Panel narrows and advances bill barring landlords from discrimination based on immigration or citizenship status; emergency clause added

On March 12 the Senate Judiciary Committee adopted dash-4 amendments to Senate Bill 599, a measure that would prohibit certain landlord practices related to immigration or citizenship status in rental housing. After extended questioning and stakeholder discussion the committee voted to advance the bill with the amendment and to send it to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation.

Committee staff said the dash-4 amendment clarifies that rental housing discrimination based on immigration or citizenship status is prohibited, allows landlords to inquire about status to comply with federal laws that subsidize housing, permits landlords to accept combinations of listed documents to verify an applicant’s name, birth date and physical appearance, narrows the prohibition on disclosure to conduct intended to harass, intimidate or retaliate, and removes the provision that would have added immigration status as a protected class across the entire Oregon Fair Housing Act (the amendment instead confines the rule to rental-housing contexts covered by the landlord-tenant statute). The amendment declares an emergency so the bill would take effect on passage and operate 30 days thereafter for certain sections.

Senator McLean asked multiple detailed questions about the scope and practical effect of the bill, including whether existing Fair Housing Act protections (e.g., national origin) already reach some of these harms and how a landlord would defend against litigation when “perceived” immigration status is alleged. Sybil Hubb of the Oregon Law Center explained HUD guidance and the federal “actual or perceived” standard used in discrimination contexts and said community partners reported tenants often avoid raising repair or habitability issues out of fear that immigration-related disclosure would result in retaliation. Senator Broadman noted national examples of enforcement actions where landlords threatened to call ICE on tenants.

Committee members debated whether the emergency clause and a 30-day operational delay were appropriate. Staff said the emergency clause reflects community urgency and that the 30-day operative delay would allow landlord associations time to educate members on acceptable verification documents and business practices.

The committee adopted the dash-4 amendment on a roll-call vote (ayes recorded: Senator Broadman, Senator Kelsey Blumen, Senator Manning, Chair Brzezinski; nays: Senator McLean, Vice Chair Thacher) and then approved sending the amended bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation (committee roll-call recorded; final move-to-floor vote carried with five ayes and one no). Committee members requested staff and community partners provide additional outreach materials to landlords and tenants if the bill advances.