SB 470 expands Oregon’s invasion-of-personal-privacy statute to specifically cover unauthorized recording, storage, transmission, broadcasting, or other capture of a person’s image or audio while the person is occupying a private space in transient lodging. The bill applies to transient lodging providers and transient lodging intermediaries, such as hotels, motels, inns, and short-term rental platforms or operators, when they control the lodging where the recording occurs. It also defines key terms such as “private space,” “audio,” “visual image or recording,” and “transient lodging,” and it preserves a narrow family-member exception for images or recordings of children under 12 made or shared for nonsexual purposes.
The bill gives a prevailing plaintiff compensatory damages and reasonable attorney fees, and it sets a two-year statute of limitations for bringing claims. It also makes clear that this new remedy is additive, not exclusive, meaning affected individuals may still pursue other available legal claims based on the same conduct. In practical terms, the bill creates a new statutory privacy cause of action aimed at hidden-camera or unauthorized surveillance conduct in lodging settings, including conduct by hosts, property managers, and intermediary platforms that allow such recording.
The overall sentiment around the bill appears strongly supportive and noncontroversial. It passed the Senate committee 6-0, the Senate floor 29-0, the House committee 7-0, and the House floor 49-0, indicating unanimous or near-unanimous backing at each stage. The absence of committee transcript material suggests there was little recorded public debate in the available materials.
The main point of potential contention is the scope of liability for transient lodging providers and intermediaries, especially where a provider may “intentionally permit” another person to record or broadcast someone in a private space. Another possible issue is how broadly the statute’s definitions of “private space” and “audio” could be applied in short-term rental or hotel contexts. However, the unanimous votes suggest these concerns did not generate significant opposition during the legislative process.
SB 470 amends ORS 30.831 to add a specific privacy claim for unauthorized recording or dissemination involving occupants of transient lodging, extending Oregon civil privacy law into hotels, motels, inns, and short-term rental settings. It creates explicit liability for transient lodging providers and intermediaries, authorizes compensatory damages and attorney fees, and preserves other legal remedies. The bill takes effect 91 days after adjournment of the 2025 regular session.
The bill was met with broad, bipartisan support and no recorded opposition in the available voting history. It advanced unanimously through both chambers and committees, suggesting the legislature viewed it as a straightforward privacy protection measure addressing hidden surveillance or nonconsensual recording in lodging spaces.
There is little evidence of active controversy in the available record, but the statute’s reach could raise questions about the responsibilities of transient lodging providers and intermediaries when third parties use their properties or platforms to record occupants. The most notable policy tension is between stronger guest privacy protections and the operational or liability concerns of hotels, hosts, and booking intermediaries. The bill’s narrow family-member exception for children under 12 may also be a point of interpretive interest, though it does not appear to have been a major source of disagreement.