The Climate Reality Project (CRP), Portland Chapter is a local, volunteer-led chapter of CRP, an international nonprofit of 5 million members led by climate leader and former US Vice President Al Gore, whose mission is to catalyze global solutions to the climate crisis. climaterealitypdx.com/, www.climaterealityproject.org
CRP Portland Chapter supports climate action along 5 pillars: a Just Transition to clean energy, zero carbon transportation, Climate Justice and public health, building green communities, and protecting democracy. The below is a brief overview of key legislation we support in the 2025 Legislative Session.
Legislative Committee 2025 Legislative Priorities as of 3/28/25
Climate budget
We need regular funding for climate–we cannot afford to skip a year. We strongly support funding for clean electrification and climate resilience: electric school buses, EV and eBike rebates for low-and-middle income residents, EV charging access, the Rental Home Heat Pump Program, the Community Heat Pump Deployment Program, community resiliency hubs and programs, and natural and working lands.
Transportation
We join the Move Oregon Forward campaign in supporting a transportation package that prioritizes maintenance, public health, and mitigating the climate crisis.
We advocate for mass transit, micro-mobility solutions, and improved routes and safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, aiming to decrease vehicle miles traveled and to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions. Where motor vehicle transportation is used, we strongly support electrification.
We caution against relying on hydrogen or renewable diesel as transportation solutions, as they are inefficient, costly, and of dubious climate benefit.
Clean Electricity
A transition to clean energy will require a robust transmission system with distributed energy resources. We support expanding community solar (SB 92), promoting the adoption of Grid Enhancement Technologies (HB 3336), facilitating regional coordination and enhancement of transmission of clean energy in collaboration with tribal communities (HB 3628), ensuring that high energy use facilities pay their fair share of building out the grid for their outsized demand (HB 3546), and adopting performance-based regulation of utilities (SB 688).
We oppose new nuclear development as an expensive and risky distraction from more affordable, more timely, and less dangerous solutions such as solar/wind+storage and potentially enhanced geothermal generation, which was selected in the Oregon Energy Strategy modeling runs.
Healthy Homes & Communities
We join the Building Resilience Coalition in strong support for HB 3081 “One Stop Shop 2.0,” an enhancement to HIPPO which would better help residents access energy efficiency and electrification programs, SB 88 the “Get Junk Out of our Rates” bill, so that ratepayer dollars are spent on resilient and affordable utility services and not on lobbying and advertising, HB 3170 which funds Community Resilience Hubs and Networks, and continued budget funding for the Rental Home and Community Heat Pump Deployment programs. We support access to cooling in multi-family buildings (SB 54) and note that the Rental Home Heat Pump program will facilitate its affordable implementation.
We support the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub Package: HB 3450 requires the development of an energy storage transition plan by 2026 and directs DEQ to study imposing a bonding/insurance requirement on facility operators (the bonding/insurance study is copied in HB 2949). HB 2152 directs ODOE to develop and implement a state-wide Disaster Reserves Plan. HB 2151 allows for money in the Seismic Risk Mitigation Fund to be used for emergency planning and preparation.
Blending hydrogen into residential and commercial pipelines is a bad investment, harming both climate and public health and safety. We support SB 685, as a first step in hydrogen oversight to protect community health and safety from this fuel being used in our pipelines. (Please see this handout for more info on hydrogen issues.) We also support SB 1143, which allows for Thermal Energy Networks, which are both ultra-efficient and part of a Just Transition for workers in today’s gas industry.
Additional Legislation
We support the creation of a Climate SuperFund (SB 1187) funded by collecting money from fossil fuel companies based on their greenhouse gas emissions. The SuperFund would be used to implement a state resiliency plan to address the impacts of climate change.
We support K-12 climate resilience education (HB 3365) and reducing food waste (HB 3018).
We support the Natural and Working Lands Fund in the Governor’s Requested Budget and advocate for continued funding for natural and working lands in Oregon. We oppose HB 3103 which would reverse Oregon’s progress on sustainable forest practices.