---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to civil immunity for volunteers fighting wildfires."
description: "Makes person voluntarily fighting wildfire immune from civil liability for injury resulting from good faith performance of firefighting efforts.<b> Creates exceptions.</b>"
jurisdiction: "us/states/or"
legislature: "Oregon Legislative Assembly"
session: "2019 Regular Session"
identifier: "SB 290"
citation: "Oregon SB 290 (2019 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Betsy Johnson", "Bill Hansell"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 28
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-01-14T15:33:37+00:00"
last_action: "2019-06-10T16:12:23+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/be61ede9-cc79-4133-a17f-0a8f53321e00"
source_url: "https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Measures/Overview/SB290"
source_hash: "621f3a6b07af1262ac44d4eb298dbcf38b25b90c437b3fef170ddd17f9c23c0b"
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 SB 290 (2019 Regular Session) — Relating to civil immunity for volunteers fighting wildfires.

Makes person voluntarily fighting wildfire immune from civil liability for injury resulting from good faith performance of firefighting efforts.<b> Creates exceptions.</b>

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB290/Introduced)
2. **Senate Amendments to Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB290/Senate Amendments to Introduced)
3. **A-Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB290/A-Engrossed)
4. **SJUD Amendment -2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/ProposedAmendment/14898)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB290/Enrolled)

## Votes

- Third reading. Carried by Stark. Passed. — **55–0** (pass) · lower
- Heard and Reported Out with Amendments — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Heard and Reported Out — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Third reading. Carried by Hansell. Passed. — **30–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Betsy Johnson — primary (person)
- Bill Hansell — primary (person)
- Daniel Bonham — cosponsor (person)
- Duane Stark — cosponsor (person)
- Greg Barreto — cosponsor (person)
- Lynn Findley — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-14T15:33:37+00:00** Introduction and first reading. Referred to President's desk. `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2019-01-15T16:47:07+00:00** Referred to Judiciary. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-26T15:01:00+00:00** Public Hearing held.
- **2019-04-01T15:02:00+00:00** Work Session held.
- **2019-04-05T17:34:57+00:00** Recommendation: Do pass with amendments. (Printed A-Eng.) `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-08T17:15:19+00:00** Second reading. `reading-2`
- **2019-04-09T17:12:38+00:00** Carried over to 04-10 by unanimous consent.
- **2019-04-10T18:17:40+00:00** Third reading. Carried by Hansell. Passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-04-11T17:27:37+00:00** First reading. Referred to Speaker's desk. `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-18T23:16:07+00:00** Referred to Judiciary. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-30T20:31:00+00:00** Public Hearing held.
- **2019-05-02T20:02:00+00:00** Work Session held.
- **2019-05-07T23:29:23+00:00** Recommendation: Do pass. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-08T19:07:58+00:00** Second reading. `reading-2`
- **2019-05-09T19:03:10+00:00** Carried over to May 13, 2019 Calendar by virtue of adjournment.
- **2019-05-13T23:01:03+00:00** Carried over to May 14, 2019 Calendar by virtue of adjournment.
- **2019-05-14T19:29:10+00:00** Carried over to May 15, 2019 Calendar by virtue of adjournment.
- **2019-05-15T19:27:33+00:00** Carried over to May 16, 2019 Calendar by virtue of adjournment.
- **2019-05-16T18:33:40+00:00** Carried over to May 17, 2019 Calendar by virtue of adjournment.
- **2019-05-17T18:57:34+00:00** Carried over to May 20, 2019 Calendar by virtue of adjournment.
- **2019-05-20T19:29:22+00:00** Carried over to May 21, 2019 Calendar by virtue of adjournment.
- **2019-05-21T19:06:09+00:00** Carried over to May 22, 2019 Calendar by virtue of adjournment.
- **2019-05-23T02:07:29+00:00** Third reading. Carried by Stark. Passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-05-28T16:32:42+00:00** President signed. `passage`
- **2019-05-28T20:57:27+00:00** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2019-06-04T22:07:40+00:00** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-10T16:05:04+00:00** Chapter 245, 2019 Laws.
- **2019-06-10T16:12:23+00:00** Effective date, January 1, 2020.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/be61ede9-cc79-4133-a17f-0a8f53321e00`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Oregon legislature records).