Insurance is an essential service that we must purchase throughout our lives and at many key life stages. When we purchase insurance, we expect insurance companies to honor their agreements if we are faced with tragedy or hardship. While other industries that provide services to Oregonians are covered by Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act (UTPA), the insurance industry is not subject to this same standard of accountability and transparency.

When people experience illness or injuries and the accompanying bills, they shouldn't face unnecessary barriers to economic opportunities including getting a job and renting or buying a home. Medical debt damages Oregonians' credit scores, despite being an unreliable indicator of their ability to pay future bills. Medical debt does not reflect financial responsibility and has no place on credit reports.

Oregonians should be able to feel confident that car dealerships will fulfill their promises and stick to the financing terms agreed to at the time of purchase, especially when the buyer leaves the lot with the vehicle. This legislation will give dealers four days to close the deal (instead of 14 days), and if they can't find a financial institution to buy the loan, the dealer has two choices: hold the loan at the originally agreed-upon terms or void the contract.

Oregon has an opportunity to protect consumers from predatory lending by closing a loophole in federal law that allows lenders to bypass Oregon's 36% interest rate cap by partnering with banks in other states. Originating from the Department of Consumer and Business Services, Division of Financial Regulation, this bill seeks to opt Oregon out of the Depository Institutions Deregulation Monetary Control Act (DIDMCA) provision that allows these predatory interest rate schemes, ending exorbitantly high interest rates on consumer loans.

Across the country, state legislatures are introducing similar bills to exempt online lending products, often called earned wage access (EWA), from state lending laws. States like Oregon, which have taken steps to regulate harmful payday lending practices, have not yet adopted these bills as they introduce a new form of payday loans. 

This bill protects consumers from purchasing used vehicles with outstanding safety recalls by requiring dealers to check and repair any open safety recalls before advertising or selling a used vehicle.

This bill is part of an advocacy effort at the federal and state levels to end predatory practices and establish clear requirements for a state contract with a third-party business to provide communication services at no cost to incarcerated persons.

The 2025 bill builds on the foundation laid by HB 4130 in the 2024 legislative session to clarify and strengthen the Corporate Practice of Medicine (CPOM) doctrine first enacted in Oregon in 1947. As more and more private equity firms have entered the health care space, now more than ever, we need to ensure that health care providers, not corporations, run medical clinics. 

SB 550 will add electric wheelchairs and other mobility devices to Oregon’s right-to-repair law. SB 549 removes a requirement for prior authorization from Medicaid for wheelchair repairs, reducing technician wait times for people who use wheelchairs to work on their chairs.

In Oregon and across the county, consumers are spending too much and getting too little in return for health care. We shouldn't have to pay unexpected facility fees in addition to other expensive medical bills.

This bill clarifies and defines how long a consumer has to file a complaint with the Construction Contractor Board to the earlier of six years from the time the contract is signed or one year from the time the contractor provides notice of work being completed. 

The FAIR Energy Act gives state regulators the ability to set energy billing rates at the lowest possible level, so families can better avoid big increases in energy bills. This includes prohibiting winter rate increases when energy use is at its highest and increasing consumer pricing transparency.