Finally, Oregon will let you pump your own gas
On June 22, the Oregon Senate took the final action to pass House Bill 2426. If you own a classic car in the greater Oregon area, you should be celebrating.
In case you haven’t been keeping track of the 82nd Oregon Legislative Assembly, H.B. 2426 amends a 1951 law (ORS 480.315) that forbids drivers to pump their own fuel by requiring an attendant to pump fuel into the customer’s vehicle.
The prohibition on self-serve fuel has long confused out-of-town drivers, and some locals don’t always abide by it: When expensive-looking vehicles appear at the pump, attendants sometimes ignore the law and let the driver take care of things. If H.B. 2426 becomes law, at least half of the pumps at any given station in Oregon must be self-service.
The push for this change came from a lot of different fronts, including fuel station owners and managers. Some objected, such as Northwest Grocery Association, which stated concerns that allowing self-service would cut jobs for gas-station attendants; but there have long been staffing troubles that left pumps idle and customers waiting. Add in the fact that, according to a 2021 survey, roughly 60 percent of Oregonians were in favor of self-serve pump options, and it is easy to see why H.B. 2426 is headed for the Oregon governor’s desk.
Once passed by the Oregon House, the bill moved relatively quickly through the Senate thanks to bipartisan support: Introduced on January 9 of this year, it was passed on June 22. It’s not the first time legislators have considered such a move: in recent history, Oregon has been making incremental steps towards this near-complete lift of the self-service prohibition. In 2015, 2017, and 2020 bills were passed that enabled limited self-service during night hours, in rural areas, and under emergency situations like heat waves and wildfires.
If signed into law by Oregon governor Tina Kotek, H.B. 2426 will go into effect immediately, leaving New Jersey as the only remaining state to ban self-service gas pumps.
***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.
This is great news since I don’t want some kid wielding a nozzle to come anywhere near my classic. Previously I could drive 20 minutes across the county line over to where self-serve was legal, but now I won’t need to do that anymore.
This is a done deal and will become law August 5 at the latest. The Governor had a July 28 deadline to announce the intent to veto, which she didn’t. The only possibilities now under the Oregon Constitution are that she signs it sometimes next week, or does nothing in which case it automatically becomes law Aug. 5.