OregonHB 24602025 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

Relating to local courts; and prescribing an effective date.

Sponsored By: Sponsor information unavailable

Signed by Governor

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

11 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 2 costs, 6 mixed.

Renters must fund eviction appeal stays

Tenants appealing a possession judgment must make monthly court deposits to pause eviction without a bond or sufficient surety. Each deposit equals the property's fair market rental value. Payments are due on the date in the written promise or court order. If a tenant misses a deposit, the landlord can enforce the judgment despite the appeal. The court distributes deposits according to the circuit court's final decision.

Court appeals carry fees and relief

Circuit-court fees apply to civil and violation-only appeals from justice courts and violation-only appeals from municipal courts. Parties owe fees when filing an appeal or making another first appearance. The baseline fee is $281; applicable tort and contract fees are $170 for claims through $10,000 and $283 above $10,000 but below $50,000. Those fees are $594 from $50,000 to below $1 million, $884 from $1 million to below $10 million, and $1,178 at $10 million or more. Appellants can request a waiver or delayed payment from the circuit court; separate statutory rules govern fees involving government parties.

Clearer appeal routes for court users

Appeals from justice courts that are not courts of record go to the county circuit court for a fresh hearing. For justice courts of record, violation and misdemeanor appeals go to the Court of Appeals; civil appeals follow circuit-court appeal rules. Appeal notices generally must be filed and served within 30 days, with special deadlines after some post-trial motions. Further appeals from circuit-court rulings follow separate violation and misdemeanor rules. A separate court-review process remains available for legal errors apparent in the record and mid-case constitutional rulings in violation or misdemeanor cases.

Court users get contacts and records

Justice courts must tell violation and misdemeanor defendants they can request contact information for serving an appeal notice. Courts must provide the required information when asked, and available relevant information to civil parties who request it. The docket and case file form the public case record and must be kept safe and secure. If a justice court is abolished, its records must go to the county circuit court clerk.

Defendants get judgment review and relief

In covered violation and misdemeanor cases, defendants can appeal convictions and sentences regardless of the sentence imposed. They can also appeal specified restitution decisions, including amended or corrected versions. Violation defendants can appeal denial of relief from default; defendants can cross-appeal when prosecutors appeal pretrial evidence-suppression orders. Courts can set aside covered violation default judgments for missed appearances caused by mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, or for court legal error. Requests must come within a reasonable time and no later than one year after judgment.

Appeals do not automatically pause penalties

Appealing a violation judgment does not automatically pause enforcement. Misdemeanor conviction-and-sentence appeals also require the applicable release or security arrangements to pause enforcement. For a confinement sentence, defendants must sign a release agreement or make a security deposit. People appealing traffic-crime convictions must provide the security required by traffic appeal law.

Civil appeals open with dollar limits

Justice-court civil appeals require at least $100 in dispute or personal-property value, unless the case seeks possession of real property. Judgments entered by confession or for failure to answer are excluded. Defendants can appeal denial of a request to set aside default; civil plaintiffs can appeal an order granting that request. Small-claims plaintiffs can appeal judgments on defendants' counterclaims, but small-claims appeals below $100, excluding disbursements, are barred. Small-claims judgments from justice courts of record cannot be appealed.

Civil appeals require financial payment promises

Civil appellants from justice court must file a written promise to pay awarded appeal costs within five days after notice. Either court can extend that deadline for good cause. Pausing a money judgment also requires promising payment of any amount upheld; pausing a judgment favoring the appellant requires notice and the cost promise. A contract creditor can enforce a money judgment despite an appeal stay by filing a repayment promise with sureties within five days. The creditor must give at least two days' notice and repay money as directed if the judgment changes.

Defendants gain transfers but lose plea options

In municipal courts that are not courts of record, misdemeanor defendants can choose transfer within 10 days after pleading not guilty. The court must promptly explain this right and immediately transfer the case when chosen. In non-record justice and municipal courts, defendants cannot enter conditional guilty or no-contest pleas. After an adverse pretrial ruling, they can request transfer within 10 days after entry of the order, before a verdict or guilty or no-contest plea. Both the court and prosecutor must agree; the justice-court option covers violations and misdemeanors, with filing-fee rules for violation-only transfers.

Justice courts hear claims within limits

Justice courts share authority over money, personal-property, and penalty claims of $10,000 or less, excluding costs and attorney fees. For personal property, the claimed value plus damages must fit the limit. They also hear specified property-possession cases and judgments entered by agreement. They cannot hear property-title disputes, false imprisonment, libel, slander, malicious prosecution, or covered lawsuits brought by adults in custody. Justice courts also share authority over the listed animal-related offenses, but not when those offenses are felonies.

Prosecutor appeals expand with dismissal limits

In covered violation and misdemeanor cases, prosecutors can appeal orders dismissing charges, accepting legal challenges, suppressing evidence, or returning seized items. They can also challenge orders blocking judgment or granting new trials, and orders granting default relief in violation cases. When an officer misses trial in a violation-only case, the State can appeal dismissal if the officer lacked timely notice. Timely notice bars state or county appeals of these dismissals at the justice-court or circuit-court stage. Counties and cities acting as plaintiffs count as the State in specified appeals from local courts of record.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 150 • No: 2

House vote • 5/27/2025

House concurred in Senate amendments and repassed bill.

Yes: 55 • No: 1

Senate vote • 5/21/2025

Third reading. Carried by Prozanski. Passed.

Yes: 26 • No: 1

Senate vote • 5/8/2025

Judiciary: Heard and Reported Out with Amendments

Yes: 6 • No: 0

House vote • 3/18/2025

Third reading. Carried by Mannix. Passed.

Yes: 55 • No: 0

House vote • 3/10/2025