Requires the Department of Human Services or a law enforcement agency to electronically record certain interviews in child abuse investigations.

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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Senate Bill 743
Sponsored by Senators GELSER BLOUIN, MANNING JR, Representative NELSON; Senators GORSEK, SOLLMAN
(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: The Act requires that some interviews with a person who may have abused a child must
be electronically recorded. (Flesch Readability Score: 71.0).
Requires the Department of Human Services or a law enforcement agency to electronically re-
cord certain interviews in child abuse investigations.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to records of interviews in child abuse investigations.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1.
Section 2 of this 2025 Act is added to and made a part of ORS 419B.005 to
419B.050.
SECTION 2. (1) An interview conducted by the Department of Human Services or a law
enforcement agency in the course of an investigation under ORS 418.258 and 418.259 or under
ORS 419B.020 shall be electronically recorded if the subject of the interview is the alleged
perpetrator of the abuse.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to:
(a) A statement made before a grand jury;
(b) A statement made on the record in open court;
(c) An interview conducted in another state in compliance with the laws of that state;
(d) An interview conducted by a federal law enforcement officer in compliance with the
laws of the United States;
(e) A statement that was spontaneously volunteered and did not result from an interview;
(f) A statement made during arrest processing in response to a routine question; or
(g) An interview for which the state demonstrates good cause for the failure to elec-
tronically record the interview.
(3) An interview conducted by the Department of Human Services or a law enforcement
agency in the course of an investigation under ORS 418.258 and 418.259 or 419B.020 may be
electronically recorded if the subject of the interview is not the alleged perpetrator of the
abuse.
(4) For purposes of ORS 419B.035, a recording made under this section is a record.
(5) As used in this section “good cause” includes, but is not limited to, situations in
which:
(a) The subject of the interview refused, or expressed an unwillingness, to have the
interview electronically recorded;
(b) The failure to electronically record the interview was the result of equipment failure
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 2099
SB 743
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and a replacement device was not immediately available;
(c) The person operating the recording equipment believed, in good faith, that the
equipment was recording the interview;
(d) Electronically recording the interview would jeopardize the safety of any person;
(e) Exigent circumstances prevented the recording of the interview; or
(f) The person conducting the interview reasonably believed, at the time the interview
began, that the interview was conducted in connection with a matter unconnected to the
investigation or that the subject of the interview was not a suspected perpetrator of the
abuse.
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