Committee hears DSL pitch to streamline navigability declarations; landowners and Farm Bureau voice concerns

The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire opened a public hearing on Senate Bill 74 on March 13, 2025, hearing Department of State Lands (DSL) staff explain the bill's purpose and mechanics, followed by testimony from an attorney who represented petitioners in a prior navigability case and from the Oregon Farm Bureau.

DSL deputy Bill Ryan told the committee the bill (as amended in the dash‑2 amendment posted to OLIS) would require DSL to study determinations of navigability and to submit a report to interim natural resources committees by Sept. 15, 2026. The dash‑2 amendment, Ryan said, would allow DSL to determine that the state's interest in a waterway extends to the current submerged and submersible lands and would authorize negotiated deed exchanges that prioritize state ownership of the existing waterway over a strict 1:1 land‑value swap; it would also require the county clerk to record a declaration of state ownership in county deed records.

Ryan outlined how navigability determinations work under federal and state tests. He said navigability declarations must consider whether a waterway "was used or was susceptible to use" for…