Committee hears testimony on bill to require certification that public EVs and solar panels are free of forced or child labor

House Committee on Labor and Workplace Standards Chair Graber opened public testimony on House Bill 2,425, which would require public bodies that procure electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic systems to obtain certification from manufacturers, distributors or suppliers that production, assembly, transportation or sale of those materials did not involve forced labor or oppressive child labor.

Supporters told the committee the state’s green procurement and electrification mandates create demand that can drive labor abuses in global supply chains and that certification is a feasible step to avoid complicity. Representative Ed Deal (House District 17) said Oregon’s green mandates “create an artificial demand that is fueling labor abuses,” and described cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and polysilicon production linked to forced labor in China’s…