A Democratic lawmaker wants Oregonians to sign liability waivers before they work out at a gym, hop on a ski lift or use other fitness and recreation facilities.

State Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, says he is proposing a bill for the upcoming short legislative session that would have Oregon recognize such waivers. Signing one means an adult cannot sue an establishment for negligence.

The waivers are used in neighboring Pacific Northwest states, but not Oregon. That’s because of a 2014 Oregon Supreme Court ruling.

In Bagley v. Mt. Bachelor, Inc., the state’s highest court ruled that an 18-year-old, who was paralyzed in a ski jump accident in 2006, did not lose his right to sue the Central Oregon resort by signing a blanket liability waiver, which the court called “unconscionable.” The ruling made these waivers unenforceable.

Opponents have long argued that such waivers risk customers giving up their rights to go to court and show that a business acted negligently in the case of a tragic accident.

Recreational business owners say the Supreme Court ruling opened them up to lawsuits and expensive legal settlements, causing insurance rates to rise and making it harder to operate without raising prices.

“We’ve got a problem in Oregon where we’re out of balance and it’s the Legislature’s role in my view to bring that back into balance,” said Jeff Kohnstamm, president and area operator at Timberline Lodge.

Kohnstamm was one of several outdoor business owners who testified before the new Senate Interim Committee on Commerce and General Government in November. He blamed the 2014 ruling on the resort’s surging liability insurance premium, rising deductible and ticket prices.

“We consider ourselves a recreation state, but we don’t have the legal infrastructure to allow that to happen,” he said.

Outdoor recreation in Oregon was a nearly $16 billion industry in 2022, according to an analysis produced by state agencies and Earth Economics, a nonpartisan nonprofit that researches the economic value of natural resources. It also supported about 192,000 full- and- part-time jobs, according to the study, which was published last year.

Oregonians are now waiting to hit the slopes this winter, but ski resorts have had to delay their openings because they don’t have enough snow. Meanwhile, many Oregonians will see higher lift ticket prices.

“At some point, it doesn’t pencil out for ordinary Oregonians to go out and participate in these activities,” said Meek. “They can’t afford it.”

The waivers are a written acknowledgement of the risks inherent in physical activities like skiing at a ski resort or rafting with a guide. Should his bill pass, Meek said the waivers would not have Oregonians sign away their right to sue for gross negligence, or more egregious circumstances in which a facility was unaware of a problem but failed to address it.

But others argue that waivers won’t solve the problem of rising prices.

“You have heard repeatedly from ski operators that their insurance rates were rising unsustainably, that they were struggling to get coverage, and they were on the verge of going out of business,” said Hans Bernard, a lobbyist for the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association.

“Each year these operators raise their lift ticket prices as they had done nearly every year in the decades before the Bagley decision, and we have yet to see any of them cease operations,” Bernard said.

Meek proposed a similar bill that died in the 2025 long legislative session despite bipartisan support. His bill for the 2026 short session has not yet been published on the Oregon Legislature’s website.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/02/oregon-waivers-ski-raft-work-out-recreation/