A bill to change recreational liability law sought by an alliance of over 100 resort, adventure tourism, gyms, and cities dependent on visitors seeking outdoor experiences is dead for 2023, a top Democratic leader said Monday.

Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, said Senate Bill 754 would not be brought up for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the next required step for the bill to advance.

Speaking Monday with reporters, Wagner said Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, chair of the committee, held a hearing on Feb. 15 so both sides on the issue could put their concerns on the public record.

But Wagner said Prozanski did not plan on calling up the bill for amendment or vote in the committee, effectively ending its chances for 2023.

“He is not going to post that bill for a work session,” Wagner said.

Protect Oregon Recreation, a coalition of over 100 outdoor and indoor recreation businesses, non-profits, and groups, say the type of operations impacted by the liability issues generating $16.75 billion in annual economic activity and accounti for 245,000 jobs.

The state and local communities in Oregon receive an estimated $1 billion in tax revenue.

With over 2,740 bills and resolutions introduced in the House and Senate, committee chairs will start slicing away those that are not part of the agenda of priorities set in January.

Gov. Tina Kotek wants housing and homelessness issues up front, along with aid for the state’s computer semiconductor industry. A reform of the state’s system of finding and funding defense attorneys is also on the front burner.

Equally important is what has been essentially walled off in 2023 as Oregon has a new governor and new leaders in both chambers who are working on a fragile working relationship that could have an impact for years to come.

Kotek’s proposed budget doesn’t touch the state’s one-of-a-kind “kicker’ tax rebate, which could reach a record $3.9 billion in 2024. The median return to taxpayers would be just under $800.

The kicker has been a career-long cause of Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, who led a successful effort in 1999 to have voters enshrine it in the state constitution.

It’s also a do-not-touch issue for House Republicans.

“We must return Oregon’s ‘kicker’ back into the hands of hardworking Oregonians,” said House Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, when state economic forecasters announced the kicker figures late last month.

Wagner said that there was no monumental federal assistance on the horizon as in past years, or the desire to scramble the financial priorities now in place.

Likening the budget to buckets of marbles, Wagner said everyone who asks for more money is asked where the money should come from.

“There are going to be marbles in every budget,” Wagner said. “We’re not going to zero out anything.”

Democrats held onto their majorities in the Senate and House in the 2022 election, but in reduced numbers that dropped them under the three-fifths of votes needed to exercise financial carte blanche without asking for GOP help.

“This is not a session where we are looking at big tax increases,” Wagner said. “We’re not the federal government. We don’t get to deficit spend. We have to deliver a balanced budget.”

The Legislature is simultaneously tackling a housing and homelessness emergency funding package, with lawmakers now considering $200 million in spending, up from Kotek’s original $130 million.

A plan to aid the state’s computer semiconductor industry is also tagged at $200 million, to go along with $52 billion in nationwide grants from the federal government. But state lawmakers have said another $500 million will likely be needed in the future to ensure siting of facilities and infrastructure.

A special committee is debating whether to allow for tolls to be charged to use parts of Interstate 5 and 205 around Portland.

There are also new proposed laws to ensure disabled children receive enough teaching time, and to shore up the system that finds and finances defense lawyers for criminal trials.

A package of gun control bills is making its way through the House, one of the issues that Republicans have said they will strenuously block.

Knopp has required all bills be read in their entirety before final passage, a tactic to slow the pace of legislation.

Wagner said he regularly talks with Knopp, but not about ending the mandatory readings, which limit the number of bills that the Senate can consider each day.

The top Senate Democrat also said he had not discussed what happens if House Republicans make a similar move to brake the legislative assembly line as well.

Wagner said gun control bills announced late week by Kotek and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum would be up for consideration.

The package includes bills to ban untraceable “ghost guns,” bar concealed weapons on more public property and raise the minimum age to possess semi-automatic rifles and shotguns from 18 to 21.

The gun bills will go through the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend.

In late March or early April, the chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways & Means will present their budget proposals.

How closely they will hew to Gov. Tina Kotek’s requests will be an early signal on how smoothly things are going between the new governor and the new legislative leaders.

One key item: Kotek does not want any new bond money for new capital construction at Oregon universities. That includes the proposed $60 million health and recreation center for Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend.

The rest of the proposed legislation has to compete for dwindling time and a rapidly turning calendar.

On Wednesday, the 2023 session of the Oregon Legislature will pass the one-third mark toward the constitutionally required adjournment no later than June 25.

Last week ended with the deadline to submit legislation for 2023. A whopping 2,740 bills and resolutions have been introduced in the House and Senate this about 100 having won approval of the House or Senate. None have been signed into law by Kotek as yet.

Early March is the apex of legislative hopes. But lawmakers have set deadlines for themselves requiring bills to move or fall by the wayside by the constitutionally mandated end of the session on June 25.

Each bill normally takes 11 steps to become law: introduction, assignment to a committee, public hearing, work session, floor vote in the first chamber, assignment to committee in the second chamber, public hearing, work session, floor vote in the second chamber, approval by Governor Tina Kotek.

But each step has a deadline for policy bills, which are the majority of legislation introduced.

The first key date is March 17, when bills have to be scheduled for a work session, where committee members can offer amendments and then vote whether to send a bill on to the floor of the first chamber for an up-or-down vote.

That’s when the recreational liability law would likely die.

Supporters wanted the state to overturn a 2014 Oregon Supreme Court ruling that said blanket waivers against lawsuits inherent in purchasing tickets, passes or other activities were unenforceable.

In 2006, then-18-year-old Myles Bagley of Bend was paralyzed when he crashed while jumping in a terrain park at the ski area. Bagley sued, seeking $21.5 million.

The Deschutes County Circuit Court and the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that by signing a liability release when he bought his season pass, Bagley had waived his right to sue.

In December 2014, the Oregon Supreme Court overturned the earlier rulings.

While receiving widespread bipartisan support, the bill is opposed by the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, a major contributor to political campaigns. The lawyers say a change in the law would drop safeguards against faulty equipment, design, and employee actions.

Most bills are not given work sessions unless they are likely to win approval. Amendments are not allowed from the floor, so bills that are sent from committee almost always pass and move to the other chamber for consideration.