Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue opened a public hearing April 7 on Senate Bill 587, a measure to let Oregon businesses subtract wildfire-related judgments, settlements and related legal expenses from corporate excise and income tax through Jan. 1, 2026, and to allow amended returns for 2018–2022, sponsor Senator Mark Meek said.

The bill, Meek said, "creates an Oregon corporate excise and income tax subtraction for judgments or settlements received, for civil actions from wildfires, and it also creates, subtraction for, related legal expenses." Representative Ed Deal, a co-chief sponsor, said the measure extends relief that last year’s Senate Bill 1520 provided to individual taxpayers to businesses.

Supporters told the committee the bill would help businesses recovering from catastrophic wildfire damage. "Willamette Valley Vineyards is one of 35 wineries that did suffer damages in the 2020 Labor Day Fire," testified Bill Cross for Willamette Valley Vineyards, noting pending litigation against Pacific Power seeking more than $100 million. Zach Reeves of the Oregon Winegrowers Association described statewide crop impacts: "Yield per harvested acre decreased by 24% as a result of the 2020 wildfires" and said grape production fell about 29% compared with 2019.

Committee staff explained limits in the draft language: if damages were covered by insurance or already deducted at the federal level, the subtraction would not apply. A staff member summarized that the bill contains "a kind of a no double dipping" clause: "So if it's covered by insurance, then there wouldn't be a subtraction. And if there was already a federal deduction, then there wouldn't be a subtraction."

Testifiers described the bill as narrowly tailored to declared wildfire disasters. Representative Deal said the bill applies only when "the governor has declared a state of emergency or when a federal disaster has been declared" and urged retroactive relief to 2018 so survivors of events such as the 2020 Labor Day fires could claim refunds.

The committee heard from agricultural and industry witnesses (wineries and associations) and from at least one senator representing a rural district who supported the measure for its broad economic effects. No committee vote was taken at the hearing; the chair closed the public hearing after witnesses finished.

The committee record for SB 587 will include submitted testimony and the hearing transcript; sponsors and witnesses asked the committee to advance the bill for further consideration.