Gov. Tina Kotek will allow a bill allowing self-serve gasoline across Oregon to become law, ending a 72-year ban on most drivers pumping their own gas.
Announcing a slate of potential vetoes Friday, as required by the Oregon Constitution, Kotek did not including House Bill 2426, which will permit Oregon gas stations to open up to half of their pumps for self-serve gas. The law will still require gas stations to staff at least half their pumps for people who can’t, or don’t want to, pump their own gas.
Kotek said nothing of the self-serve gas bill in her statement. Shortly after the legislative session concluded last month, she’d singled out the bill as one on which she wanted to “hear from Oregonians” before making her decision.
Hear from Oregonians she did. Still playing coy about whether she would veto the bill, Kotek noted to reporters Thursday that her office had received more than 5,000 emails on the bill.
The bill will become law as soon as Kotek signs it, or else Aug. 4 if the governor declines to sign it.
The new law will simplify Oregon’s patchwork of self-serve gas regulations. Since 2015, some rural counties have permitted self-serve gas at night. And each summer since 2020, the state fire marshal has permitted self-serve gas statewide during wildfire season and heat waves, when smoke or extreme temperatures make it dangerous to be outside.
The self-serve gas bill has divided Oregonians. Some cheered its promise of speedier fill-ups, while others wanted Oregon to keep the decades-old ban, either to preserve jobs or the convenience of full-service stations.
Prior efforts to legalize self-serve gas in Oregon never made it out of the Legislature. In the 2022 short session, lawmakers introduced a similar bill that died before reaching a vote.
In 2021, two statewide polls showed that more than 60% of Oregonians favored the option to pump their own gas.
Fuel companies had also long pushed for the change, citing growing challenges with staffing fuel pumps. Earlier this year, the Northwest Grocery Association argued that the bill wouldn’t eliminate jobs because many gas stations already have gas pumps closed due to lack of staffing.
After the Oregon bill becomes law, New Jersey will be the only state that bans self-serve gas.
— Jayati Ramakrishnan; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com
