2025 State Legislative Session Recap: Recreational Immunity Win and More Work to Do on Trails Funding and Waiver Reform

The 2025 Oregon legislative session that wrapped up on June 29th, held the biggest, boldest agenda to date for the Oregon Trails Coalition and Oregonians who love trails.

We celebrated an important win on recreational immunity and have more work to do on the other legislative priorities we introduced this session.

Here's a summary of where things landed:

Priority #1: Keep Oregon Trails open with lasting recreational immunity protections through SB 179. WIN!

Recreational Immunity laws provide basic liability protections to landowners (public and private) who open lands to the public free of charge for outdoor recreation purposes. SB 179 was passed this session and signed by the Governor into law. Learn more.

Priority #2: Address the Funding Shortfall for the Oregon Community Paths program as part of a safe, green, fairly funded, and accountable transportation package. Work in Progress.

While we are proud of our work this session to ensure trails were part of the transportation discussion, the legislature was not successful in passing any transportation package this session. Learn more.

Priority #3: Invest in Oregon Signature Trails like the Salmonberry Trail and Oregon Coast Trail and keep long-distance trail projects on track with funding for a permanent State Trails Coordinator position. Work in Progress.

Oregon Trails Coalition and our partners were not successful in securing new funding for Oregon Signature Trails or a State Trails Coordinator position this session. It should be noted that that the legislature did not vote against these trails priorities, but rather in the context of an extremely tight budget and many issues before legislators this session, opportunities to invest in trails did not make their way through Ways and Means Committee and on to the chamber floors for a vote.

Priority #4: Encourage Volunteer Stewardship and Responsible Recreation through Waiver Reform. Work in Progress.

Currently Oregon's laws around recreation activity waivers are unbalanced in favor of the activity participants and away from activity providers, creating a tough environment for organizations that provide trails stewardship and supported recreation activities. Insurance costs are higher, and recreation and stewardship providers face greater risk of expensive lawsuits than in any of our neighboring states. Two different bills, HB 3140 and SB 1196 were introduced to tackle the issue this session, but neither bill made to a chamber floor for a vote.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Oregon Trails Coalition is proud to have had a bigger presence than ever in the State Capitol this session. We brought more than 100 trails advocates to Salem for meetings with legislators on our 2025 Trails Day at the Capitol. We built and tended many relationships this session with legislators, legislative staff, and partners around the state. We raised a lot of awareness about the value of trails and the challenges faced by the amazing partners in our Coalition working to maintain and increase access to the trails we have and build the trails our communities deserve.

We couldn't have done this work without our members and everyone who provided testimony, traveled to the Capitol, and contacted legislators this session! Thank you! Together we've built a strong foundation for the work ahead to defend and meaningfully invest in Oregon's trails.

If sustaining this work is important to you, become an Oregon Trails Coalition member today. Individual, organizational, and business members power our collective voice for trails for with your recurring contributions.