1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Senate Bill 478
Sponsored by Senators JAMA, FREDERICK, Representative NERON (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 adds new duties to boards of community colleges. The Act declares an emer-
gency and becomes law when the Governor signs it. (Flesch Readability Score: 62.7).
Revises the duties of boards of education of community college districts. Requires the boards to
approve a community college’s membership in a state or national association. Permits the board to
provide stipends to members of the board. Requires the members of the board to have an official
electronic mail address that is posted on the website maintained by the community college. Requires
the board to include an additional voting member of the board who is a full-time student at the
community college.Requires the board to report to the Legislative Assembly on the board’s com-
pliance with the Act.
Declares an emergency, effective on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to duties of boards of education of community college districts; creating new provisions;
amending ORS 341.283; and declaring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 341.283 is amended to read:
341.283. (1) After July 1 of each year, the board of a district shall meet and organize by electing
a chairperson and a vice chairperson from its members.
(2) The board shall provide for the time and place of its regular meetings, at any of which it
may adjourn to the next succeeding regular meeting or to some specified time prior thereto. Special
meetings shall be convened by order of the chairperson of the board or upon the request of four
board members at least 24 hours before such meeting is to be held, or by common consent of the
board members. Notice of any special meeting shall be given to the members pursuant to bylaws of
the board.
(3) A majority of the board members shall constitute a quorum. The affirmative vote of the ma-
jority of members of the board is required to transact any business.
(4) The board shall adopt rules for the government of the conduct of its members and its pro-
ceedings. The board shall keep a journal and, on the call of any one of its members, shall cause the
yeas and nays to be taken and entered upon its journal upon any question before it.
(5) Any duty imposed upon the board as a body shall be performed at a regular or special
meeting and shall be made a matter of record. The consent to any particular measure obtained from
individual board members when the board is not in session shall not be an act of the board and shall
not be binding upon the district.
[(6) Members of the board shall receive no compensation for their services, but they shall be al-
lowed the actual and necessary expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties.]
(6) Before a community college may become a member of any state or national associ-
ation, the board must approve the membership with an affirmative vote of the majority of
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 702 SB478
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
members of the board.
(7)(a) A board may provide each member who is a voting member of the board with a
stipend not to exceed $500 per month. A stipend provided under this paragraph constitutes
part of the member’s compensation.
(b) In addition to a stipend under paragraph (a) of this subsection, a board may provide
reimbursement to each member for actual and necessary expenses incurred or paid by the
member in the performance of the member’s duties.
(c) A member may exercise the option not to receive a stipend provided under paragraph
(a) of this subsection.
(d) A member who receives a stipend under paragraph (a) of this subsection is not an
employee of the community college district.
SECTION 2. ORS 341.283, as amended by section 1 of this 2025 Act, is amended to read:
341.283. (1) After July 1 of each year, the board of a district shall meet and organize by electing
a chairperson and a vice chairperson from its members.
(2) The board shall provide for the time and place of its regular meetings, at any of which it
may adjourn to the next succeeding regular meeting or to some specified time prior thereto. Special
meetings shall be convened by order of the chairperson of the board or upon the request of four
board members at least 24 hours before such meeting is to be held, or by common consent of the
board members. Notice of any special meeting shall be given to the members pursuant to bylaws of
the board.
(3) A majority of the board members shall constitute a quorum. The affirmative vote of the ma-
jority of members of the board is required to transact any business.
(4) The board shall adopt rules for the government of the conduct of its members and its pro-
ceedings. The board shall keep a journal and, on the call of any one of its members, shall cause the
yeas and nays to be taken and entered upon its journal upon any question before it.
(5) Any duty imposed upon the board as a body shall be performed at a regular or special
meeting and shall be made a matter of record. The consent to any particular measure obtained from
individual board members when the board is not in session shall not be an act of the board and shall
not be binding upon the district.
(6) Before a community college may become a member of any state or national association, the
board must approve the membership with an affirmative vote of the majority of members of the
board.
(7)(a) A board may provide each member who is a voting member of the board with a stipend
not to exceed $500 per month. A stipend provided under this paragraph constitutes part of the
member’scompensation.
(b) In addition to a stipend under paragraph (a) of this subsection, a board may provide re-
imbursement to each member for actual and necessary expenses incurred or paid by the member in
the performance of the member’s duties.
(c) A member may exercise the option not to receive a stipend provided under paragraph (a) of
this subsection.
(d) A member who receives a stipend under paragraph (a) of this subsection is not an employee
of the community college district.
(8) Each member of the board shall have an official institutional electronic mail address
that is clearly and publicly posted on the website maintained by the community college.
SECTION 3. The amendments to ORS 341.283 by section 2 of this 2025 Act become oper-
[2] SB478
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
ative 90 days following the effective date of this 2025 Act.
SECTION 4. ORS 341.283, as amended by sections 1 and 2 of this 2025 Act, is amended to read:
341.283. (1) After July 1 of each year, the board of a district shall meet and organize by electing
a chairperson and a vice chairperson from its members.
(2) The board shall provide for the time and place of its regular meetings, at any of which it
may adjourn to the next succeeding regular meeting or to some specified time prior thereto. Special
meetings shall be convened by order of the chairperson of the board or upon the request of four
board members at least 24 hours before such meeting is to be held, or by common consent of the
board members. Notice of any special meeting shall be given to the members pursuant to bylaws of
the board.
(3) A majority of the board members shall constitute a quorum. The affirmative vote of the ma-
jority of members of the board is required to transact any business.
(4) The board shall adopt rules for the government of the conduct of its members and its pro-
ceedings. The board shall keep a journal and, on the call of any one of its members, shall cause the
yeas and nays to be taken and entered upon its journal upon any question before it.
(5) Any duty imposed upon the board as a body shall be performed at a regular or special
meeting and shall be made a matter of record. The consent to any particular measure obtained from
individual board members when the board is not in session shall not be an act of the board and shall
not be binding upon the district.
(6) Before a community college may become a member of any state or national association, the
board must approve the membership with an affirmative vote of the majority of members of the
board.
(7)(a) A board may provide each member who is a voting member of the board with a stipend
not to exceed $500 per month. A stipend provided under this paragraph constitutes part of the
member’scompensation.
(b) In addition to a stipend under paragraph (a) of this subsection, a board may provide re-
imbursement to each member for actual and necessary expenses incurred or paid by the member in
the performance of the member’s duties.
(c) A member may exercise the option not to receive a stipend provided under paragraph (a) of
this subsection.
(d) A member who receives a stipend under paragraph (a) of this subsection is not an employee
of the community college district.
(8) Each member of the board shall have an official institutional electronic mail address that is
clearly and publicly posted on the website maintained by the community college.
(9) In addition to the members of the board determined under ORS 341.275, the board
shall include at least one additional voting member of the board who is a student enrolled
full-time at the community college. The member who is a student must be elected or selected
through a process held by the student government or student governance structure at the
communitycollege.
SECTION 5. The amendments to ORS 341.283 by section 4 of this 2025 Act become oper-
ative on July 1, 2026.
SECTION 6.Each community college district shall submit a report that includes dis-
cussion of the degree to which the community college has complied with the requirements
of ORS 341.283, as amended by sections 1, 2 and 4 of this 2025 Act, to the interim committees
of the Legislative Assembly related to higher education not later than September 1, 2027. The
[3] SB478
1
2
3
4
5
6
report under this section must include input from representatives of student, faculty and
nonfaculty staff governance organizations.
SECTION 7. 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.
[4]