The Oregon Legislature is currently in its 2025 session, and Street Roots is publishing regular updates throughout its duration. Among the legislation being considered are bills impacting tenant rights and evictions, regulations and resources targeting homeless residents, food assistance and more.
For more of this ongoing coverage, visit streetroots.org.
ON THE AGENDA:
Bill protects tenants from being asked about their immigration status
When Ricki Ruiz was a child, the color of his skin, the sound of his voice and even the mention of his last name put him and his family at risk.
“My parents came to this country to search for a better future, just like so many other families,” Ruiz told members of Oregon’s Senate Judiciary Committee on March 5. “Growing up, I saw firsthand the barriers that stood in their way — the fear of not having a safe place to call home, the anxiety of not knowing if someone would turn away because of where we came from or the language we spoke.
“The constant fear follows families like mine, not just for weeks or months, but for years — shaping the way we move through the world. No child should have to carry that weight.”
‘Not just a policy change … it is a moral imperative’
Ruiz is no longer a frightened little boy but the Oregon state representative for District 50 in Gresham. The Democrat is among 17 co-sponsors of Senate Bill 599, which prohibits landlords from asking about or revealing renters’ immigration status.
“This issue is deeply personal to me,” he told his fellow lawmakers.
Mirroring a law passed in Portland in 2019, the bill expands Oregon’s Fair Housing Act by adding immigration and citizenship status as a protected class. It prohibits landlords from requiring Social Security cards as the only valid form of identification.
“This bill is not just a policy change,” its chief sponsor, state Sen. Wlnsvey Campos, D-Hillsboro, told committee members. “It is a moral imperative.”
The bill represents “a step toward correcting this injustice by making housing accessible to all Oregonians, free from the fear of discrimination,” Campos said. “Members of our community have been subjected to unjust discrimination and exclusion. The safety and security that a home represents should be available to all people who call Oregon home.”
‘They’re friends. They’re family members.’
Some landlords are bristling at the legislation. Chad Kernutt of Albany testified that his parents are landlords and once rented to immigrants lacking permanent legal status.
“They are, by virtue and federal statutes, criminals for violating our laws and our country’s sovereignty when they trespassed into our country, breaking our laws,” Kernutt said.
These renters are not criminals, said Campos.
“The population we are talking about here are neighbors,” she said. “They’re friends. They’re family members. They’re integral members engaged in our community — many of whom are paying taxes, supporting local businesses and strengthening our economy. They are active participants in the very system that they are often unjustly accused of exploiting.”
Sybil Hebb, the Oregon Law Center’s director of legislative advocacy, reminded lawmakers that while the Oregon Fair Housing Act already prohibits housing discrimination based on national origin and race, Senate Bill 599 goes further.
“There’s a strong correlation between immigration status and citizenship status, but that’s a gap that’s not specifically addressed in our Fair Housing Act,” Hebb said. “That’s what this bill is designed to do.”
(Editor’s note: Hebb is a member of the Street Roots Board of Directors. Street Roots’ newspaper maintains strict editorial independence from its Board of Directors and the organization’s advocacy efforts.)
‘This exclusion is not accidental’
There’s a reason immigration status is not already protected, testified Cynthia Ramirez, a policy associate with the Woodburn-based farmworkers union PCUN.
“This exclusion is not accidental,” Ramirez told committee members. “It is the result of policies that treat housing as a commodity rather than a human right.”
Hard-working people deserve better, Ramirez said.
“Access to housing should not be determined by a person’s place of birth, and much less a piece of paper,” she said. “Farmworkers who sustain Oregon’s agricultural industry and put food on our tables are often told that they are good enough to labor in Oregon’s fields but not good enough to rent or buy a home. No one should be denied housing because of an arbitrary status imposed on them by a broken immigration system. Passing this bill is not just about fairness. It is about recognizing the humanity of our vital immigrant communities.”
More than 25,000 Oregonians risk deportation, family separation and forced removal from the state because they lack a few hundred dollars for one-time legal aid, testified Britt Conroy, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon’s director of public policy advocacy.
“This legislation, at the heart, is a question of our shared humanity,” Conroy said. “Whether a person of faith or a person of good will, what does our shared humanity call us to do when a family seeks shelter?”
‘Illegal alien migrants need not apply’
Kernutt and other landlords increasingly evoke the 2021 U.S. Supreme Court case Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid.
Conservative justices ruled that a California law granting labor organizations access to farmers’ property to unionize workers amounted to “taking” the property without compensation.
