Oregon law has long delegated to Oregon counties issuance of permits for Oregon’s mass gatherings. The permit process is in part addressed through county ordinance, and in part through state law.
Current law sets a cap on the maximum amount of liability insurance a county may require of an organization hosting a mass gathering to receive a permit. The last time this cap was revised through legislation was in 1993, setting the cap at $1 million. At the time, the cap was aligned with the Oregon Tort Claims Act (OTCA).
In 2009, the Oregon Supreme Court opined that a static number could not exist in the OTCA because it would violate the remedies clause. That number must move in accordance with inflation. Since the issuance of this opinion, statute surrounding OTCA had been updated, but not regarding the tie in to of liability insurance to OTCA, thus creating a constantly increasing delta between the two statutes. This delta is now over $1.4 million. Without a legislative fix, Oregon counties are liable for the gap between OTCA and liability insurance.
Senate Bill 696 remedies this issue by tying the level of insurance required by a county governing body to approve a permit for outdoor mass gathering to the OTCA as was originally intended. Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) supports this legislation, and AOC Legal Counsel, Rob Bovett testified in House and Senate committees on this bill. To view Bovett’s testimony, click here.
“While the fix is technical, the bill is imperative to ensuring counties can continue to permit mass gatherings without unintended liability,” Bovett said of the bill.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously, and is now scheduled for a work session on May 20 in the House Committee on Judiciary.
Contributed by: Megan Chuinard | Public Affairs Associate