All Roll Calls
Yes: 116 • No: 36
OregonSB 8442025 Regular SessionSenateWALLET
Relating to public health.
Sponsored By: Sponsor information unavailable
Signed by Governor
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
13 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 2 costs, 8 mixed.
Environmental health trainees gain more flexibility
Environmental health trainees can qualify with a bachelor’s degree and 45 quarter hours of science, or equivalent semester hours. Another path requires 15 quarter hours of science, or equivalent semester hours, and five years of qualifying related experience. That experience must be supervised by a registered specialist or someone the board finds equally qualified. Applicants must apply and pay fees; the board can require an exam, but statute no longer requires one directly. The law removes the former two-year full-time work limit, or part-time equivalent, without setting a replacement statutory limit.
More paths for environmental health specialists
Applicants can qualify for environmental health specialist registration with an active credential from a board-recognized national association. Existing paths remain: a bachelor’s degree with 45 quarter hours of science plus two years of supervised experience, or a qualifying graduate degree plus one year. Applicants still must apply, pay fees, and pass an approved exam. Relevant Armed Forces or U.S. Public Health Service schooling can count toward specialist and trainee education requirements. Registered specialists practicing environmental health do not need engineering registration; trainees share this exemption when supervised by a registered specialist.
Registration paths for wastewater specialists
Wastewater specialist applicants must apply, pay fees, pass an approved exam, and meet one of three qualification paths. One requires a bachelor’s degree with 45 quarter hours of soil science and two years of supervised in-state wastewater experience. Another requires a graduate soil science degree and one year of supervised in-state wastewater experience. The third requires a graduate soil science degree and current professional soil scientist certification. The office can also grant trainee registration after application and fees, with either a bachelor’s degree and 45 quarter hours of soil science or equivalent, or a graduate soil science degree.
Lab misdemeanor penalty covers fewer violations
The law narrows this Class A misdemeanor penalty to violations of the clinical laboratory certification statute. It no longer covers the wider set of laboratory laws previously listed. Each day of a continuing violation of the certification statute remains a separate offense.
Record fees for professionals facing discipline
The Health Licensing Office can charge people facing discipline for providing certain investigation records they request in writing. Fees must reasonably cover the actual cost of disclosing the information. The law sets no dollar amount.
State loses specified lab inspection powers
The law removes one statutory grant of Oregon Health Authority power to enter and inspect clinical labs. It covers inspections of facilities, staff, equipment, testing methods, results, and records. The same section no longer authorizes the authority to demand reports about lab operations and procedures. This change does not establish whether other inspection powers remain.
Drug screening safeguards and uncapped fees
On-site drug screening providers need permits and must follow manufacturer instructions, sample-handling safeguards, and operator training rules. Positive results that could cost someone employment or benefits must receive certified-lab confirmation, or equivalent out-of-state confirmation, before release. These screening tests cannot diagnose or prevent disease or be used by licensed health professionals for treatment. Certified clinical labs can also perform on-site screening. Entities using these tests pay an annual filing fee set by state rule; the law removes the former $50 cap without setting a new amount.
Psilocybin records get new sharing rules
Health professional boards can share certain confidential records with the Oregon Health Authority for psilocybin regulation and enforcement. The authority must use them only as needed and take reasonable steps to protect confidentiality. A public-disclosure exemption for certain psilocybin applicant and licensee records does not cover law-enforcement requests unless another specified confidentiality law applies. Covered records include identifying details, premises addresses, security plans, and proprietary records. These changes apply to information obtained on or after the law’s effective date.
Updated lab credentials for alcohol evidence
For the covered driving and boating laws, qualifying blood alcohol analyses must come from certified labs approved for toxicology testing. This replaces references to the former laboratory license requirement. The change concerns which lab credentials qualify test results for these legal proceedings.
Disease reporting changes include privacy rollback
The Oregon Health Authority can require certified labs to report initial findings that indicate a communicable disease. Reports include the specimen source’s name only when the lab received it, plus the requesting doctor’s name and address. The law removes this section’s limits on who can access those reports and its requirement for nonidentifying data compilations. The supplied provisions do not identify other privacy protections that remain.
