The good, the bad, and the weird from the Oregon and Washington short legislative sessions
By: Kelly Campbell, Policy Director
It’s a wrap! Oregon and Washington’s 2026 short but busy legislative sessions are over. Columbia Riverkeeper was active in shaping policy in both states’ capitals this year where we had some successes, defeats, and some surprises. We’ll run through the highlights below.
Priority Bill in Oregon: HB 4046 Nuclear Study Bill. Defeated!
Following up on last year’s 13 pro-nuclear bills, nuclear boosters focused on one bill this session. The bill would have required the Oregon Department of Energy to study nuclear power, but only after they raised private or federal funds to pay for the study. In a surprise opening to the session, Columbia Riverkeeper was invited to negotiate bill language with the nuclear industry’s lobbyist. After nearly four hours of discussion over a weekend, we were able to make the bill more robust, so that if it did pass, it would have been a more objective study. However, some of our key amendments were not accepted. This led us, along with other coalition members, to actively oppose the bill, which passed out of its first committee but was left to die at the end of session in the Ways and Means Committee.
Nuclear backers have vowed to come back next session. If so, they will find that our coalition to keep Oregon nuclear-free is growing.
Big thanks to all the partner groups who helped defeat this bill, and to Senator Khanh Pham who testified against the bill, and Senator Courtney Neron-Misslin for submitting testimony in opposition and reading testimony from Walla Walla Tribal member and former Columbia Riverkeeper board member Cathy Sampson-Kruse on the Senate floor.
Other Oregon bills we weighed in on:
The Wins
- HB 4134: 1.25% for Wildlife. Support. Passed!
- HB 4006: Umatilla water rights law rule changes. Oppose. Defeated!
- SB 1586: “Jobs Act” (promoting data centers). Oppose. Defeated!
- HB 4073: Mandating Rulemaking Advisory Committee members be 50% regulated entities. Oppose. Defeated!
The Losses
- SB 1541: Climate Superfund. Support. Defeated.
- SB 1582: Community Based Power. Support. Defeated.
- HB 4102: DEQ Third Party Permitting. Oppose. Passed.
- SB 1597: Nuclear Waste. Support. Defeated.
The Outlier
- HB 4048: Governor’s economic prosperity bill, included extending tax breaks for data centers. We proposed the bill be amended to exclude new data centers from tax breaks, which it was! The moratorium on new data center tax breaks lasts for one year, but only for urban areas and does not apply to existing data centers in Columbia River communities. Small win.
Washington Priority Bill: HB 2515 Data Center Regulation. Support. Defeated.
We were grateful to be part of a large and broad coalition of organizations working together to pass a strong and meaningful bill to regulate out-of-control data center expansion in Washington.
HB 2515 started out as a reasonably robust bill to regulate data centers. The bill included provisions in support of affordability, reliability, transparency, and clean energy. Some strong water provisions were added thanks to Waterkeeper partners including Puget Soundkeeper.
As the bill progressed through committees, Big Tech, which was noticeably absent from early hearings, became more visible and vocal, demanding gutting of most major provisions. Eventually, they got their wish as the Senate Ways and Means committee chose not to move forward with the bill rather than pass a weakened shell of the original legislation. Read my Opinion Editorial in the Washington State Standard that was published the same day the bill died.
Notably, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation played a huge part in shaping bill concepts, including pushing for strong provisions that would require data centers to curtail their energy consumption in an energy emergency. They reminded lawmakers of past energy emergencies where the practice of running salmon through dam turbines, resulting in killing millions of juvenile salmon.
Tribal leaders gave powerful testimony on this point including Jeremy Takala from the Yakama Nation Tribal Council, Ashton Picard, Vice-chair of Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, Lisa Ganuelas, member of Board of Trustees of Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and, Aja DeCoteau, Executive Director of Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission.
While the bill did not make it through in this short session, the legislative sponsor, Representative Beth Doglio, and coalition partners have all expressed interest in building on this session’s experience to come back with more next year. Stay tuned.
Other Washington bills we weighed in on:
The Wins
- HB 1903: Low-income energy assistance. Support. Passed!
- SB 5982: CETA loophole closure bill. Support. Passed!
- SB 6231: removing tax exemption for replacement of data centers equipment. Support. Passed!
- Several bills promoting nuclear power. Oppose. Defeated!
- HB 2090/SB 5821 Integrating advanced nuclear energy into the state energy strategy.
- HB 2608 Urban areas tax preference for projects related to nuclear facilities.
- HB 2103/SB 6004 Contracts for the capability of nonemitting electric generation projects.
- HJM 4016 Hosting a federal nuclear lifecycle innovation campus.
The Losses
- HB 2421/SB 6119 Banning 6PPD and regrettable substitutes in tires. Support. Failed.
- HB 1210 Targeted urban area tax preferences including nuclear. Oppose. Passed. (Action: call Governor Ferguson at 360-902-4111 and ask him not to sign the bill!)
The Budget
We also weighed in on budget issues including funding for the HEAL Act, and Investment in Energy and Recreation Studies for a Free-Flowing Lower Snake River.
Clean and Abundant Waters Lobby Day
One of the bright spots of the legislative session was participating in the Waterkeepers of Washington Clean and Abundant Waters lobby day in Olympia. We got a chance to connect with our fellow Waterkeepers and meet with key legislators about our shared values.
Thanks to all of you who signed our petitions, submitted testimony, or contacted your legislators this session. Your voices for clean water, healthy communities, and our climate this legislative session made a difference. See you next year for the long session!
