HJM 201

83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2026 Regular Session
  Enrolled
  House Joint Memorial 201
Sponsored by Representative CATE, Senator GIROD, Representatives GOMBERG, ANDERSEN,
   EVANS, OSBORNE, PHAM H, RIEKE SMITH, Senators ANDERSON, FREDERICK; Represen-
   tatives BOICE, BUNCH, CHOTZEN, DIEHL, GAMBA, GRAYBER, HELFRICH, HELM, KROPF,
   LEVY B, LEVY E, LEWIS, LIVELY, MARSH, MCDONALD, NGUYEN D, NOSSE, OWENS,
   RESCHKE, RUIZ, TRAN, WATANABE, WISE, WRIGHT, Senators DRAZAN, GELSER BLOUIN,
   HAYDEN, MCLANE, MEEK, PROZANSKI, SMITH DB (Presession filed.)
To the President of the United States and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
     United States of America, in Congress assembled:
     We, your memorialists, the Eighty-third Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, in legisla-
tive session assembled, respectfully represent as follows:
     Whereas the 2020s have seen an unprecedented number of wildfires throughout Oregon and the
greater western United States; and
     Whereas Oregon wildfires have grown more rapidly in this decade than throughout this state’s
entire history; and
     Whereas severe drought, prolonged heat waves and overly dense forests have resulted in more
catastrophic fires that have been more difficult to manage than ever before, leading to previously
unheard-of destruction and loss of human life in Oregon’s rural and urban communities; and
     Whereas Oregon wildfires have killed at least nine people, burned nearly five million acres and
destroyed thousands of homes since 2019; and
     Whereas the 2020 Labor Day wildfires, most notably those in the Santiam Canyon, were among
the worst natural disasters in Oregon history, claiming the lives of nine Oregonians and leaving
survivors devastated and struggling to recover and rebuild in the years since; and
     Whereas in 2024, the Legislative Assembly passed Senate Bill 1520 to create vital tax relief for
wildfire victims in Oregon and to protect those victims from unfair federal taxation on liability
settlements arising from wildfires; and
     Whereas Senate Bill 1520 ensured that those liability settlements would be used to aid in crucial
wildfire recovery and rebuilding efforts, but without companion legislation passed by Congress,
those settlements were still subject to federal taxation; and
     Whereas also in 2024, Congress passed H.R. 5863 (Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2023),
creating federal tax cuts for wildfire relief payments that provided the much-needed companion relief
to that granted by Senate Bill 1520, but the tax cuts in H.R. 5863 expired at the end of 2025; now,
therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
    That we, the members of the Eighty-third Legislative Assembly, respectfully urge the Congress
of the United States of America to pass, and the President of the United States to sign, legislation
to permanently extend the federal companion relief to Senate Bill 1520 (2024) that was created by
H.R. 5863 (2024); and be it further
    Resolved, That a copy of this memorial shall be sent to the President of the United States, to
the Senate Majority Leader, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to each member
of the Oregon Congressional Delegation.
Enrolled House Joint Memorial 201 (HJM 201-INTRO)  Page 1
  Adopted by House February 12, 2026
  Timothy G. Sekerak, Chief Clerk of House
  Julie Fahey, Speaker of House
  Adopted by Senate February 26, 2026
  Rob Wagner, President of Senate
Enrolled House Joint Memorial 201 (HJM 201-INTRO)  Page 2