In a 2004 lawsuit, Yim v. City of Seattle, the plaintiffs used a similar argument to contest Seattle’s renter protection laws. While the argument was rejected, conservatives latched onto it as a possible legal means to attack anti-discrimination laws.
So far, there has been no legal precedent to justify using the U.S. Constitution’s taking clause under the Fifth Amendment to justify discrimination. The clause focuses on property rights and government actions, not discriminatory practices.
However, Kernutt and others keep trying.
“This bill is a form of regulatory taking where the owner is not compensated for losses when there are issues with tenants who are illegal immigrants,” Kernutt said in his testimony.
His oral testimony echoed several of the 40 written testimonies submitted opposing the bill, with some using identical language.
Thena Larteri Lyons of Brookings was more succinct.
“Illegal alien migrants need not apply,” she wrote.
‘This bill allows people to seek shelter without fear’
Campos said the bill attempts to protect people from landlords who share those sentiments.
“This bill seeks to protect these individuals from being marginalized, ensuring that housing remains accessible to them without fear of discrimination,” she said. “We know there are folks, immigrants in particular, who, without secure housing, are vulnerable to exploitation — whether that be falling victim to trafficking, abuse or criminal activity. This bill allows these people to seek shelter without fear of that exploitation or being forced into dangerous living situations.”
Hannah Alzgal, United Oregon housing justice policy coordinator, told lawmakers immigration status is irrelevant when determining someone’s ability to be a responsible tenant.
“Potential renters — whether immigrant or not — must still demonstrate their reliability and ability to comply with the conditions of their lease, meaning their application should be fairly considered alongside all other prospective tenants,” Alzgal said. “We hear firsthand from immigrant community members who live in fear of being exploited by landlords or retaliated against for speaking up about unmaintained and unsafe living conditions, difficulty challenging unjustified rent increases and unfair rental agreements.”
‘Dignity, stability and opportunity’
Alberto Gallegos, Service Employees International Union of Oregon political and government affairs organizer, called the bill an appropriate response to Oregon’s housing crisis.
“Our workers are struggling to afford their rent without putting into jeopardy their ability to afford health care, food and other basic necessities,” Gallegos said. “Having any barriers to finding affordable housing is just adding to the housing insecurity our workers, especially our workers from our immigrant communities, face.”
Ruiz said the bill is “rooted in the belief that every Oregonian, no matter their background or where they come from, deserves dignity, stability and opportunity. A cornerstone of that vision is ensuring that all Oregonians — including our immigrant, refugee and Indigenous communities — can access stable housing without fear of discrimination.”
Senate Bill 599 prohibits landlords from asking about or disclosing people’s immigration status or rejecting applicants due to immigration status. The Democrat-led bill is in the Senate Judiciary Committee. A public hearing was held on March 5. No committee meetings or floor sessions have been scheduled.
Legislation seeks to protect diverse voices from book bans
Before Sister Shiso Panda was a drag nun with Portland’s Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, they were a frightened and confused child in Malaysia.
They shared their experience in testimony to the Oregon Senate Education Committee on March 3, introducing themself as Benedict Tan. They had felt hunted in a country where LGBTQIA2S+ people are often tortured and imprisoned, they said.
Fortunately, their family had books.
“Reading books from this vast library made me realize that there were other people like me in the world — boys who like boys and girls who like girls,” they told the committee. “These books made me realize I’m not alone. Because of books, I was never confused about my sexual orientation and was comforted by the knowledge that others like me existed.”
Some people don’t want young readers to know about LGBTQIA2S+ lives. Books with LGBTQIA2S+ and other diverse characters are frequently banned from schools and their libraries.
Senate Bill 1098 prohibits discrimination when selecting books and other materials for public schools. Specifically, materials cannot be banned because of race, national origin, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical or mental disability, military status or marital or family status.
“Books save lives,” Tan/Panda continued. Without books to open their mind, they might never have left Malaysia.
“I would still be trapped in a country that criminalizes people like me, and I doubt I would have made it to the age of 53,” they said.
‘LGBTQ students suddenly felt unsafe’
The bill would have spared Canby High School many problems during the 2022-2023 school year, when two people demanded 35 books be removed from the school library, Troy Soles told the committee. (Street Roots reported on Canby’s book challenges Nov. 1, 2023.)
Soles, an English teacher at the school for the past 22 years, said the books came from a list circulated by the national conservative group Moms for Liberty.
