Oregon Governor Tina Kotek provided notice to the Legislature that she is considering vetoes of the following bills and budget items from the 2025 legislative session. The Governor make the release pursuant to Article V, Section 15b(4), of the Oregon Constitution. She has until August 8, 2025, to take final action.

Policy bills:
House Bill 3824 - Allows physical therapists to practice dry needling. Senate Bill 976 - Allows an individual to verify whether cattle are pregnant without holding a valid license issued by the Oregon State Veterinary Medical Examining Board under certain circumstances. Senate Bill 1047 - Requires Curry County and the Water Resources Department to expedite review of applications for use on specified lands.

Reason for potential vetoes: The Governor and her team will continue to review these bills and consider perspectives for and against to inform her final decision.

Budget line items in House Bill 5006:

• Willamette Falls Trust - $45 million in lottery bonds
• House Bill 5006, Section 110(15) Project limitation to grant funds to Willamette Falls Trust
• House Bill 5006, Section 108 Cost of Issuance limitation
• Senate Bill 5531, Section 38 Lottery Bond Authorization

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Reason for potential veto:
The Governor supports the opportunity of creating public access to the natural wonder that is Willamette Falls, from both sides of the falls. She is exercising her due diligence to understand more fully the use of these dollars and wants to hear more from all interested parties. She has been a supporter of creating public access to the falls in the past and is committed to dedicating public funding that builds that access in the most equitable, responsible manner possible. As a steward of tax dollars, the Governor is specifically interested in how past allocations, including $12.5 million in state lottery bonds and $20 million in Metro parks and nature bonds, will be or have been spent before approving an additional $45 million. She looks forward to the conversations ahead to inform her final decision.

YourOregonNews.com reported on The Willamette Falls Trust — a partnership of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs — initially asked lawmakers for $50-75 million to acquire about 60 acres of land on the West Linn side of the falls. The Willamette Falls project, which was first announced to the public in 2023, would bring public access to the falls and restore the surrounding uplands along the river. The trust’s vision includes public walkways as well as “spaces for interpretation, cultural events, community programming, viewing structures and other public amenities, all informed by Indigenous-led design.”

The trust was initially the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, which stopped work in 2022 on a plan to build public walkways on the Oregon City side of the falls when the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, one of the original trust members, withdrew as both a project partner and a trust member.

The Grand Ronde, which now owns the Blue Heron Paper Mill property overlooking the falls from Oregon City, asked Gov. Tina Kotek and state leaders to hold off on granting funds to the trust for the Inter-Tribal Public Access Project. “Proponents are presenting this project as returning land to Oregon’s tribal nations, however the Trust excludes Grande Round, which is the Tribe of record in the area, and includes an out of state tribe,” Grand Ronde Tribal Council Chair Cheryl Kennedy wrote in the letter to Kotek. Is Grande Round asking to be placed in the trust after they sabotaged the project in 2022?

To comment on these vetoes, message Governor Kotek here.

UPDATE August 7, 2025

• Willamette Falls responded to Kotek's demands taking them off of the veto list.
• Senate Bill 976 - Allows an individual to verify whether cattle are pregnant without holding a valid license issued by the Oregon State Veterinary Medical Examining Board under certain circumstances. See veto letter here.
• Senate Bill 1047 - Requires Curry County and the Water Resources Department to expedite review of applications for use on specified lands. See veto letter here.
• Every bill from the 2025 session that the Governor signed or vetoed, including House Bill 3428 which was signed, as well as accompanying signing letters, can be found here.

--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2025-08-10 10:29:34

Last Update: 2025-08-10 16:19:12