Senate Bill 236 adopts dash‑2 technical fixes to House Bill 4,002 and moves to the floor

SALEM, Ore. — The Joint Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response on May 28 adopted dash‑2 amendments to Senate Bill 236, an omnibus technical corrections bill to House Bill 4,002, and moved the bill to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation.

The dash‑2 package makes a series of technical and functional changes across multiple sections of House Bill 4,002, including restructuring fentanyl offense statutes, clarifying medication‑assisted treatment (MAT/MOUD) provisions for pharmacists, adjusting deflection grant administration, and fixing expunction (automatic set‑aside) processes to operate as intended.

Rob Bovette, adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, described the dash‑2 amendments as the product of months of stakeholder work to make the statutory changes “functional.” Bovette summarized the major areas: sections 1–16 conform fentanyl statutes to the state controlled‑substances structure; sections 18–23 revise pharmacist MAT/MOUD authorities and prescription/dispensing language; section 17 expands jail MAT/MOUD grant program eligibility to community correction centers; and new sections 26–28 make expunction provisions operable and clarify grant formula authority and pre‑plea specialty court probation agreements.

Aaron Knott, director of government relations for the Oregon Judicial Department, detailed changes to automatic set‑aside (expunction) processes in section 26 and the need to address “partial set asides” where defendants have companion charges. Knott said automated set‑asides for standalone charges take about half an hour per record, while set‑asides involving companion charges can take more than 10 hours because of additional redaction and record handling work. Knott said the dash‑2 language remedies workflow problems and helps ensure all eligible convictions and associated records are cleared together.

Committee members noted a potential conflict with House Bill 3,069 (a separate deflection formula bill pending in Ways and Means). Legislative counsel flagged that whichever bill moves later will require a conflict amendment so section changes are consistent.

The committee voted to adopt the dash‑2 amendments and then voted to send Senate Bill 236, as amended, to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation. The committee called roll during the vote; the clerk recorded the motion as passing and the measure will proceed to the next stage of consideration.

The work session closed after the committee carried the amended bill to the floor. Staff said further committee work on a separate aid and assist bill may be scheduled later in the week.