The two people demanding the books be removed only read two on the list, testified Joel Ekdahl, another English teacher at Canby High School. They also only filed individual challenges to eight books, said Ekdahl, who also advises the school’s Gender Sexuality Alliance.
District policy requires people to read the books they’re challenging entirely and file specific challenges for each book. Instead, Ekdahl said, the district caved to political pressure.
“By removing them, the district office legitimized the spurious claims being made against them and rewarded those who had submitted the meritless challenges,” Ekdahl said. “The district also turned our marginalized students into social pariahs. After years of social progress, our students of color and LGBTQ students suddenly felt unsafe in their own school.
“They felt like their district was trying to erase their stories and identities from our bookshelves.”
Libraries are essential to marginalized young people, he added.
“The library is one of the first places they find community,” he said.
By the next school year, all the books except Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel “Lolita” had been returned to the shelves.
“The takeaway should be that our school district needed the kind of additional support provided by this bill to follow their own policy and not be manipulated into hasty decisions that hurt the most vulnerable among us,” Soles said.
‘Allowing and celebrating the freedom to read’
State Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, is one of the bill’s chief co-sponsors and chairs the education committee. He told his colleagues that House Bill 1098 is straightforward legislation.
“We could spend a great deal of time going over the nuances of this particular bill, but there’s a simple, basic part of this bill, and that is allowing and celebrating the freedom to read — not telling people what they should read,” Frederick said. “That idea of telling folks they shouldn’t read certain things based on prejudice is discrimination. That holds no strong message for me except a message of fear, a message that the world is only supposed to look like the one you want.”
Local school districts can still ban objectionable material, he added. However, this removes discrimination from the allowable criteria.
“Senate Bill 1098 does not mandate what materials are being presented but rather does not allow materials to be banned within the protected criteria,” echoed state Rep. Travis Nelson, D-Portland, another chief co-sponsor of the bill.
“Parents and guardians can still request to remove books, and school administrators are free to consider those requests,” Nelson testified. “It will also not prevent school boards and staffs from considering age-appropriateness, obscenity and educational value in selection decisions.”
Canby High School was not alone in facing book bans, Nelson said. The 2023-2024 school year saw a record number of book bans nationwide.
“(It’s) reflecting a disturbing trend toward censorship and the erasure of diverse histories and experiences,” he said. “Such actions not only deplete our educational discourse but also deny students the opportunities to see themselves reflected in their learning materials, which is a crucial component of fostering a sense of belonging and understanding in our increasingly diverse society.”
‘Your sick agenda to destroy them’
Frederick tried to pass a similar bill in the 2023 Legislature, but it died without a vote in the final 90 minutes of the session.
State Sen. Noah Robinson, R-Cave Junction, was among the lawmakers opposed to the bill then and now.
His constituents consistently tell him they dislike attempts to curb book bans, Robinson said during the public hearing.
“They’re afraid that this sort of thing will make it more difficult because of who happened to be the author of the book, even though it had nothing to do with race,” he said. “They don’t like certain materials that are clearly inappropriate for kids.”
Of the 950 written testimonies submitted on the bill, 798 people wrote in support, while 152 wrote in opposition. Nonetheless, opponents often expressed themselves vociferously.
“This bill threatens to strip away the discretion of librarians, replacing our understanding of the unique needs of our schools and families with what could only be described as ‘Big Brother’ oversight,” wrote Morgan Haueter of Redmond.
(“Big Brother” is a reference to George Orwell’s 1948 dystopian novel “1984,” a frequent target of book bans because of its social and political themes and sexual content.)
“Get this gender, trans, sexually explicit garbage out of our schools, libraries!” wrote Thena Larteri Lyons of Brookings. “Our children cannot read as it is. Why fill their minds with garbage and get our federal taxes defunded? You do not care about the children, only your sick agenda to destroy them.”
‘Important First Amendment and democracy issue’
Mariana Garcia Medina of ACLU Oregon testified the U.S. Supreme Court has already weighed in on the subject. The court ruled in 1982 that the First Amendment limits the power of local school boards to remove books from school libraries, recognizing students’ right to access information.
“We hold that local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion,” wrote Justice William Brennan in the 1982 case.
Medina, a senior policy associate, said the Oregon bill is still needed.
“There is no law making it explicit that banning materials because of the identities involved in the material’s content or creation violates this law,” she said. “This is an important First Amendment and democracy issue.”
Ayn Reyes Frazee, Oregon Library Association president, testified that school libraries across Oregon are facing an unprecedented surge in book challenges.
