Oregon 2025R1 Session Status: In Committee 1 D cosponsors

HB 3538 — Establishes the Secretary of State as the chief civics officer of this state and establishes the Division of Civic Engagement within the Secretary of State office.

Last action — In House Committee

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed House
  4. 4
    Passed Senate
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced February 12, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.

Next likely step: a committee vote, then a floor vote in the House.

Odds of enactment

Low chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a low chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Stalled 16% · moderate confidence
  • In Committee

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (1 D).

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

Digest: The Act makes the SOS the chief civics officer in the state and establishes a division in the SOS office for civics. The Act says that civics shall be taught in schools and that civics programs shall be given to adults. The Act creates a task force to study and propose ideas to improve civics in this state. The Act creates the PRC as an office for people to make complaints about false campaign statements, investigate the complaints and make findings, including required warnings near certain statements. The Act takes effect when signed. (Flesch Readability Score: 66.9). Establishes the Secretary of State as the chief civics officer of this state and establishes the Division of Civic Engagement within the Secretary of State office. Directs the division to establish civics education in public schools and develop programs and outreach for adults to enhance civic engagement. Establishes the Civics Action Benchmarks Task Force to study and make recommendations on the steps to be taken to enhance the participation of Oregonians in civic affairs. Establishes the Commission on Political Rhetoric. Directs the commission to receive complaints alleging that a candidate for public office has made false statements with purposeful malice or reckless intent. Provides that if a supermajority of the commission determines that the subject of a complaint made false statements with purposeful malice or reckless intent, the voters' pamphlet and other publications containing the candidate's statements must also contain a warning statement specified by the Act. Appropriates moneys to the Secretary of State and Commission on Political Rhetoric to fund the programs established in the Act. Declares an emergency, effective on passage.

Bill Text

We don't have the full text on file for this bill yet.

Read HB 3538 on the official Oregon source →

Action History

  1. In House Committee

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 89 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (89)

89 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 89 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does HB 3538 do?
Digest: The Act makes the SOS the chief civics officer in the state and establishes a division in the SOS office for civics. The Act says that civics shall be taught in schools and that civics programs shall be given to adults. The Act creates a task force to study and propose ideas to improve civics in this state. The Act creates the PRC as an office for people to make complaints about false campaign statements, investigate the complaints and make findings, including required warnings near certain statements. The Act takes effect when signed. (Flesch Readability Score: 66.9). Establishes the Secretary of State as the chief civics officer of this state and establishes the Division of Civic Engagement within the Secretary of State office. Directs the division to establish civics education in public schools and develop programs and outreach for adults to enhance civic engagement. Establishes the Civics Action Benchmarks Task Force to study and make recommendations on the steps to be taken to enhance the participation of Oregonians in civic affairs. Establishes the Commission on Political Rhetoric. Directs the commission to receive complaints alleging that a candidate for public office has made false statements with purposeful malice or reckless intent. Provides that if a supermajority of the commission determines that the subject of a complaint made false statements with purposeful malice or reckless intent, the voters' pamphlet and other publications containing the candidate's statements must also contain a warning statement specified by the Act. Appropriates moneys to the Secretary of State and Commission on Political Rhetoric to fund the programs established in the Act. Declares an emergency, effective on passage.
Who sponsors HB 3538?
HB 3538 is sponsored by Paul Evans (Democrat).
What is the current status of HB 3538?
This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced February 12, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.
Where can I track HB 3538?
Track HB 3538 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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