Senate votes to outlaw discrimination against Oregon tenants based on immigration status

Yahoo

25-03-2025

Rep. Wlnsvey Campos, D-Aloha, participates in a committee meeting in December 2022. (Photo by Connor Radnovich/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Calling it a 'moral imperative,' the Oregon Senate voted Monday to ban landlords from asking about or disclosing tenants' immigration status.
Senate Bill 599 barring discrimination against immigrant tenants is a top priority for the Legislature's 18-member BIPOC caucus and now heads to the state House for approval. It comes as Oregon strives to strengthen state laws protecting immigrants against a backdrop of threats from President Donald Trump's administration, and as the state grapples with a housing crisis that has led to nearly 23,000 homeless Oregonians and many more struggling to afford rent or mortgage payments.
State law already prohibits housing discrimination based on national origin or race, and the bill's supporters say it closes a gap by also prohibiting discrimination based on immigration status.
Sen. Wlnsvey Campos, D-Aloha and the bill's chief sponsor, described it on the Senate floor Monday as a way to create a more just and inclusive Oregon while protecting vulnerable residents.
'Hardworking individuals in our communities who contribute immensely to Oregon's economy have too often faced the sting of discrimination and exclusion,' Campos said. 'They are our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends. There are people who deserve the security and safety that a home represents.'
Republican Sens. Dick Anderson of Lincoln City, Mike McLane of Powell Butte, Todd Nash of Enterprise and Suzanne Weber of Tillamook joined 17 Democrats to pass the bill with no debate. It now heads to the Oregon House, where it's also expected to pass.
State Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham and the BIPOC caucus's co-chair, laid out his personal support for the bill during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. Ruiz's parents immigrated from Mexico in the 1980s and spent decades as farmworkers picking fruit in east Multnomah County.
'Growing up, I saw firsthand the barriers that stood in their way — the fear of not having a safe place to call home, the anxiety of not knowing if someone would turn us away because of where we came from or the language we spoke,' Ruiz said. 'That constant fear follows families like mine, not just for weeks or months, but for years, shaping the way we move through the world. No child should have to carry that weight.'
The bill would allow tenants to supply landlords with identification like a driver's license or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number instead of a Social Security number or birth certificate. Landlords would still be allowed to ask about immigration status if required by a federal government program for affordable housing.
Portland passed a similar city ordinance in 2019, and at least four other states — Washington, California, Illinois and New York — have similar laws on their books.
Cameron Herrington, representing the Oregon Housing Alliance, told lawmakers that while working on the Portland ordinance he gathered accounts from multiple tenants whose landlords threatened to call immigration enforcement in retaliation for tenants' requests for accommodations or repairs. Sybill Hebb, director of legislative advocacy of the Oregon Law Center, said her organization has similar accounts from some of its clients.
'We have had anecdotal experiences where we've been working with clients who have expressed concern or fear about the idea,' Hebb said. 'Mothers, fathers afraid of calling to request a repair to a stove or a bathroom fixture because of the fear of what might happen as a result. And in that situation, we couldn't offer the specific, explicit protection that we would like to be able to do in helping them feel like they could, in fact, assert their rights as tenants.'
Lawmakers received twice as many comments supporting the bill as those opposing it. Opponent John Masterman, a Republican who narrowly lost two Clackamas County state House races in 2022 and 2024, said in written testimony that immigration status matters to landlords who want to make sure tenants follow rules.
'Someone in Oregon that has not entered the country in the proper, legal way, has already broken the law once,' Masterman wrote. 'Respect for the rules has already been compromised. It's not a stretch to be concerned about future issues with following the rules.'
Oregon was the first state in the nation to pass a sanctuary law prohibiting state and local law enforcement from helping federal officials to enforce immigration law nearly four decades ago, and the state has strengthened that law several times over the years.
In general, state and local agencies don't gather, store or share information about Oregonians' immigration status, citizenship or country of origin. They're not allowed to share records or grant access to non-public spaces to federal immigration authorities without a court order signed by a judge.
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