“In the past five years, official challenges have increased by 231%, with 151 books challenged last year alone,” she said. “Many school library staffs are navigating these challenges alone without institutional support or expertise.”
A middle school librarian, Kate Weber, testified that many schools don’t have professional librarians. Volunteers run many school libraries which are often open only a few hours per week.
“With so few Oregon schools having licensed librarians, I believe we’re actually far underreporting how many books are being removed from shelves or not purchased in the first place because of the fear of controversy,” Weber told lawmakers.
With Senate Bill 1098, librarians “will know a process exists and have the support to navigate challenges,” she said.
‘School librarians … need to feel safe’
Librarians need that support, testified Seth Johnstone, Basic Rights Oregon, or BRO, transgender justice program manager.
BRO started in 1996 to defend LGBTQIA2S+ rights. It formed in the wake of a defeated 1992 ballot measure that would have amended the Oregon Constitution to state that LGBTQIA2S+ behavior is “abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse” and remove all material that suggested otherwise from schools.
“In recent years, there’s been a disturbing rise in attempts to intimidate or vilify librarians for simply doing their jobs by keeping books on the shelves during due process,” Johnstone told the committee.
Cathy Camper, the author of books such as the 2014 graphic novel “Lowriders in Space” with illustrator Raul the Third, told the committee the bill’s protections are particularly vital at this moment in history.
“Our state must step up and protect First Amendment rights where the federal Trump administration and Project 2025 threaten access to diverse information about religion, LGBTQ, non-white Americans and women,” Camper said. “School librarians and educators need to feel safe without fear of feeling harassed or doxed for doing what, by law, is their job — i.e., defending every student’s First Amendment right to read.
“Libraries are the teeth of democracy because they provide citizens their guaranteed First Amendment rights to access a variety of information for free.”
‘You’ll find things that you don’t really want to read’
The committee voted 3-2 during a March 17 work session to move the bill to the Senate floor and recommend that the full Senate pass it.
Robinson and fellow Republican Suzanne Weber of Tillamook voted against the bill. Democrats Lew Frederick of Portland, Sara Gelser Blouin of Corvallis and Janeen Sollman of Forest Grove voted in favor of it. Frederick will present the bill to the full Senate.
Before the vote, Robinson waved a copy of Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel “Beloved.” Although the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the year after its publication, it remains a frequent target of book bans.
It was among the 35 books on the list presented to Canby High School in 2023 — with good reason, according to Robinson.
“In the first 20 pages, you’ll find things that you don’t really want to read, that you don’t want children to read,” he said. “I can’t read them here. I have a 14-year-old niece who sometimes watches my speeches.”
Robinson feared the book might be protected because a Black woman wrote it and it deals with slavery, he said.
“I think we should be erring on the side of caution,” Robinson said during the work session. “I think school districts can be trusted to make these decisions on their own.”
Part of the problem is that districts aren’t making their own decisions, Frederick countered. They’re caving to pressure.
“One of the problems we’re having is outside people coming in to tell local school districts what they’re supposed to do,” he said.
‘The books we needed as young people’
Cat Winters of Hillsboro represented Authors Against Book Bans at the March 3 hearing.
She is the author of the young adult novels “Odd & True,” “The Steep and Thorny Way,” “The Cure for Dreaming,” and “In the Shadow of Blackbirds.”
“We authors of books for children and teens are not just faceless names on covers,” Winters told lawmakers. “We are flesh-and-blood human beings who often write the books we needed as young people. It is our stories, our experiences, our carefully crafted and professionally vetted work that people are pulling from classrooms and libraries.”
Winters added she was confused about her sexual orientation as a teenager. The word bisexual wasn’t discussed.
“I felt depressed and weird and often experienced suicidal ideation when I was in middle school,” she said.
She was 49 when she came out as bisexual.
“I started writing some of my queerness into my novels to help young people who might also be feeling depressed and weird and suicidal,” she told the committee.
Winters added she received an email about one of her books preventing a child from taking their own life.
“That type of email is common for authors of books about young people,” she said. “We authors now have to think about book bans every time we sit down to write. We have to wonder if publishers will even publish our stories if they’re concerned about challenges to books based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race or any other discrimination-based reason.”
Yet those stories must be told, Winters said, adding that Senate Bill 1098 is important.
“It will literally save lives.”
