Read the full stored bill text
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Senate Bill 59
Sponsored by Senator HAYDEN (at the request of Sweet Home City Councilor Angelita Sanchez) (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced. The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: This Act allows HOA members or their tenants to grow a garden or raise hens or bees.
(Flesch Readability Score: 85.0).
Allows specified production of food in planned communities by lot owners and their tenants.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to producing food in planned communities; amending ORS 94.779.
Whereas people need to have access to safe, reliable sources of food; and
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how easily our supply of fresh foods can be dis-
rupted, causing shortages and spiking food prices; and
Whereas people have a right to be self-reliant in providing for the needs of themselves, their
families, their neighbors and their communities; and
Whereas city and county governments, run by leaders elected locally from within their commu-
nities, have the right to pass regulations and ordinances for the management of their communities
and have passed, or may in the future pass, regulations and ordinances that relate to local food
production in residential neighborhoods; and
Whereas property owners and their tenants, with regard to the right to subsist, should be af-
forded the ability to participate to the fullest extent of the law in their own self-determination
without restriction from property associations or restrictive covenants; now, therefore,
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1.
ORS 94.779 is amended to read:
94.779. (1) A provision of a planned community’s governing document or landscaping or archi-
tectural guidelines that imposes irrigation requirements on an owner or the association is void and
unenforceable while any of the following is in effect:
(a) A declaration by the Governor that a severe, continuing drought exists or is likely to occur
in a political subdivision within which the planned community is located;
(b) A finding by the Water Resources Commission that a severe, continuing drought exists or is
likely to occur in a political subdivision within which the planned community is located;
(c) An ordinance adopted by the governing body of a political subdivision within which the
planned community is located that requires conservation or curtailment of water use; or
(d) A rule adopted by the association under subsection (2) of this section to reduce or eliminate
irrigation water use.
(2) Notwithstanding any provision of a planned community’s governing documents or landscaping
or architectural guidelines imposing irrigation requirements on an owner or the association, an as-
sociation may adopt rules that:
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [ italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 3020
SB 59
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
(a) Require the reduction or elimination of irrigation on any portion of the planned community.
(b) Permit or require the replacement of turf or other landscape vegetation with xeriscape on
any portion of the planned community.
(c) Require prior review and approval by the association or its designee of any plans by an
owner or the association to replace turf or other landscape vegetation with xeriscape.
(d) Require the use of best practices and industry standards to reduce the landscaped areas and
minimize irrigation of existing landscaped areas of common property where turf is necessary for the
function of the landscaped area.
(3) Except as provided in subsections (4) and (5) of this section, if adopted on or after January
1, 2018, the following provisions of a planned community’s governing document are void and
unenforceable:
(a) A provision that prohibits or restricts the use of the owner’s unit or lot as the premises of
an exempt family child care provider participating in the subsidy program under ORS 329A.500; or
(b) If the unit does not share a wall, floor or ceiling surface in common with another unit, a
provision that prohibits or restricts the use of the owner’s unit or lot as a certified or registered
family child care home pursuant to ORS 329A.250 to 329A.450.
(4) Subsection (3) of this section does not prohibit a homeowners association from adopting or
enforcing a provision of the planned community’s governing document that regulates parking, noise,
odors, nuisance, use of common property or activities that impact the cost of insurance policies held
by the planned community, provided the provision:
(a) Is reasonable; and
(b) Does not have the effect of prohibiting or restricting the use of a unit or lot as the premises
of an exempt family child care provider participating in the subsidy program under ORS 329A.500
or as a certified or registered family child care home pursuant to ORS 329A.250 to 329A.450.
(5)(a) Subsection (3) of this section does not apply to planned communities that provide housing
for older persons.
(b) As used in this subsection, “housing for older persons” has the meaning given that term in
ORS 659A.421.
(6) A provision in a planned community’s governing document that restricts or prohibits the in-
stallation or use of a portable cooling device, as defined in ORS 90.335 (1), is void and unenforceable,
unless:
(a) The installation or use of the device would:
(A) Violate building codes or state or federal law; or
(B) Violate the device manufacture’s written safety guidelines for the device; or
(b) The restrictions are only to require that the device be removed from October 1 through April
30.
(7) A provision in a planned community’s governing document that prohibits or restricts
the use of a lot for gardening, hen-keeping or beekeeping is void and unenforceable, except
for restrictions that require the food production be performed in a competent and proficient
manner or consistent with applicable laws and ordinances.
[2]