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For Immediate Release
Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee Moves Forward with Repealing Oregon’s Wildfire Maps Created by SB 762 During the 2021 Legislative Session
SALEM, Ore. – Senator David Brock Smith (R-Curry, Coos & Douglas Counties) and Senator Noah Robinson (R-Josephine County), along with Senate and House Republican Leadership, legislative colleagues, David Hunnicutt of Oregon Property Owners Association, ODF, OSFM and others, we now have the legislation moving to repeal the Wildfire Maps and associated mandates on our rural property owners created by SB 762 that passed four years ago.
“The repeal of the wildfire maps and associated regulations is an urgent matter,” said Senator Robinson. “Many Oregonians fear they will not be able to afford to continue living in their homes with these fire maps and regulations. I am delighted with this first step and look forward to supporting SB 83 on the Senate Floor.”
Senators Robinson and Brock Smith have been working with legislative colleagues’, stakeholders, and others on this urgent issue for many months. Senator Brock Smith drafted competing legislation against SB 762 during the 2021 Legislative Session that did not have mandates to property owners. He then sponsored legislation during the 2023 Legislative Session that would have repealed the Wildfire Maps created by SB 762, however Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee Chair Golden refused to hold a hearing and move the bill, so it died in his committee.
“Today is a good day for rural Oregonians,” said Senator Brock Smith. “With SB 83 passing out of committee, we are one step closer to reversing the devastating impacts of SB 762’s wildfire maps that we have been trying to overturn for years. I am grateful to the thousands of residents that brought the needed pressure for us to move this forward and to my colleagues for their support of these efforts for our residents. I look forward to our discussion and passage on the Senate Floor.”
House and Senate Republicans have also put forward a Wildfire Maps repeal legislation in HB 3944, that mirrors the language of SB 83.
What the repeal does:
SB 83 – Section by Section
Section 1: This section:
- Repeals ORS 455.612: This statute contains the home hardening (R327) requirements for new homes and remodels in the high hazard/WUI wildfire mapped areas. R327 code requirements, which predated SB 762 and the wildfire map, will remain as part of the state building code, but they won’t be tied to any map, since the map is being repealed.
- Repeals ORS 455.614: This statute requires DCBS to maintain a mapping tool showing wildfire areas where the home hardening standards applied and the requirements for complying with the R327 code in those areas. Since the map is being repealed, there’s no need for this tool.
- Repeals ORS 476.390: This statute defines “defensible space”. The same definition is being added as an amendment to ORS 476.392. Since OSFM’s regulatory authority over defensible space is being repealed, meaning ORS 476.394 becomes unnecessary, there’s no reason to have a separate statute that only contains a definition of “defensible space.” The definition is incorporated into ORS 476.392. In other words, this is just a style fix for LC, but it makes sense.
- Repeals ORS 476.394: This statute prohibits a county/city from using OSFM’s defensible space requirements as a criterion to approve or deny a land use application. Since the amendment removes OSFM’s defensible space regulatory authority, there’s no need for this statute.
- Repeals ORS 477.027: This statute directs ODF to define the “wildland urban interface” (WUI). Since we are providing our own definition of WUI (see Section 3 below), there is no need to direct ODF to do so. ODF’s current definition of WUI is massively overbroad and based on a federal statute that had nothing to do with regulation and includes rural areas that are miles from anything remotely urban. The proposed definition in Section 3 aligns with reality.
- Repeals ORS 477.161: This statute requires ODF, in conjunction with OSFM and local governments, to establish baseline standards for wildfire protection in areas outside of ODF forest protection districts. Since Section 29 of SB 762 mandated the counties to meet those baseline standards by January 1, 2026, this statute eliminates local control and is being repealed.
- Repeals ORS 477.490: This statute is the mapping statute. The maps would be repealed. Repeals Sections 12a, 12b, and 12d, SB 762: These sections established deadlines for DCBS home hardening requirements under ORS 455.612. Since the amendment eliminates DCBS’ repealed as well.