Senate Bill 1098 prohibits discrimination when selecting or retaining school library materials, textbooks or instructional materials or when developing and implementing a curriculum. The Democrat-led bill was voted out of the Senate Education Committee during a March 17 work session following a March 3 public hearing. No floor sessions have been scheduled.
Lawmakers seek to make landowners responsible for illegal farm labor camps
They often live in tents made of tarp and cardboard without toilets, electricity, heat, showers or drinkable water.
Sometimes, all they have is a blanket and the side of a tree or building.
These are not people living unsheltered in Portland or other urban areas. These are the genuinely invisible — farmworkers living far beyond the sight of the public and the reach of the law in remote labor camps operated by black-market cannabis growers.
Such growers often rent land from Oregon farmers. House Bill 3194 would hold the farmers liable when their land is used for illegal labor camps.
The House Judiciary Committee held public hearings on the bill Feb. 27 and March 6.
‘Far from home in an unknown community’
“It’s not unusual to hear reports of workers camped in squalid conditions under cardboard, in storage sheds or in vehicles,” Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, one of the bill’s chief sponsors, told committee members Feb. 27. “When these camps are busted or otherwise abandoned, so are the workers — often far from home in an unknown community and without the ability to communicate in English.”
The bill amends Oregon’s 1989 Camp Operator Registration Act, or CORA, which requires farm labor camp operators to register with the state and follow basic safety rules.
“Loopholes in the law allow unregistered camps to persist, putting workers in serious risk,” Rep. Andrea Valderrama, D-Portland, told committee members Feb. 27. “HB 3194 would ensure that landlords take responsibility for what happens on their land.”
‘If you are a landowner … you are making a decision’
Jenny Dressler, the Oregon Farm Bureau Federation’s director of grassroots and regulatory affairs, told the committee it’s unfair to hold landowners accountable for what a tenant may do behind their backs.
“Any and every landowner on the 4.5 million acres of leased and rented farmland in Oregon could be liable for situations that they have no knowledge of,” Dressler said. “We wouldn’t ask the same thing in commercial tenancy. We wouldn’t ask the same thing in residential tenancy.”
That’s not true, said committee Chair Jason Kropf, D-Bend.
“We put limitations on every lease,” Kropf said. “Commercial landlords put limitations on leases all the time.”
Martha Sonato, the Oregon Law Center’s legislative and policy advocate, told the committee that farm owners have options, but farmworkers do not.
“If you are a landowner, and you are out of state, you are making a decision — an intentional decision — to lease your land,” Sonato said.
‘There are things you can do to protect yourself’
Karen Suisman, an attorney who handles employment and civil rights cases through the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, told lawmakers that landowners can easily spot black-market cannabis growers.
There are some bright red flags. For one thing, black marketeers pay in cash.
“You can’t bank when you’re an illegal cannabis operation,” Suisman said. “They’re not using leases generally. If you are going to enter into a lease with one of these people, there are things you can do to protect yourself.”
Some steps are basic, she added.
“You can say you won’t allow housing on your land,” she said.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries also lists registered labor camps online. If a labor camp is provided on a farmer’s property and isn’t listed on the BOLI site, Suisman said it’s more than likely illegal.
“One of the ways you can make sure you’re exempt from liability is to have a lease and to say in that lease, ‘Are you going to be providing housing?’” Sonato said. “Are you registered to provide housing? Are you licensed? Are you endorsed? Provide me with your registration information.”
The law excludes camps for Oregon’s labor-heavy crops, such as Christmas trees, hazelnuts and various berries, because those camps are often registered with the state. Many cannabis growers, however, operate outside the law.
‘We need to hold owners and operators responsible’
Cannabis has been a legal crop in Oregon since 2014, but black-market cannabis operations far outpace the legal side of the industry.
Valderrama testified that an estimated 3.1 million pounds of black-market cannabis was grown in Oregon in 2023 — at least twice the amount of legal cannabis.
Those numbers reflect published statements by Beau Whitney, the founder and chief economist at Whitney Economics, which studies the cannabis and hemp industry.
“Since 2020, most citations for unregistered labor camps have been tied to cannabis operations, but all workers should live in safe and decent housing,” Valderrama said.
Marsh said illegal labor camps are a particular problem in her district because many black-market cannabis growers operate in Southern Oregon.
State money often goes to nonprofits that help farmworkers through legal aid, temporary housing, food and support for travel home, she added.
“The state shouldn’t be shouldering the full responsibility for this crisis,” she said. “We need to hold the owners and operators responsible for the consequences of illicit operations. We also need to hold the landowners who are renting or leasing their land responsible for what happens when they fail to pay attention.”
