Pumping your own gas to become legal in Oregon Friday; Kotek expected to sign bill

An Arco gas station located at 1729 NE Cornell Road, Hillsboro, Ore., May 1, 2020. Mark Graves/Staff

Update: Gov. Tina Kotek signed the self-serve gasoline bill into law Friday morning.

Oregon is priming the pump — the gas pump, that is.

Gov. Tina Kotek is expected to sign House Bill 2426 into law on Friday, reversing a decades-old ban on self-serve gasoline that set Oregon apart from nearly every other state in the nation. Self-service will become legal as soon as the bill is signed.

A spokesperson for the governor, Elisabeth Shepard, said Kotek would sign the bill and also issue a signing letter, commentary that carries no force of law but allow the governor to express thoughts on the policies being enacted. In the case of self-serve gas, Kotek was reticent and asked Oregonians to weigh in before she decided whether to sign or veto the bill. She later told reporters she received emails from thousands of Oregonians in response.

It remains unclear exactly when the governor would sign.

The bill 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. The law still requires gas stations to staff at least half of their open pumps for people who want or need assistance, such as elderly drivers or those with disabilities.

Prices must be the same at both self-serve and staffed gas pumps.

Fuel companies have claimed they won’t lay off employees due 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.

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-- Jayati Ramakrishnan; [email protected]

Jamie Goldberg contributed to this report.

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