Senate committee adopts amendment to expand Public Guardian and Conservator duties; forwards SB 794 to Ways and Means

The Senate Committee on Human Services on Feb. 27 adopted amendments to Senate Bill 794 and forwarded the bill to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

Chair Gelser Blue opened a work session on Senate Bill 794 and introduced the bill summary. Matt, a committee staff presenter, said SB 794 “expands the services and supports provided by the Oregon Public Guardian and Conservator to include alternative decisional supports and defines what those additional services and supports would be.” He added the dash‑1 amendment “removes the supported decision making from the alternative services and supports that would be provided by OPG under this bill, and [directs] the agency to adopt rules that define that term.”

Senator Linthicum moved to adopt the dash‑1 amendment; the committee adopted it by unanimous consent after no objections were raised. Later, Senator Lythcomb moved that SB 794 as amended be given a due‑pass recommendation and referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. The committee called the roll; Senators Nash, Brzezinski, Rubens, Vice Chair Monika, and Chair Casa registered aye. Having received the required votes, the chair said the motion passed and that SB 794 would be sent to Ways and Means.

The committee did not debate further policy details on the floor at this session; Chair Gelser Blue noted that supported decision‑making will be addressed separately and that a prior informational discussion on that topic will be used to streamline further hearings. No fiscal committee action was taken during the work session; SB 794 now proceeds to Ways and Means for fiscal consideration.

Ending: The committee closed the SB 794 work session and proceeded to other agenda items.