Oregon gasoline stations are officially free to let drivers pump their own gas.
Gov. Tina Kotek signed House Bill 2426 into law Friday morning, reversing a decades-old ban on self-serve gasoline that set Oregon apart from nearly every other state. She issued an accompanying signing letter, which described her hesitation in approving the bill even as a “narrow majority” of the 5,000 people who wrote to her supported the request.
Kotek previously expressed ambivalence about the policy approved by the Oregon Legislature and asked Oregonians to weigh in before she decided whether to sign or veto the bill.
In her letter on Friday, Kotek said she was worried gas stations might not provide adequate staffing now that self-serve is legal, even though most stations are still required to staff at least half of their pumps. She said that could affecting people who want or need assistance, like elderly or disabled drivers.
She said the bill puts the onus on those users to report violations of the new law, and the enforcement process for the law is unclear.
“Widespread violation of the service attendant provision would undermine the intent of the law, which is to provide Oregonians with options at the gas pump,” she wrote.
The law will allow gas station owners statewide to open some unattended pumps, permitting drivers to to pump their own gas and skip the wait for an attendant if they choose.
Prices must be the same at both self-serve and staffed gas pumps.
Fuel companies have claimed they won’t lay off employees in response to the new law because of ongoing staff shortages that have stretched their attendant crews thin already.
The bill had bipartisan support, but it’s long been one of the most polarizing issues in Oregon. While some drivers have pushed for the chance to skip the wait and fill up their own tanks, others have argued that the state should maintain the convenience of full-service gas stations — and the jobs of attendants.
In 2021, 60% of Oregonians polled said they were in favor of self-serve gas. And in 2022, lawmakers introduced a similar bill, which died before reaching a vote.
Some rural and coastal Oregon counties legalized self-serve gas at night starting in 2015. And every summer since 2020, Oregon has temporarily allowed self-serve gas due to heat waves and wildfires. The new law will simplify all those rules, legalizing self-serve gas everywhere in Oregon.
