The Oregon Legislature’s short session has entered its final week and Philomath’s state-level lawmakers, Rep. David Gomberg (D-Otis) and Sen. Dick Anderson (R-Lincoln City), have seen success on bills that they have sponsored.
Earlier this week, the Oregon House passed Gov. Tina Kotek’s housing package that is meant to stimulate housing development across the state. Gomberg-proposed investments were included that will deliver over $13 million in funding to communities in his district.
“This housing crisis isn’t just a Portland problem,” Gomberg said. “We need new housing in all corners of this state and infrastructure investments like these are going to help small communities like mine tackle the big projects they’ll need to start building.”
The package includes $3 million to Siletz to put toward a wastewater treatment plant upgrade; $3 million to Lincoln City for a booster pump station for a housing development; $2.7 million to Manzanita for a housing development’s water and stormwater infrastructure; $1.9 million to Florence for water, sewer and wastewater infrastructure for four blocks of city-owned property to be developed; and various others projects.
“Addressing our state’s housing crisis is the No. 1 priority for Oregonians. But if we want to build more housing, we’re going to need to invest in critical infrastructure projects to do so,” Gomberg said on Feb. 27. “This bipartisan proposal will accelerate desperately needed housing production in nearly every corner of Oregon — including our rural communities. I’m glad to see our efforts folded into the larger housing production conversation.”
The Oregon Senate last week passed House Bill 4058, a bill meant to increase transparency and strengthen consumer protections in real estate transactions. Anderson was a chief sponsor who carried the measure.
“With over 30 years of experience in real estate, I know how important transparency in written agreements are,” Anderson said. “Oregonians deserve these common-sense consumer protections.”
The bill regulates residential property wholesaling, which is where a person enters into a purchase contract with a property owner for one purchase price, then assigns the contract to another buyer for a profit without ever taking the title to the property. Wholesaling is currently unregulated in Oregon.
In addition, HB 4058 prohibits future right-to-list contracts, which some have used to lock homeowners into contracts that require them to list their home with a particular firm if deciding to sell at any time over the next 40 years.
The bill also requires real estate licensees to use written agreements when representing buyers or sellers in real estate transactions and prohibits buyers’ agents and sellers’ agents from sharing compensation with each other without disclosure to their client.
The legislature’s 35-day short session ends Sunday.