Before Paddle Season Starts, Fix the Paddle Permit

While Oregonians were busy arguing about housing costs, transportation funding, and the latest budget scare tactic, something smaller floated quietly downstream.

Too quietly.

House Bill 2982 expanded Oregon’s Waterway Access Permit to include small, non-motorized paddlecraft. Youth kayaks. Inflatable boats. Paddleboards. The kind of low-impact, family recreation that used to require nothing more than a paddle and a pulse.

On January 1, that changed.

A $20 permit fee hit the books, and just like that, the cost of floating quietly down an Oregon river went up. Not because voters demanded it. Not because there was a broad public debate. But because HB 2982 slipped through the Legislature while everyone was looking the other way.

You can read the bill for yourself here:
 HB 2982 overview:
https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Measures/Overview/HB2982

Here’s the part the public should be uncomfortable with: public testimony on HB 2982 totaled just 17 submissions.

Seventeen.

In a state of more than four million people, on a bill that expanded a new fee affecting thousands of Oregonians who recreate on public waterways. That is not robust public process. That is a pocketbook grift, a quiet money grab slipped past the people while no one was looking.

This is how fee creep works. A small expansion here. A quiet rule change there. No headlines. No real scrutiny. By the time people notice, it is already law and their wallets are lighter.

Oregonians are not confused about what is happening. They feel it everywhere. Higher fuel costs. Higher registration fees. Higher utility bills. Higher housing costs. More permits. More rules. More “just $20” explanations that add up fast.

That is why the backlash to paddle permits has been immediate and sustained.

Representative Dwayne Yunker of House District 3 has introduced draft Legislative Concept 308, with Ed Diehl of House District 17 as co-sponsor. That matters. Diehl previously led the successful referral of the state gas tax increase to the voters, proving that when the Legislature drifts too far from public sentiment, Oregonians are willing to pull it back themselves.

Support for LC 308 has already come from Shelley Boshart Davis of House District 15, Alek Skarlatos of House District 4, and Kevin Mannix of House District 21.

LC 308 is not a full repeal, and we have been clear about that. What it does is roll back part of the overreach and, more importantly, force something HB 2982 avoided: public testimony in committee, on the record, where lawmakers must actually hear from the people affected.

You can read the Let Us Paddle PAC press release, and news updates here:
Let Us Paddle NEWS

Meanwhile, Let Us Paddle has already taken this issue directly to the voters. We have successfully initiated the statewide petition process and collected roughly 10,000 signatures in just a few weeks, in winter, before paddle season even begins.

Volunteers will continue collecting signatures all winter and spring with a clear goal of 150,000 signatures by July 2, well above the threshold required to put a full repeal of paddle craft permitting before Oregon voters this November.

That level of response does not come from a fringe issue. It comes from frustration with a pattern. Governing more. Regulating more. Taxing more. Asking permission for things that used to be free.

The question for lawmakers is simple:
Do you support charging Oregonians a $20 permit fee for small paddlecraft, or will you stand up for recreational liberty and the freedom to float?

The question for the press is just as simple:
How did a bill with only 17 pieces of public testimony end up changing the law for thousands of people?

And the question for readers is the most important one of all:
Are you willing to speak up?

If you believe paddle permits should be repealed, contact your state representative and tell them to support fixing this now or let voters fix it in November.

And if you want to help us keep paddling against the current, please consider donating here:
👉 Support the effort:
https://www.letuspaddle.com/donate

Petitions, postage, and promotion are not free, even when the rivers are.

HB 2982 floated past the public once. It will not get that chance again.

Sometimes reform does not start with shouting. It starts with showing up, paddling forward, and refusing to let quiet fees sink public freedom.

That’s my viewpoint.

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Author, Ben Roche is a co-chief petitioner of the Let Us Paddle PAC ID #24427 along with founder Kari Goodheart, and Angi Epperson that make up the three co-petitioners.