How a fee became a permit on every kayak in Oregon.
Created Oregon's first Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Prevention Permit — a new state fee on boaters to fund inspection stations that screen watercraft for invasive species like quagga and zebra mussels. Follow HB 2220 from request to law — who sponsored it, who voted, and how the bill keeps growing.
Who's taxing you?
Tap a numberCombined cost of each party's enacted tax & fee bills to a typical taxpayer. Tap any figure for the bill-by-bill breakdown.
HB 2220 — Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Program
- Session
- 2009 Regular Session (75th Oregon Legislative Assembly)
- Origin
- Agency request (OSMB)
- What it does
- Originally a fee on motorboats and sailboats 12ft+. Over 16 years the permit was renamed, re-priced, and steadily expanded in scope — now reaching every kayak, paddleboard, and raft in the state.
From petition to law
← swipe through the steps →
A fee that never stops growing
Annual permit cost — a 4× climb ($5 → $20) while the scope kept widening.
← swipe through the years →
Morality impact
Not every bill costs money — some change values. These touch parental rights, abortion, gender, drugs, and firearms. Descriptions are sourced from the bill text; the grouping reflects a values lens, and reasonable people disagree on it.
Sweeping Democratic bill passed 36–23 in the House (Republicans walked out to delay it). Signed by Gov. Tina Kotek.
- Allows minors of any age to obtain an abortion without parental notification.
- Limits when a provider may disclose to a parent that their child sought an abortion or reproductive care, if the minor objects.
- Requires insurers (Medicaid + private) to cover gender-affirming treatment.
Established abortion as a right in Oregon statute and removed cost barriers.
- Requires private insurance to cover abortion with no out-of-pocket cost.
- Funds reproductive/abortion care for those excluded from programs due to immigration status.
- Prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in covered services.
Citizen ballot initiative (backed by the Democratic Party of Oregon, ACLU & Drug Policy Action). First-in-nation decriminalization.
- Decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs (a ticket, not a crime).
- Redirected cannabis-tax revenue to addiction treatment grants.
Bipartisan rollback of Measure 110 after public backlash; made possession a low-level misdemeanor again.
- Restored criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs.
- Added deflection-to-treatment options in lieu of jail.
Narrowly-approved ballot measure (Democratic-aligned coalition) — among the strictest gun laws in the U.S.; tied up in court.
- Requires a permit (with training) to buy a firearm.
- Bans magazines holding more than 10 rounds.
Where this data comes from
This MVP is a civic-education prototype seeded with public records. Vote-level party coloring can be made live by wiring any of these legislative data APIs:
- LegiScan APIFree/keyed REST + bulk JSON for all 50 states incl. Oregon — bills, sponsors, roll-call votes by legislator (with party). Best fit for vote-level party coloring.
- Open States API (v3)GraphQL/REST for state bills, legislators & votes; Plural-maintained. Good for sponsor + person party metadata.
- Oregon OLIS (olisdata)Oregon's own Legislative Information System exposes measure/committee/vote data; canonical but less developer-friendly.
- OSMB / Boat OregonSource of permit fee schedules & scope rules (scraped — no open API).
- Enrolled HB 2220 — 75th Oregon Legislative Assembly (2009) ↗
- Enrolled SB 47 — 80th Oregon Legislative Assembly (2019) ↗
- Oregon Legislature OData API — HB 2220 recorded vote ↗
- OSMB — Waterway Access Permit FAQs (fees) ↗
- OSMB — Aquatic Invasive Species Program ↗
- Central Oregon Daily — 2026 $20 paddlecraft fee (context) ↗
The tally — by party
Tap a numberCombined cost of each party's enacted tax & fee bills to a typical taxpayer. Tap any figure for the bill-by-bill breakdown.