Rep. Breese Iverson: Progress of 2025 Legislature

By Oregon State Representative Vikki Breese Iverson,

The 2025 legislative session has come to a close. Thank you for the opportunity to represent House District 59 and rural Oregon. As your state representative, I have sought to bring common sense, accountability, and a strong voice for rural values to your Capitol. This session we saw meaningful victories and painful defeats.

Despite the challenges of this session (and there were many), I was able to partner with likeminded legislators to effectively fight back against overreach from the far left, the nonprofit industrial complex and environmental fringe groups. Together, we focused on what matters most to our communities. Too often, decisions in Salem are made without understanding the realities of life East of the Cascades. I’ll continue standing strong, making sure our voices are not just heard but the impact to rural Oregon is considered in legislation coming forward.

Below is a quick review of key issues that I pushed forward in the 2025 session. I am proud of what we accomplished for rural Oregon!

Progress Made

• PASSED: SB 83 – Wildfire Map Repeal
  • Possibly the most significant accomplishment this session is the passage of SB 83 to repeal the deeply flawed wildfire maps and their accompanying mandates passed by overwhelming margins. This is a huge victory for rural Oregon. I worked with Republican and Democratic colleagues to repeal these maps. There is a lot more detail on this issue from the Oregon Property Owners Association who were absolutely critical to drafting and passing this legislation as well.
• PASSED: SB 777 – Wolf Compensation
  • Wolves aren’t as much of a problem in Portland and Salem, but they significantly harm ranchers in Central and Eastern Oregon. I pushed to adjust compensation to now include a multiplier of three to five times depending on the livestock.
• PASSED: SB 974 – 120 Day Permit Shot Clock
  • Together with Senator Dick Anderson, the vice chair of Senate Housing committee, we passed a massive consolidation of regulation. Now when housing is being built where housing is planned, builders will have certainty about how long their permits should take.
• RULEMAKING: HB 3133 – Preserving Family Farm Stands
  • We embraced government efficiency and instead of passing a new law, hope to streamline government regulations of farm stands to help family farms not only stay in business, but be more successful in their communities.
• FUNDED: HB 3135 – Western Juniper Removal Projects
  • In 2023, local Central and Eastern Oregon soil and water districts identified lands to remove Juniper overgrowth and study the effect on watersheds. I secured funding to ensure we can continue the effort to monitor the effect of Juniper, which are big water wasters, for the full five years.
• PASSED: HB 3136 – Planning Commission Fairness and Modernization
  • This modernized laws unfairly preventing certain kinds of occupations from serving on planning commissions while preserving local control.
• PASSED: HB 3137 – Modernizing Statutes for Real Estate Agents
  • The real estate industry came to the legislature asking for updates to the statutes to protect them and their consumers. As a REALTOR® myself, I appreciated the opportunity to bring this forward.
• PASSED: HB 3141 – Oregon Farmer and Rancher Day
  • Oregon’s farmers and ranchers don’t go get up early and work late for the recognition, but they deserve to be recognized. I appreciate my fellow legislators who voted to pass this overwhelmingly. We are brainstorming ideas for how to recognize the first annual Oregon Farmer and Rancher Day on March 17, 2026.
• PASSED: HB 3349 – Rangeland Fire Protection Association Funding and Equipment
  • This wildfire season started close to home. We are all thankful for the Lower Bridge RFPA for protecting so many homes and rangeland from the Alder Springs fire. I always look for opportunities to help the brave volunteer RFPAs across our state and this was a big victory.
• PASSED: HB 3746 – Condo Construction Liability Reform
  • We need all housing types. Condos don’t often make sense in rural Oregon, but in more urban regions, Condos are a great opportunity for first time buyers. We more fairly reformed liability to hopefully spur some construction which has declined in recent years due to high insurance and litigation costs.
• WORKGROUP: HB 3928 – Build Oregon Rural Housing Now (BORHN) Act
  • I am excited to continue the conversation about how we protect productive lands and provide the kind of housing folks in rural Oregon want to buy and live in.
• FUNDED: As co-chair of the Central Oregon Caucus, I led efforts to fund initiatives important to rural Central Oregon like the CORE3 Public Safety Training Facility, a sewer project in Culver, matching funds for Jefferson County Fire District #1 building expansion and remodel, and an important water and sewer project in our district.

Good First Attempts

• HB 3139 – Property Tax Protection for Homes Destroyed by Wildfire
  • Oregonians who lose their homes to wildfire shouldn’t be punished with higher property taxes when they rebuild their home.
• HB 3188 – Mortgage Help for First-Time Homebuyers
  • Reducing costs to first-time home buyers is smart. We need to help more Oregonians become homeowners and I believe that conversation is worth continuing to have.
• HB 3476 – Funding Improvements for 3^rd Street in Prineville
  • ODOT has made many promises to local governments over the years. When promises aren’t kept, this impacts trust in our agencies. Rural projects like 3^rd Street in Prineville are all part of that consideration. I think we will be talking about transportation in the short session (if not before).
• HB 3572 – Emergency Management Services (EMS) Modernization
  • Rural ambulance services are in crisis. We must make progress on this soon. I appreciate the opportunity to work with Rep. Grayber on this issue. It affects so many Oregonians, especially our rural seniors who need access to EMS services at a moments notice. The 911 call will be answered, but what happens when there isn’t an ambulance to send?
• HB 3844 – Indexing Estate Tax to Inflation
  • President Trump just made some progress raising the Estate Tax cap at the federal level from $10 million to $15 million. Oregon’s death tax still kicks in at $1 million. I believe it should be raised for everyone.
  • We did pass HB 3630 which will apply a natural resource exemption up to $15 million for family natural resource business lands in certain circumstances. This is a positive development. We need to change policies like the Estate Tax when they are driving people to retire in other states.
• HB 3846 – Ochoco National Forest Pilot Program and HJM 11 & 14 – Urging Congress to Return Control of Federal Lands to Oregon
  • Poor management of our sprawling federal lands is our largest wildfire risk. I started a conversation with Oregon Department of Forestry with my bill this session. We will continue the discussion through the interim. We are hearing positive developments from President Trump’s executive order. My hope is these will filter down to U.S. Forest Service who supervise Oregon’s federal forest land.

Challenges with Water

• We cut way back on astronomical increases in water fees at the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) and are building in additional accountability to have OWRD check back with the Natural Resources budget subcommittee to make sure this agency stays on track for Oregonians.
• SB 1154 is a bill I voted against because I do not think it provides the necessary protections for agriculture and historical water rights. However, the bill was revised down significantly to the point where environmental and social justice organizations don’t support it anymore. Advocacy from rural water users helped make this bill less devastating.

The post Rep. Breese Iverson: Progress of 2025 Legislature first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.