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Committee approves amendment to create private-right-of-action against secret recording in lodging; adds imaging and immediate transmission language
Summary
Senate Bill 470’s dash-1 amendment moves remedies into the invasion-of-privacy statute, adds visual imaging and immediate transmission to prohibited conduct, and clarifies the definition of private space in transient lodging. Committee adopted the amendment and sent the bill to the floor.
Senate Bill 470, considered March 12 by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would prohibit a transient lodging provider or intermediary from making audio or video recordings of an occupant in an area where that occupant has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The dash-1 amendment, which the committee adopted, adds the right of action into ORS 30.831 (invasion of privacy), providing applicants compensatory damages and attorney fees instead of treatment under the Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
Staff told the committee the dash-1 amendment expands the covered conduct to include visual imaging and “immediate transmission” (not only recording and later rebroadcast). The amendment also refines the definition of “private space” to specifically include sleeping areas, bathrooms and any interior space of an individual dwelling unit that is not a common area or otherwise open to uninvited access.
Senator McLean asked whether the amendment would still permit criminal prosecution of a third party who records someone in a private space; staff confirmed existing criminal statutes continue to apply and that the new subsection E targets the liability of the lodging provider or intermediary when they intentionally permit recording by another person. Committee members said the clarified definition of private space would reduce reliance on case law about expectations of privacy and make application clearer.
The committee adopted the dash-1 amendment on a unanimous roll-call vote and then voted to send the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. Senator Broadman agreed to carry the bill to the floor.
