Self Service Gas Stations

• UPDATE (6-30-23): The Oregon House and Senate passed House Bill 2426. If you are an Oregon resident, please contact Governor Tina Kotek at https://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/share-your-opinion.aspx and urge her to veto House Bill 2426.

Oregon is one of two states in the U.S. that does not permit self service gasoline (although exceptions have been made in rural areas). Most Oregonians, especially in urban/suburban areas prefer that and there are safety, access, and financial reasons why staff gasoline pumps are beneficial.

Recently, the Oregon House passed and sent to the Senate -- on an emergency basis despite it not being an emergency -- House Bill 2426 which eliminates Oregon's ban on self service gas stations. This bill should be opposed for three primary reasons.

• Access and equity: For those with disabilities, seniors, parents transporting small children, etc. pumping one's own gas is problematic at best and impossible at worst. As someone who has lived in states that allow self service gasoline purchases, I can attest that any requirements about half the pumps being staffed will be ignored. Filling stations always had myriad excuses, but finding one with staff to pump gas was usually impossible, forcing anyone unable to pump their own gas to drive around until they could do so or forgo driving entirely.
• Safety: Among their other responsibilities, gas station attendants enforce safety requirements that prevent fires including requiring motorists to turn off their engines and extinguish smoking materials. With no attendants, I can guarantee we will see people filling their tanks with their engines running and a cigarette hanging from their lips. In addition, the possibility of fires started by static electricity is higher in parts of Oregon where even when it's raining the air can be dry enough to generate static electricity. Telling people not to get in and out of their cars (the biggest cause gas station fires started by static electricity) in the rain while they're filling their tanks will be just as effective as telling them to turn off their engines and extinguish their smoking materials (especially since 90 percent of them won't read the instructions that they shouldn't).
• Loss of jobs: The bill's statement that there is "No Revenue Impact" is false. If passed, this bill will result in hundreds of people being laid off at gas stations throughout the state lowering income tax collections and increasing unemployment payments. The claim that gas station owners can't find staff for their pumps is also not truthful. They just can't find people to work for substandard (i.e. minimum wage) pay and no benefits. Rather than be forced by market conditions to pay reasonable wages and offer minimal benefits, they're bribing state legislators to eliminate the jobs entirely.

With fewer than half the state's residents in favor of changing Oregon's ban on self service pumps, especially in urban areas, the only reason for doing so is to further enrich those who own gasoline pumps by allowing them to lay off large percentages of their staff. I question why this bill was rushed through the House as an emergency when the downsides far outweigh any possible positive impact. How many of those large chain gasoline pump owners paid for their privilege of eliminating minimum-wage jobs that will negatively impact marginalized folks the most?