Central Oregon Landwatch led the fight to stop several special entitlement bills that would have enriched one developer at the cost of our communities. HB 3347, HB 3467, and the Cyrus Bill would have each exempted a single developer from having to comply with state law that applies to everyone else. These proposals would have allowed destination resorts throughout Deschutes County despite public opposition and without regard to established local processes. The bills were written by the developers' lobbyists and would have established bad precedent for additional special entitlement proposals down the road. We met with multiple legislators and their staff members in order to shine the light on the details of these bills. We also testified in two different legislative committees to publicly express our opposition. We led an effort within the Oregon Conservation Network to designate the bills as "Major Threats."
Many COLW supporters responded to our Action Alerts by contacting key legislators and the governor's office. These efforts to stop these bills from becoming law were ultimately successful as we overcame a big push from the bill's sponsor in the final hours of the session.
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