Labs face certification and screening rules
Clinical labs must hold a state or federal certificate and meet federal laboratory standards to operate in Oregon. Labs performing health screening in Oregon need an Oregon permit, including labs based outside the state. Employers arranging third-party employee health screening must use permitted providers; state rules cover fees, staff qualifications, test quality, counseling, and referrals. The Oregon Health Authority can deny, suspend, or revoke lab certificates and testing permits for listed violations, including false reports. The law also repeals 12 laboratory statutes whose individual effects are not explained in the supplied provisions.
School health centers gain support options
The Oregon Health Authority can hire multiple groups, rather than one, to support grant-funded school health centers. Contracts must include technical help, business support, relationship-building, and help fitting centers into local policies. Qualifying centers must involve youth, schools, communities, and health providers, including public health authorities. They must be on school district grounds or grounds of a school run by a federally recognized tribe or tribal organization. These provisions specify no new funding amount.
New oversight for environmental health careers
The Health Licensing Office controls qualifications, exams, and registration decisions for environmental health and wastewater specialists. It can allow credential or exam waivers, temporary registrations, and recognition of prior experience. It can also limit trainee renewals, while the registration board sets exams, practice standards, and trainee supervision rules. Three registration statutes are repealed for applications submitted on or after the law’s effective date. The supplied provisions do not explain those repealed statutes’ requirements.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
There is no primary sponsor on record.
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 6/27/2025
Rules suspended. Senate concurred in House amendments and repassed bill.
Yes: 20 • No: 9
legislature vote • 6/26/2025
Ways and Means: Heard and Reported Out with Amendments
Yes: 21 • No: 0
House vote • 6/26/2025
Rules suspended. Third reading. Carried by Nelson. Passed.
Yes: 39 • No: 5
Senate vote • 6/23/2025
Third reading. Carried by Patterson. Passed.
Yes: 18 • No: 12
legislature vote • 6/17/2025
Ways and Means: Heard and Reported Out with Amendments
Yes: 15 • No: 8
Senate vote • 4/3/2025
Health Care: Heard and Reported Out with Amendments
Yes: 3 • No: 2
Actions Timeline
Effective date, January 1, 2026.
8/13/2025SenateChapter 624, 2025 Laws.
8/13/2025SenateGovernor signed.
7/31/2025SenateSpeaker signed.
6/30/2025HousePresident signed.
6/30/2025SenateRules suspended. Senate concurred in House amendments and repassed bill.
6/27/2025SenateRules suspended. Third reading. Carried by Nelson. Passed.
6/26/2025HouseSecond reading.
6/26/2025HouseRecommendation: Do pass with amendments and be printed C-Engrossed.
6/26/2025HouseWork Session held.
6/26/2025HouseReferred to Ways and Means.
6/23/2025HouseFirst reading. Referred to Speaker's desk.
6/23/2025HouseThird reading. Carried by Patterson. Passed.
6/23/2025SenateSecond reading.
6/20/2025SenateRecommendation: Do pass with amendments to the A-Eng. bill. (Printed B-Eng.)
6/19/2025SenateWork Session held.
6/17/2025SenateReturned to Full Committee.
6/11/2025SenateWork Session held.
6/11/2025SenateAssigned to Subcommittee On Human Services.
6/7/2025SenateReferred to Ways and Means by order of the President.
4/10/2025SenateRecommendation: Do pass with amendments and be referred to Ways and Means. (Printed A-Eng.)
4/10/2025SenateWork Session held.
4/3/2025SenatePublic Hearing held.
3/18/2025SenateReferred to Health Care.
1/17/2025SenateIntroduction and first reading. Referred to President's desk.
1/13/2025Senate
Bill Text
JWM Amendment -B4 (Adopted)
6/26/2025
JWM Amendment -A2 (Adopted)
6/17/2025
JWMHS Amendment -A2 (Proposed)
6/11/2025
SHC Amendment -1 (Adopted)
4/3/2025
SHC Amendment -1 (Proposed)
3/18/2025
A-Engrossed
B-Engrossed
C-Engrossed
Enrolled
House Amendments to B-Engrossed
Introduced
Senate Amendments to A-Engrossed
Senate Amendments to Introduced
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