Lawmakers appear to be walking back a proposal to curb use of plastic products like disposable cutlery, condiment packets and tiny shampoo bottles, over concerns the bill doesn’t have enough votes to pass the Oregon House.
On Tuesday, Senate Bill 551 was unexpectedly sent back to a legislative committee from the House floor, where it had been scheduled for a final vote. That move didn’t come with discussion, but one of the bill’s chief proponents said Thursday a big portion of the proposal would be stripped out before it moves forward.
“There were folks that had concerns with certain aspects of the bill,” said state Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, who has pushed repeatedly in recent years to limit use of disposable plastic products.
Sollman said she expects SB 551 to reemerge with one key provision: Starting July 2026, it would bar grocery stores from providing thicker plastic bags that are considered reusable to customers at checkout. Those bags were allowed under a 2019 bill that blocked grocers and restaurants from handing out single-use plastic bags at checkout.
But other pieces of the bill are likely to disappear, she said. That includes provisions that would have banned food service establishments from offering plastic cutlery or condiments in plastic packaging unless they are specifically requested, and barred hotels and other lodging providers – including Airbnbs – from offering toiletries in disposable plastic bottles unless requested.
SB 551 passed the Senate last month on a 22-8 vote. That included yes votes from four Republican lawmakers, who said they supported a bill that could reduce plastic pollution on the coast and increase demand for Oregon-made paper bags.
Exactly why support for the bill has been lackluster in the House wasn’t completely clear Thursday.
House Speaker Julie Fahey’s office declined to comment on why the bill was shuttled back to the chamber’s Climate, Energy and Environment Committee. State Rep. Courtney Neron, D-Wilsonville, a chief sponsor of the bill, said in a text Wednesday that the move was “a bit of a surprise.”
Advocates, meanwhile, have been scrambling to save the bill.
“This is all behind a shroud of their caucus confidentiality,” said Charlie Plybon, senior Oregon policy manager at the Surfrider Foundation, who was busy lobbying lawmakers on the proposal Thursday.
Plybon said he has heard secondhand that concerns emerged among business-friendly Democrats that the bill would pose difficulties for business owners. Notably, business groups representing grocers, restaurants and hotels didn’t oppose the bill.
“It seems like we had things aligned, and for whatever reasons this is the amendment that will come forward,” Sollman said. “I still think it’s an exciting win. It’s reducing a significant amount of plastic waste.”
SB 551 is scheduled for a potential committee vote on Thursday, May 15. Under legislative deadlines it needs to be sent back to the House floor by May 23 in order to survive.
