---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to road worker safety; and declaring an emergency."
description: "Increases penalties for assault committed against flagger or highway worker who is performing official duties. Punishes by maximum of five years' imprisonment, $125,000 fine, or both."
jurisdiction: "us/states/or"
legislature: "Oregon Legislative Assembly"
session: "2017 Regular Session"
identifier: "HB 2721"
citation: "Oregon HB 2721 (2017 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alan Olsen", "Chris Gorsek", "Chuck Thomsen", "Sherrie Sprenger", "Susan McLain"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 26
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2017-01-09T20:20:19+00:00"
last_action: "2017-08-18T18:19:59+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d573f76d-89d0-422f-918f-a25978653f8c"
source_url: "https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/Overview/HB2721"
source_hash: "e73215e1970f511abc95208e9e7aaa9983d81999a73a7c58deb179e7b7b5ed46"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-or"]
---

# Oregon HB 2721 (2017 Regular Session) — Relating to road worker safety; and declaring an emergency.

Increases penalties for assault committed against flagger or highway worker who is performing official duties. Punishes by maximum of five years' imprisonment, $125,000 fine, or both.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **House Amendments to Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2721/House Amendments to Introduced)
2. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2721/Introduced)
3. **A-Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2721/A-Engrossed)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2721/Enrolled)

## Votes

- Third reading. Carried by Thomsen. Passed. — **30–0** (pass) · legislature
- Heard and Reported Out with Amendments — **46–0** (pass) · legislature
- Heard and Reported Out — **9–1** (pass) · legislature
- Third reading. Carried by Sprenger. Passed. — **46–1** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Alan Olsen — primary (person)
- Chris Gorsek — primary (person)
- Chuck Thomsen — primary (person)
- Sherrie Sprenger — primary (person)
- Susan McLain — primary (person)
- Jeff Barker — cosponsor (person)
- Karin Power — cosponsor (person)
- Kim Thatcher — cosponsor (person)
- Lew Frederick — cosponsor (person)
- Michael Dembrow — cosponsor (person)
- Paul Holvey — cosponsor (person)
- Richard Devlin — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-09T20:20:19+00:00** First reading. Referred to Speaker's desk. `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2017-01-18T01:55:48+00:00** Referred to Judiciary with subsequent referral to Ways and Means. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-07T21:01:00+00:00** Public Hearing held.
- **2017-04-06T20:02:00+00:00** Work Session held.
- **2017-04-07T22:48:46+00:00** Recommendation: Do pass and be referred to Ways and Means by prior reference. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-07T22:48:47+00:00** Referred to Ways and Means by prior reference. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-07T21:22:00+00:00** Assigned to Subcommittee On Public Safety. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-12T22:03:00+00:00** Returned to Full Committee.
- **2017-06-12T22:02:00+00:00** Public Hearing and Work Session held.
- **2017-06-16T16:02:00+00:00** Work Session held.
- **2017-06-20T19:24:34+00:00** Recommendation: Do pass with amendments and be printed A-Engrossed. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-21T16:06:17+00:00** Second reading. `reading-2`
- **2017-06-22T21:00:00+00:00** Third reading. Carried by Sprenger. Passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-06-26T17:07:01+00:00** First reading. Referred to President's desk. `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-26T19:38:25+00:00** Referred to Ways and Means. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-27T15:32:38+00:00** Recommendation: Do pass the A-Eng. bill. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-27T18:12:09+00:00** Second reading. `reading-2`
- **2017-06-28T16:54:21+00:00** Carried over to 06-29 by unanimous consent.
- **2017-06-29T19:16:24+00:00** Carried over to 06-30 by unanimous consent.
- **2017-06-30T19:19:25+00:00** Third reading. Carried by Thomsen. Passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-07-05T19:29:01+00:00** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2017-07-06T16:29:45+00:00** President signed. `passage`
- **2017-08-08T23:30:00+00:00** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2017-08-18T18:19:59+00:00** Chapter 658, (2017 Laws): Effective date August 8, 2017.
- **2017-06-22T20:54:32+00:00** Rules suspended. Carried over to June 23, 2017 Calendar.
- **2017-06-22T20:55:32+00:00** Rules suspended to allow for immediate consideration.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d573f76d-89d0-422f-918f-a25978653f8c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Oregon legislature records).