What replaced the mandate

Section 7, added to ORS chapter 455:

“(1) The Department of Consumer and Business Services shall adopt the wildfire hazard mitigation code standards of section R327 of the 2023 Oregon Residential Specialty Code. (2) The department shall by rule create a process for municipalities to adopt the wildfire hazard mitigation code standards referenced in subsection (1) of this section. The process must include a requirement that a municipality notify the department when the municipality has adopted these standards. (3) The wildfire hazard mitigation code standards referenced in subsection (1) of this section may only be applied to new construction of new buildings. (4) The department may not require a local government to adopt code standards that are described in this section.”²

Three constraints in four subsections: opt-in for municipalities, new construction of new buildings only, and no state power to compel adoption.

The Building Codes Division implemented it at OAR 918-480-0010(4): “Effective August 5, 2025, the 2023 Oregon Residential Specialty Code Section R327 is amended for additional wildfire hazard mitigation provisions that are available for local adoption.” It ran as a temporary rule from August 5, 2025 and was adopted permanently effective January 1, 2026.³

R327.1 now reads: “Where adopted by the local municipality, the provisions of this section shall apply to new dwellings and their accessory structures required by a local municipality via local ordinance to be protected against wildfire.”

Defensible space went the same way

Section 5 of the Act amended ORS 476.392 to direct the State Fire Marshal to “create and make available to local governments a model code for defensible space” with standards “consistent with, and [that] do not exceed” sections 603 and 604 of the 2024 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code — and then, at subsection (4): “The State Fire Marshal may not require a local government to adopt the model code.”

That model code was adopted by rule on April 29, 2026 and is voluntary for every jurisdiction in the state.

What survived, and why it matters to associations

Senate Bill 83 did not touch the insurance code. ORS 742.278, from Senate Bill 82 in 2023, is still in force in full:

“Prohibition on uses of map of wildfire risk or exposure. An insurance company may not use a map published by an agency of this state that identifies areas of wildfire risk or exposure as a basis for: (1) Canceling or declining to renew a homeowner insurance policy; or (2) Increasing a premium for a homeowner insurance policy.”⁴

The Division of Financial Regulation's own framing of the consequence is worth quoting: the repeal “does not change the customary practice of insurers using their own proprietary models when making insurance decisions.” Repealing the map removed the thing insurers were forbidden to use. It did not touch what they actually use.

ORS 742.277 also survived, and it contains the provision most useful to an Oregon board. Its definition of “wildfire risk mitigation action” expressly includes “A community-level action, such as receiving recognition as a Firewise USA Site in Good Standing or recognition from a similar entity or participating in community risk reduction programs established by the State Fire Marshal.” A community-wide Firewise designation is a statutorily named mitigation action that insurers must reflect in rating and underwriting. Our Oregon insurance requirements page covers the wider picture.

The arc, stated plainly

In July 2025 Oregon repealed the statewide map, voided every hazard-zone assignment, and made both the building standards and the defensible-space standards local options applying only to new construction. In June 2026 — with no map, no mandatory retrofit code and no state defensible-space rule — the Legislature instead voided the power of private covenants to stop a homeowner from hardening their own house, and passed it 28–0 and 44–0.

The public-law mandate came off and a private-law override went on in its place. That is the through-line of Oregon wildfire policy for associations, and it is why an Oregon board's obligations now depend almost entirely on what its own city or county chose to do.

What to watch next

Section 12 of the Act also amended ORS 105.464, the seller's property disclosure statement. Any change there reaches every residential sale in the state, including every resale inside an association, and it is worth a direct look at the enrolled form before anyone relies on a summary of it.