Relating to transportation protection agreements; and prescribing an effective date.
SB 1091 updates Oregon’s cemetery and funeral services statutes to recognize a new category of consumer agreement called a “transportation protection agreement.” The bill states that services and merchandise offered under such an agreement are not to be treated as funeral merchandise, funeral services, prearrangement sales, or a prearrangement sales contract. In practical terms, this creates a separate legal classification for agreements focused primarily on arranging and coordinating the transportation of human remains and related preparation for transport.
The bill also amends Oregon’s definitions in ORS chapter 97, which governs cemeteries, funeral services, and prearranged sales. It adds the transportation protection agreement definition to the statutory framework and makes conforming changes so the new category is excluded from the existing regulatory scheme for funeral and cemetery prearrangements. The measure further adds several related sections to ORS chapter 97, indicating that the legislature intended to integrate this new concept into the broader mortuary and cemetery code rather than leave it as a standalone provision.
Because the bill is narrowly focused, its main impact is on how Oregon law distinguishes transportation-related end-of-life services from funeral and cemetery sales. It likely affects funeral providers, cemetery operators, sellers of prearranged services, and consumers who purchase transport-focused agreements, by clarifying what is and is not subject to the rules that apply to funeral merchandise, cemetery merchandise, and prearrangement contracts. The bill takes effect 91 days after adjournment of the 2025 regular session.
The available voting history shows strong and unanimous support in both chambers. The Senate committee advanced the bill unanimously, the full Senate passed it 29-0, the House committee passed it unanimously, and the full House passed it 46-0. With no committee transcript available and no recorded opposition in the votes, the general sentiment appears to have been favorable and noncontroversial.
There is little visible contention in the record, but the key policy issue is the boundary between transportation protection agreements and regulated funeral/prearrangement contracts. The bill’s exclusion language suggests an intent to avoid subjecting these agreements to the same rules as funeral sales, which may matter to providers seeking regulatory clarity and to consumers who want transport-only arrangements. No specific objections are documented in the provided materials.
SB 1091 amends Oregon’s cemetery and funeral services code, primarily ORS 97.010 and 97.923, to add and define “transportation protection agreement” and to exclude those agreements from the statutory categories of funeral merchandise, funeral services, prearrangement sales, and prearrangement sales contracts. It also adds conforming provisions to ORS chapter 97, thereby changing how these agreements are regulated under state law and clarifying that transportation-focused arrangements are treated separately from traditional funeral preplanning products.
The bill appears to have been received very positively and passed with unanimous support in both chambers and committees. The 6-0 committee votes, 29-0 Senate floor vote, 6-0 House committee vote, and 46-0 House floor vote indicate broad bipartisan agreement and no recorded floor opposition. Based on the voting history alone, the measure seems largely noncontroversial and technical in nature.
The main point of potential contention is definitional: whether agreements centered on transporting human remains should be regulated like funeral prearrangement contracts or treated as a distinct product category. By excluding transportation protection agreements from funeral and cemetery sales definitions, the bill may reduce regulatory burdens for providers but also narrows the scope of consumer-protection rules that apply to prearranged funeral sales. No specific opponents, amendments, or disputed provisions are identified in the provided record.