The Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water Committee met March 26 and moved a package of bills forward, largely to Rules or the Joint Committee on Ways and Means for additional review and fiscal consideration.

House Bill 2777, which would exempt certain wells from onshore exploration permitting and restrict the Department of Geology and Mineral Industries from imposing additional conditions on transfer of surface mining operating permits, was sent to the House Committee on Rules with no committee recommendation. House Bill 3346, amended to create a study of small-scale renewable energy siting in critical groundwater areas east of the Cascade Range, passed the committee as amended and was referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. House Bill 3580’s dash-2 amendment, which removed a task-force requirement on eelgrass resource leasing withdrawals, passed and the bill was referred to Ways and Means. House Bill 3657’s dash-3 amendment to establish a wildlife damage prevention and compensation program and direct funds to the Oregon Department of Agriculture also passed and was referred to Ways and Means. House Bill 3114, which funds a collaborative water-management process in the Chewaucan River watershed and adjusts certain appropriation amounts, passed as amended and was referred to Ways and Means.

Committee staff reported fiscal notes where applicable and that several measures received prior referrals to Ways and Means. Committee members voiced general support for some bills; one member asked the committee to preserve the structure of interagency partnerships if bills fail in Ways and Means.

Votes at a glance:
- HB 2777: Moved to House Rules with no recommendation. Motion made and adopted; no roll-call vote recorded in the transcript.
- HB 3346 (as amended): Adopted dash-1 amendment; moved to Joint Committee on Ways and Means with a "do pass" recommendation; committee recorded the motion and the chair announced the measure "passes as amended."
- HB 3580 (as amended): Dash-2 amendment adopted; moved to Ways and Means with a "do pass" recommendation; committee announced the bill "passes."
- HB 3657 (as amended): Dash-3 amendment adopted; moved to Ways and Means with a "do pass" recommendation; committee announced the bill "passes as amended."
- HB 3114 (as amended): Dash-4 amendment adopted; moved to Ways and Means with a "do pass" recommendation; committee announced the bill "passes as amended."

No formal roll-call tallies were recorded in the public transcript for these motions; the committee used voice agreement and formal motions to place bills on referral. The committee chair also closed work sessions in sequence and opened subsequent items as the agenda progressed.

The committee referred the bills in order to allow further fiscal, policy and stakeholder review; several measures carry sub-referrals and fiscal notes as indicated in staff remarks. Further hearings or actions are expected while bills proceed through Rules or Ways and Means.

Members and staff noted that moving bills to Rules or Ways and Means preserves the measures for further discussion and does not constitute final legislative approval.

For more detail on each bill’s text and fiscal notes, committee staff indicated the measures were posted to OLIS (Oregon Legislative Information System) and will follow the regular referral process.