By Gary L. Blacklidge, Attorney
HB 4204 provided that the “emergency period,” defined therein, would expire on September 30, 2020, unless the Governor issued an executive order at least 30 days prior to the expiration date specifying a later date for expiration. On August 31, 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order 20-37 extending the emergency period through December 31, 2020.
The Executive Order only extends the emergency period as allowed under HB 4204. All other provisions of HB 4204 are unchanged and continue to apply to the extent they are applicable “during the emergency period.”
The Executive Order states that the emergency period remains in effect “until December 31, 2020, unless extended or terminated earlier by the Governor.” Interestingly, there is no provision for further extensions in HB 4204 beyond the Executive Order that may be issued not later than 30 days before September 30, 2020. It would appear from the language of HB 4204 that the legislature gave the Governor authority to extend the emergency period only once.
On August 13, 2020, prior to the issuance of the Executive Order, the Oregon Bankers Association and a few small Oregon banks jointly filed an action in federal court seeking to have HB 4204 declared unconstitutional and for injunctive relief from enforcing the provisions of HB 4204. This is a case for lenders and borrowers to keep track of.
We live in interesting times and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Gary L. Blacklidge is a real estate attorney at Jordan Ramis PC. Contact him at gary.blacklidge@jordanramis.com or (503) 598-7070.
