---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to public records; and declaring an emergency."
description: "Authorizes Attorney General, district attorney or court to award penalty to public records requester, <i>plus reasonable attorney fees,</i>] <b>or order fee waiver or fee reduction,</b> if public body responds to request with undue delay or fails to be responsive to request."
jurisdiction: "us/states/or"
legislature: "Oregon Legislative Assembly"
session: "2019 Regular Session"
identifier: "HB 2353"
citation: "Oregon HB 2353 (2019 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Karin Power", "Michael Dembrow", "Sara Gelser"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-01-14T16:54:51+00:00"
last_action: "2019-06-10T15:43:41+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/51c5ed1f-9ae6-443e-a000-84184f81ed58"
source_url: "https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Measures/Overview/HB2353"
source_hash: "fca7a9cc5c4d25f83a97bdb6e228ca232f4ad8e2e8ac229d7b55235a9715bf23"
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 2353 (2019 Regular Session) — Relating to public records; and declaring an emergency.

Authorizes Attorney General, district attorney or court to award penalty to public records requester, <i>plus reasonable attorney fees,</i>] <b>or order fee waiver or fee reduction,</b> if public body responds to request with undue delay or fails to be responsive to request.

## 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/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2353/House Amendments to Introduced)
2. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2353/Introduced)
3. **A-Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2353/A-Engrossed)
4. **HJUD Amendment -4** (committee substitute) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/ProposedAmendment/15593)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2353/Enrolled)

## Votes

- Heard and Reported Out with Amendments — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Third reading. Carried by Dembrow. Passed. — **26–0** (pass) · upper
- Heard and Reported Out — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Third reading. Carried by Power. Passed. — **56–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Karin Power — primary (person)
- Michael Dembrow — primary (person)
- Sara Gelser — primary (person)
- Cedric Hayden — cosponsor (person)
- Lew Frederick — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-14T16:54:51+00:00** First reading. Referred to Speaker's desk. `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2019-01-18T19:43:45+00:00** Referred to Judiciary. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-13T20:01:00+00:00** Public Hearing held.
- **2019-04-08T20:02:00+00:00** Work Session held.
- **2019-04-19T21:13:38+00:00** Recommendation: Do pass with amendments and be printed A-Engrossed. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-22T17:51:16+00:00** Second reading. `reading-2`
- **2019-04-23T21:54:00+00:00** Third reading. Carried by Power. Passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-04-24T16:10:11+00:00** First reading. Referred to President's desk. `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-25T21:00:06+00:00** Referred to Business and General Government. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-14T15:32:00+00:00** Public Hearing and Work Session held.
- **2019-05-22T16:14:41+00:00** Recommendation: Do pass the A-Eng. bill. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-22T17:05:02+00:00** Second reading. `reading-2`
- **2019-05-23T22:58:13+00:00** Third reading. Carried by Dembrow. Passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-05-28T16:12:38+00:00** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2019-05-28T20:46:10+00:00** President signed. `passage`
- **2019-06-04T22:28:12+00:00** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-10T15:43:41+00:00** Chapter 205, (2019 Laws): Effective date June 4, 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/51c5ed1f-9ae6-443e-a000-84184f81ed58`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Oregon legislature records).