‘We’re moving in the wrong direction’
Lesley Tamura, a pear grower in Hood River County and Columbia Fruit Growers Association board chair, reiterated landowners’ argument that the bill is unfair.
“It makes landowners and housing providers legally and financially responsible for situations out of their control and essentially makes them into additional collateral damage of these illegal cannabis operations,” Tamura testified.
Farmers have no choice but to rent out portions of their property, she said.
“As the agricultural industry continues to consolidate due to low income and high costs, some farmers and growers are trying to expand their operations because the only way to stay in business is to have more acreage,” Tamura said.
Committee member Kevin Mannix, R-Salem, said the bill comes at an odd time. Lawmakers are trying to increase affordable housing in Oregon, Mannix said.
“What does this do to encourage anyone to make any land available for farmworker housing out there on the farms other than to frighten them away because they’re going to be held liable for some technical reasons that they may not have been aware of?” he said. “I just think we’re moving in the wrong direction here.”
‘Enforcement has weakened over time’
Sonato said the state is definitely moving in the wrong direction — but not in terms of providing farmworkers with decent and safe housing.
“Despite its intent, CORA enforcement has weakened over time,” Sonato told the committee. “BOLI once had seven employees devoted to farm labor housing compliance. Now only two or three cover multiple industries, including forestry, construction and janitorial work. As a result, BOLI has assessed no penalties under CORA for at least six years.”
State law is even less effective in addressing illegal and unlicensed camps, Sonato added. “A significant loophole allows negligent landowners to lease their property to bad actors while turning a blind eye to worker exploitation,” she said.
The bill helps close that loophole and empower workers to report abuse, Sonato told lawmakers. She said workers “fear putting themselves at risk by asserting that they worked in an illegal industry even if they were coerced into it.”
Valderrama said workers often face forced labor, threats and violence, as well as unpaid labor and unsafe working conditions.
“Many workers continue to endure these hardships because they fear retaliation, physical violence by employers and immigration consequences,” she said. “Landlords can allow these camps on their properties and face no consequences if the camp operators disappear after the season ends.”
‘The tools we have … are woefully inadequate’
The Cannabis Worker Resilience Partnership was formed two years ago as an alliance of seven community, legal and mental health organizations.
“Advocates realized the tools we have to address this inhumane housing condition faced by farmworkers in illegal marijuana worksites is woefully inadequate,” Valderrama told committee members.
Under CORA, the maximum fine for operating an illegal labor camp is $500. The bill increases the fine to $2,000 per violation.
“HB 3194 takes a balanced approach,” Valderrama said. “Landowners who follow the law and lease their land to a registered, licensed and endorsed camp operator will not be impacted. Those who allow illegal and unsafe conditions should be held accountable.”
Debbie Cabrales, Centro de Servicios para Campesinos executive director, told lawmakers that she and the staff of her Woodburn office hear horror stories when farmworkers come in for services.
“When illegal cannabis operations suddenly shut down, the landlord just denies any involvement — even though workers said they saw them talking to the camp operators,” Cabrales said. “Holding landowners accountable and enforcing and increasing penalties is the minimum we can do for our community members who are putting their lives at risk and living in horrible conditions that no one should live in.”
‘Facing conditions reminiscent of the 1950s’
Nick Morales, representing the Center for Farmworker Advocacy in Southern Oregon, said he finds it hard to believe landowners don’t suspect illegal activities on their property.
“We’ve heard numerous accounts of landowners being offered $150,000 or more in cash in backpacks in exchange for being able to rent their land for a season,” he told committee members March 6.
“Even if a landowner is from out of state, a responsible landowner would develop some kind of contract — especially regarding the type of crops that would be grown and would incorporate restrictions, like registering labor camps in that contractual language,” he said.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse, he added.
“Choosing to turn a blind eye to the gross violations of unlicensed labor housing should be heavily penalized,” he said.
All the efforts made over the past 30 years to enhance the working and living conditions of farmworkers have been grossly violated in these illegal operations, Morales said.
“We are currently facing conditions reminiscent of the 1950s,” he added.
House Bill 3194 makes the people who operate unlicensed farm labor camps (as well as the landowners) liable for the camp’s conditions. The Democrat-led bill is in the House Judiciary Committee. Public hearings were held Feb. 27 and March 6. No other committee meetings or floor sessions have been scheduled.
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This article appears in March 26, 2025.