in ORS 467.120.
(e) “Wildlife” means all animal species over which the State Fish and Wildlife Commis-
sion has jurisdiction, including game mammals, as defined in ORS 496.004, and fur-bearing
animals, as defined in ORS 496.004.
(2) The Oregon Department of Administrative Services shall establish a program to pro-
vide reinsurance against the risk of economic loss for insurers that issue policies of insur-
ance against damage or loss to subject property from the activities of wildlife. In establishing
the program, the Oregon Department of Administrative Services shall:
(a) Accept risks only from ceding insurers that the Department of Consumer and Busi-
ness Services has authorized to transact insurance in this state in a property or casualty line
of insurance that is appropriate for covering damage or loss to subject property from the
activities of wildlife.
(b) Consult the Department of Consumer and Business Services with respect to the ade-
quacy of a ceding insurer’s capital, surplus and reserves before assuming a risk from the
cedinginsurer.
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 4629 HB3834
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(c) Specify a maximum amount of coverage for all reinsurance policies the Oregon De-
partment of Administrative Services issues, setting the maximum for each policy at an
amountthat:
(A) Provides adequate protection for ceding insurers and incentives for ceding insurers
to issue policies of insurance against damage or loss to subject property from the activities
of wildlife; and
(B) Protects and continues the soundness and solvency of the Wildlife Damage Reinsur-
ance Fund established in section 3 of this 2025 Act.
(d) Otherwise comports with applicable provisions of the Insurance Code with respect to
reinsurance and with sound principles of insurance.
(3) In order to create incentives for insurers to provide coverage for damage or loss to
subject property, the Oregon Department of Administrative Services shall set as a priority
issuing policies of reinsurance under this section in locations and in insurance markets in
this state in which coverage for damage or loss to subject property from the activities of
wildlife is inadequate.
(4) This section does not give an insurer a right to obtain reinsurance from the Oregon
Department of Administrative Services if the department determines that the insurer does
not have authority to transact insurance in this state, is inadequately capitalized, is finan-
cially unsound or otherwise uninsurable or if the department determines that providing re-
insurance for the insurer is otherwise inconsistent with sound principles of insurance or the
actuarial soundness of the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund.
SECTION 3. (1) There is established the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund within the
State Treasury, separate and distinct from the General Fund, which the Oregon Department
of Administrative Services shall use for the purpose of reinsuring insurers that issue policies
that cover the risk of damage or loss to subject property from the activities of wildlife. The
moneys in the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund may be invested as provided in ORS 293.701
to 293.857 in investment funds, as defined in ORS 293.701. Interest the fund earns must be
credited to the fund.
(2) To provide appropriate accountability, the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund must
be administratively separated from other funds that the department administers and into
which the department deposits premiums and other moneys and from which the department
pays claims that are not the reinsurance described in section 2 of this 2025 Act.
(3) The State Treasurer shall set aside and credit to the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance
Fund all moneys the department receives as payment of premium, as appropriations or from
other sources that are dedicated specifically for use in the reinsurance described in section
2 of this 2025 Act. The moneys in the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund are continuously
appropriated to the department to carry out the purposes set forth in section 2 of this 2025
Act.
SECTION 4. (1) The Legislative Assembly intends that the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance
Fund established in section 3 of this 2025 Act operate on an actuarially sound basis and that
the rates and charges for policies of reinsurance reflect this policy.
(2) In any year when the moneys in the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund are not suf-
ficient to keep the fund or any of the fund’s components actuarially sound and to make all
payments required under applicable law, moneys may be advanced from other funds in the
State Treasury under the provisions of ORS 293.205 to 293.225. The Joint Committee on Ways
[2] HB3834
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and Means of the Legislative Assembly, if the Legislative Assembly is in session, or the
Emergency Board, if the Legislative Assembly is not in session, must approve any advance
to the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund before the advance occurs.
(3) Moneys advanced to the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund as provided in this section
must be repaid from the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund in annual installments, with
interest as provided in ORS 293.220. The Oregon Department of Administrative Services shall
fix the amount of the installments at an amount that can reasonably be expected to liquidate
the indebtedness of the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund in not more than 10 years.
SECTION 5. (1) The Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund established in section 3 of this
2025 Act is a trust fund exclusively for the uses and purposes specified in section 2 of this
2025 Act, except that this provision does not amend or impair the force or effect of section
3 of this 2025 Act or any other law of this state that specifically authorizes investing moneys
from the fund.
(2) Subject to the right of the State of Oregon to direct legislatively the disposition of
any surplus in excess of reserves and surplus deemed actuarially necessary according to re-
cognized insurance principles, and necessary in addition thereto to assure continued fiscal
soundness of the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund, the State of Oregon declares that the
state has no proprietary interest in the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund.
SECTION 6. (1) The Oregon Department of Administrative Services may set aside, from
interest and other income received through investment of the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance
Fund established in section 3 of this 2025 Act, that part of the income that the department
considers necessary to establish and maintain in the fund one or more reserve accounts. The
department shall maintain and use the reserve accounts to offset gains and losses of invested
capital.
(2) The department may set aside such other reserves within the Wildlife Damage Rein-
surance Fund as the department deems necessary to:
(a) Pay the administrative expenses and related expenses the department incurs in
transacting insurance under section 2 of this 2025 Act; and
(b) Ensure the actuarial soundness of the fund.
SECTION 7. The Oregon Department of Administrative Services shall annually report, in
the manner prescribed in ORS 192.245, to committees or interim committees of the Legisla-
tive Assembly related to insurance on:
(1) Activities under the program described in section 2 of this 2025 Act since the previous
report under this section.
(2) Expenditures from the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund described in section 3 of
this 2025 Act since the previous report under this section.
SECTION 8.There is appropriated to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services,
for the biennium beginning July 1, 2025, out of the General Fund, the amount of $ for
deposit in the Wildlife Damage Reinsurance Fund established by section 3 of this 2025 Act.
SECTION 9.This 2025 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public
peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2025 Act takes effect
on its passage.
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