Nursing-Related Legislature Tracker
Janette Wilkinson, MN, PMHNP
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practioner
Willamette Health & Wellness in Portland, OR
Oregon's 2025 Legislative Session convened on Tuesday, January 21. State lawmakers are back to work with various healthcare and nursing-focused bills proposed for this year’s season. The Oregon Center for Nursing compiles an annual nonpartisan tracker of proposed bills with the possibility of impacting nursing professionals and the healthcare workforce. This page is updated weekly with the latest legislative process.
Please note that this resource is not all-inclusive and only intended for educational purposes. We encourage all users to conduct independent research on the proposed legislature and contact their state representatives to share feedback or testimony.
Bill No. | Title | Summary | Chief Sponsor | Location | Hearings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Relating to the health care workforce. | Requires the Oregon Health Authority to study the health care workforce in Oregon. | Sen. Patterson | Referred to Sen. Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to health care. | Requires the Oregon Health Authority to study health care. | Sen. Patterson | Referred to Sen. Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to primary care. | Requires the Oregon Health Authority to study primary care in Oregon. | Sen. Patterson | Referred to Sen. Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to universal health care. | Requires the Universal Health Plan Governance Board to study universal health care. | No Sponsor | Referred to Sen. Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to the health care workforce. | Requires the Oregon Health Authority to study matters relating to the health care workforce in this state. | No Sponsor | Referred to Sen. Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to health care. | Requires the Oregon Health Authority to study health care. | No Sponsor | Referred to Sen. Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to health care provider incentives. | Defines "rural" for purposes of the rural health care provider incentive program. | Sen. Weber | Referred to Sen. Health Care | Public Hearing Held on February 6, 2025 | |
Relating to a wellness program for Oregon health care professionals. | Directs the Oregon Department of Administrative Services to distribute moneys to the Oregon Wellness Program for specified purposes. | Sen. Patterson | Referred to Sen. Health Care | Public Hearing Held on February 11, 2025 Work Session Scheduled for February 27, 2025 | |
Relating to violence in health care settings; prescribing an effective date. | Creates workplace violence prevention requirements for certain health care entities. | Sen. Patterson | Referred to Sen. Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to community health; declaring an emergency. | Directs the Oregon Health Authority and coordinated care organizations to contract directly with traditional health workers, community health registered nurses and community-based organizations to provide services to medical assistance recipients. | Sen. Patterson | Referred to Sen. Health Care, then to Ways & Means | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to occupational disease. | Adds certain health care employees to the list of workers for whom certain stress disorders give rise to a presumption that a workers' compensation claim is compensable as an occupational disease. | Sen. Campos | Referred to Sen. Labor and Business | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to health professional licensing interstate compacts; prescribing an effective date. | Enacts the interstate Nurse Licensure Compact. | Sen. Smith | Referred to Sen. Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to the protection of health care workers. | Expands the crime of assault in the third degree to include causing physical injury to a health care worker while the worker is acting in the course of official duty. | Rep. Mannix | Referred to House Judicial | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to the qualifications for the Oregon Promise program. | Changes the requirements to qualify for the Oregon Promise program by removing the requirement that a person must receive the person's highest level of education six months prior to enrolling in a community college, removing the requirement that a person must complete high school in this state, removing the requirement that a person must have earned a cumulative grade point average of 2.0. | Rep. Hudson | Referred to Higher Education and Workforce Development | Public Hearing Held on February 4, 2025 | |
Relating to violence in health care settings; prescribing an effective date. | Creates workplace violence prevention requirements for certain health care entities. | Rep. Nelson | Referred to House Behavioral Health & Health Care | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to part-time faculty at community colleges; declaring an emergency. | Requires community colleges to pay part-time faculty at the same rate, on a per-hour basis, as the community college pays full-time faculty to prepare for and teach a course. | Rep. Ruiz | Referred to Higher Education and Workforce Development | Public Hearing Held on February 6, 2025 Work Session Scheduled for February 27, 2025 | |
Relating to nurse faculty compensation. | Requires the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to study nurse faculty compensation in this state. | Rep. Hudson | Referred to House Education and Workforce Development | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to emergency preparedness; prescribing an effective date. | Requires health care facilities, health care providers, local public health authorities and public and private safety agencies to maintain capacity, including sufficient amounts of certain supplies, to continue in normal operation for 120 days at a 25 percent mortality rate. | Rep. Evans | Referred to Emergency Management, General Government, and Veterans with subsequent referral to Ways and Means | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to the use of nursing titles. | Prohibits a nonhuman entity from using the title "nurse" or other similar titles. | Rep. Nelson | Referred to House Behavioral Health & Health Care | Public Hearing Held on January 28, 2025 Work Session Held on February 20, 2025 Third Reading Scheduled for February 27, 2025 | |
Relating to services provided by registered nurses; prescribing an effective date. | Prohibits the Oregon Health Authority under specified circumstances from requiring, as a condition of reimbursing the cost of the service, a primary care provider to order a covered care management service provided by a licensed registered nurse to a medical assistance recipient. | Rep. Nelson | Referred to House Behavioral Health and Health Care | Public Hearing Held on January 28, 2025 Work Session Scheduled for February 20, 2025 Third Reading Scheduled for February 27, 2025 | |
Relating to exceptions to prohibited use of official position or office. | Provides an exception to the prohibition against a public official using official position or office for financial gain or avoidance of financial detriment. | No Sponsor | Referred to House Rules | Public Hearing Held on January 27, 2025 | |
Relating to schools. | Provides that only a registered nurse may supervise a nurse in a school setting with respect to the practice of nursing. | Rep. Nelson | Referred to House Behavioral Health and Health Care | Public Hearing Held on January 28, 2025 Work Session Scheduled for February 27, 2025 | |
Relating to linguistically appropriate health care. | Directs the Oregon Medical Board and Oregon State Board of Nursing to offer language education to health care providers regulated by the boards and make available patient forms in languages patients can comfortably communicate. | Rep. Nelson | Referred to House Behavioral Health & Health Care, then to Ways & Means | Public Hearing Scheduled for February 18, 2025 | |
Relating to nursing; prescribing an effective date. | Defines "Advanced Practice Registered Nurse," "diagnosing" and "medication aide. | No Sponsor | Referred to House Behavioral Health and Health Care | Public Hearing Scheduled for February 18, 2025 | |
Relating to staffing plans for home health care entities; prescribing an effective date. | Requires home health agencies and home hospice programs to establish home health and home hospice staffing committees to develop staffing plans. | Rep. Nosse | Referred to House Behavioral Health & Health Care, then to Ways & Means | No Hearings Scheduled | |
Relating to nursing education. | Directs the Oregon State Board of Nursing to adopt rules to require a certain student-to-faculty ratio in the clinical component of nursing education programs. | Rep. Nathanson | Referred to House Behavioral Health and Health Care | Public Hearing Held on January 28, 2025 | |
HB-3280 | Relating to rural medical training facilities; declaring an emergency. | Establishes a Task Force on Rural Medical Training Facilities. Directs the task force to investigate issues related to alleviating a shortage of skilled and experienced nurses and medical technicians in or near Douglas County. | No Sponsor | Referred to Ways and Means; assigned to sub-committee on Human Services | No Hearings Scheduled |
Download this Legislative Bill Tracker as a PDF.
Last updated February 26, 2025.