- Repeals Section 29, SB 762: This section required all counties to establish baseline standards for wildfire protection in areas outside of ODF forest protection districts by January 1, 2026. Since the amendment repeals ORS 477.161 (see above), this section was unnecessary and needs to be repealed.
Section 2: This section:
- Amends ORS 476.392 to eliminate the requirement that OSFM adopt defensible space requirements, apply those requirements in mapped wildfire areas, and enforce the requirements. Since the map is being eliminated, OSFM’s defensible space requirements aren’t capable of being tied to anything.
- Adds a definition of “defensible space” (the same definition currently found in ORS 476.390 – see the third bullet point under Section 1), and retains OSFM’s ability to administer a community risk reduction program which enables OSFM to establish educational, response planning, and community preparedness efforts incorporating defensible space. The amendments eliminate OSFM’s requirement to establish defensible space requirements and their enforcement authority to enforce any requirements they may choose to adopt on private property. They also direct OSFM to establish a defensible space model code and make that code available to all Oregon local governments. Local governments can choose to apply the code, can create their own code, or can have no code – the choice rests with the local government. OSFM needs to retain authority to administer a community risk reduction program in order to obtain federal funding for the program. That’s why this statute is amended rather than repealed.
- Authorizes OSFM to provide direct assistance to local governments to implement defensible space programs in their jurisdictions.
Section 3: This section:
- Amends ORS 477.015 to define the WUI, using a definition nearly identical to the existing definition repealed by SB 762. ORS 477.027, which is being repealed by this bill, authorized ODF to define the WUI. ODF did that, and their definition was horribly overbroad. Since the state will never have enough money to fully fund wildfire programs statewide, available dollars should be targeted to those areas of biggest risk for wildfire damage to people and property. Those are the WUI areas, but a tighter definition will help ensure that funding goes to areas at absolutely greatest risk for a wildfire catastrophe. The definition proposed in this bill is significantly narrowed to apply only in areas where there is a significant cluster of homes and wildland vegetation.
Section 4: This section:
- Makes a slight adjustment to ORS 477.503, which requires ODF to establish a landscape resiliency and hazardous fuels reduction program. This is the program ODF uses to fund prescribed burn and forest thinning programs. The amendment adds a priority directing ODF to focus on protection of areas surrounding the WUI when implementing thinning and prescribed burning efforts, as preventing a wildfire conflagration in the WUI will protect the greatest number of property owners and reduce the risk of a wildfire spreading into an urban area. The amendment also eliminates reference to a study that is no longer in use and has since been updated.
Section 5: This section:
- Adds two new members to the Oregon Wildfire Programs Advisory Council, the volunteer Council that advises the Governor and legislature on the state’s wildfire programs. The section adds a new position for a firefighter with experience fighting structural fires in WUI areas and a second position for a member representing the insurance industry.
Sections 6-7: These sections:
- Direct DCBS to adopt the existing home hardening standards in section R327 of the residential building code and make those standards available for local adoption. Local governments can choose to adopt the R327 standards or not, but can only apply the standards to new construction, not existing homes, and must follow a process for local adoption.
Section 8: This section:
- Invalidates all existing final orders relating to the state wildfire map.
Sections 9-14: These sections:
- Alter and add reporting requirements for the various agencies tasked with implementing the wildfire program to put all agencies on an annual reporting basis to the legislature and governor.
Section 15: This section:
- Amends the seller disclosure property statement that a property owner completes when selling their property. The current disclosure statement requires a property owner to notify a potential purchaser whether the land is located within the WUI. Since the amendment eliminates the WUI maps, there will be no way for a property owner to determine whether their property is within the WUI, and therefore no way for the property owner to complete this disclosure. It is being removed as a result.
Sections 16-20: Conforming amendments.
Section 22: Emergency clause.
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Yours Truly,
 Senator David Brock Smith
Together, We Will Build a Better Oregon
 Senate District 1
Curry, Coos, and Douglas Counties
Southwest Oregon’s Fish, Farm, and Forestry District.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1701
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-316, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Sen.DavidBrockSmith@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/smithd
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