The Senate Committee on Labor and Business heard testimony March 18 on Senate Bill 605, a dash‑4 amendment that would prohibit reporting medical debt to consumer reporting agencies and strip medical debt items from credit reports for Oregon residents.

Committee staff explained the dash‑4 amendment refines the bill’s definitions and enforcement language. The amendment specifies what qualifies as medical debt and excludes cosmetic surgery unless reconstruction is required following trauma, injury, infection or disease. It also removes an earlier definition of "medical services provider" and drops a provision that would have required new contractual notices by hospitals and providers.

Substantive effect: the amendment would make it an unlawful trade practice for a person to report the amount or existence of medical debt that an Oregon resident owes to a consumer reporting agency. It also says a consumer reporting agency may not include in a consumer report any medical‑debt item that it knows or reasonably should know is medical debt. A plaintiff who brings an action for a violation may obtain an order or judgment that voids the medical debt and renders it uncollectible. Committee staff said the Department of Justice is likely to propose a technical amendment clarifying the state enforcement authority.

Committee testimony: Sponsor Senator Campos described outreach to stakeholders and said the dash‑4 reflects negotiations and drafting work since the bill’s January hearing. Committee witness Chris Coughlin summarized the bill’s purpose and practical effect: "It will do 2 things. It will end the reporting of new medical debt onto Oregonian's credit reports, and it will pull existing medical debt off of Oregonian's credit reports." Coughlin also described the changes narrowing the definition of medical debt and removing the hospital‑notification requirement at stakeholders’ request.

Procedure and next steps: The bill has a subsequent referral to the Senate Health Care Committee listed in the hearing materials. Committee members and staff indicated additional technical edits from the Department of Justice could arrive; the committee closed the hearing for March 18 and will consider any further drafting changes in subsequent steps.

Sources: Sponsor remarks, committee staff summary of dash‑4 amendment and Chris Coughlin testimony as recorded in the committee hearing.