A bill to defer HOA dues on county land passed 48-4, then died
A bill to defer HOA dues on county land passed 48-4, then died
2026-09-15 · Oregon · Legislation · Did not pass
House Bill 3545 passed the Oregon House 48–4 in April 2025, received a single Senate public hearing in May, and then sat in committee until the session ended. It never got a Senate work session, and no Senate vote of any kind exists. It died in the Senate Committee on Housing and Development at sine die on June 27, 2025.1
The problem it was trying to solve
When an Oregon county takes a lot through tax foreclosure under ORS 312.200, it becomes the owner. If that lot sits inside a planned community or condominium, the county becomes an assessment-paying member — and counties frequently hold foreclosed property for long periods while they look for a buyer.
County assessors and tax collectors wanted relief. Associations wanted to be paid.
The bill changed shape halfway through
As introduced it was a flat exemption. The original digest: the Act “would exempt property that has been deeded to a county for unpaid taxes from the association fees charged on a home or condo for no more than 6 months.”
The A-Engrossed version, after the -4 amendment, abandoned the exemption for an accrue-and-lien model. The new digest: the Act “would establish when charges made by HOAs and condo associations start to accrue on property deeded to the county in a tax foreclosure. The Act would create a lien for the amount of the charges on the property… The Act would say who is liable for the charges and the date on which the lien must be satisfied.”2
How the amended version worked
Section 2 of the A-Engrossed bill provided that assessments accrue from the date the property is deeded to the county and end on the earliest of the county transferring title, entering a lease, or determining it will permanently retain title. Those accrued assessments “give rise to a lien against the subject property.”
Liability followed the outcome: the buyer, if the county sold; the county itself, if it leased or decided to keep the property. A buyer had to satisfy the lien “no later than the date on which the title to the subject property is received”; a county within thirty days of leasing or deciding to retain.
And there was a limit on what the association could put in the lien. It “shall not include costs or fee increases for payment of a fine, penalty, settlement or attorney fees that are the result of a violation of local, state or federal law by the association that imposes the assessments.”2
Who lined up where
Nine testimony submissions across both chambers, and the split is clean: county government for, community associations against.
In support — the Oregon State Association of County Assessors and Tax Collectors, the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, and Multnomah County.
In opposition — the Oregon Legislative Action Committee for Community Associations, in both chambers, and Fishhawk Lake Reserve & Community, Inc., an association in Clatsop and Columbia counties.
The Community Associations Institute's Oregon committee, through Andrea Klopfenstein, CMCA, opposed the introduced version in these terms:
“We believe this legislation, if passed, will have a significantly adverse impact on the approximately 585,000 Oregon residents living in condominiums and homeowners associations.”
“Community assessments fund critical services such as landscaping, waste management, security, infrastructure repairs, and utilities. These are contractual obligations tied to real, recurring expenses—not discretionary consumer debt. Missing six months' worth of assessments would disrupt cash flow, forcing associations to deplete emergency reserves, halt maintenance, or levy special assessments on owners to compensate. This unfairly shifts the county's financial burden onto residents, many of whom are already taxpayers.”3
Notably, the committee stayed opposed after the amendment converted the bill to an accrue-and-lien model: “Even with a lien on the property, the delay of receipt of assessments would disrupt cash flow.” It added a drafting objection worth recording, because it identifies a genuine gap: the bill required notice to the county “in accordance with the association's dues schedule,” and “'dues schedule' is not defined nor is a common term used in community associations.”
Its proposed compromise was a bounded deferral: “A set time frame, such as six months to a year, during which counties could delay making assessment payments (still secured by a perfected lien).”
The vote, and the one name worth noting
The House Committee on Housing and Homelessness reported the bill on April 9, 2025 by 11 ayes, 0 nays, 1 excused. On the floor on April 22, it passed 48–4. The four no votes were Representatives Boshart Davis, Cate, Drazan and Evans — Christine Drazan being the former House Republican leader and 2022 gubernatorial nominee.1
Then the Senate did nothing with it. First reading April 23, referred to Housing and Development the same day, public hearing May 19, and no further action for the remaining five and a half weeks of the session.
What the committee was actually worried about
The staff measure summary lists the issues discussed, and they read as a fair statement of the unresolved problem: options for counties holding foreclosed properties after a year without finding a buyer; responsibility for accrued fees after a sale; accrued fees arising before the county takes possession; county liability where a property sits unsold for very long periods, and incentives for potential new owners; and “building in risk into HOA creation and consequences for other tenants if tenants default.”
That last item is the one that did not get resolved, and it is the reason the bill is worth reading even though it failed. An assessment lien that must be cleared at closing is a charge against the sale price, which reduces what the county recovers and can make a low-value lot in a high-assessment community effectively unsellable. Our Oregon collections and liens page covers how assessment liens work under ORS 94.709 and ORS 100.450 outside this scenario.
What to watch next
It came back. The same concept was reintroduced in the 2026 session as House Bill 4064 and died without a hearing. Two sessions, two deaths, and the underlying conflict — a county that owns lots it is not paying assessments on, inside associations that still have to maintain the roads and water systems those lots use — has not been addressed by any Oregon statute.
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