Two bills that advocates say will save lives during the next heat wave were introduced in the Oregon House and Senate earlier this month with support from legislators, health professionals, and environmental and housing justice advocates alike.

Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, and Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, introduced two sibling bills meant to provide Oregonians better access to cooling during periods of extreme heat.

Last summer’s triple-digit temperatures proved to be one of the deadliest recorded natural disasters in Oregon’s history. At least 96 people died during the late June heat wave, when temperatures topped out at 116 degrees, according to data the Oregon Medical Examiner’s Office released to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Most of the people who died lived alone and did not have access to air conditioning, according to the report.

Emergency Heat Relief for Renters — Senate Bill 1536 — would remove barriers for renters trying to install portable air conditioners, as well as help landlords establish voluntary cooling shelters for tenants through funding and technical assistance.

“We as lawmakers have a responsibility to carefully analyze how people are being impacted by extreme heat and take action to protect those who are least likely to survive, ” said Jama, the bill’s sponsor and a Portland Democrat.

Air conditioning units aren’t commonplace in apartments in Oregon due to its historically mild climate. While last summer’s blistering “heat dome” was unprecedented, climatologists say 2021 was just a warning for what’s to come.

There is language in Oregon law laying out what landlords are required to do to keep a property “habitable,” but there are no references to keeping a dwelling “cool.” Landlords are even allowed to prohibit tenants from installing their own portable air conditioning units.

While SB 1536 doesn’t outright prohibit landlords from prohibiting tenants from installing “portable cooling devices,” it does lift certain restrictions around cooling devices and makes it harder for landlords to terminate a tenant’s lease due to violations around a portable cooling device.

The bill would also allocate $15 million to the Oregon Department of Energy in incentives for landlords to improve electrical, mechanical and other structural barriers that inhibit cooling in multifamily households.

Another $2 million would go to the Oregon Department of Human Services to distribute to local and tribal governments to help them establish extreme weather shelters like cooling and warming centers.

The bill is scheduled for a work session at the Senate Housing and Development Committee at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Another bill, HB 4058, would focus on emergency air conditioning deployment in the short term, as well as establishing a heat pump deployment program through the Oregon Department of Energy.

The bill, sponsored by Ashland Democrat Marsh, would allocate $5 million to the Oregon Health Authority for emergency air conditioner and air filtration deployment to complement existing wildfire work.

An additional $10 million would go to the Oregon Department of Energy for efficient heat and cooling pump incentives that would prioritize low-income and environmental justice communities, particularly rural communities who utilize bulk fuels like wood, oil, and propane, or electric resistance heating used primarily in mobile and manufactured homes.

Heat pumps can cool and heat homes at a much lower carbon cost than AC units and furnaces by transferring heat from one place to another, Oriana Magenera, energy, climate and transportation program manager at Portland-based environmental nonprofit Verde. Magenera is currently working with lawmakers on the heat relief bills.

“It’s a really efficient way to heat and cool spaces, ” Magenera said. “It’s the best possible technology, which is what we’re focusing on incentivizing in these bills.”

Ashley Audycki is a Coos Bay-based organizer for Rogue Climate, a climate justice organization that has installed more than 250 reduced-price heat and cooling pumps to low-income and rural households in Southern Oregon and the south coast.

“Even on the coast, where temperatures are often moderate, the extreme heat this summer impacted many, especially those without home cooling,” Audycki said.

HB 4058 was scheduled for a work session at the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Monday.

While there have been attempts in past legislative sessions to get more heat relief policy on the books, Magenera says the urgency brought on by last year’s heat wave is putting the issue more on people’s minds.

“I think the severity of the heat dome last summer and the fact that it occurred on the last day of the legislative session are really important factors for gaining momentum around this particular policy,” she said.