Oregon’s new liability waiver law (SB 1517): what your release must say

What changed

In 2014 the Oregon Supreme Court declined to enforce a ski area’s liability release, and Oregon courts treated pre-injury releases with heavy suspicion from then on. Insurers priced that uncertainty into every gym, guide service, ski area, race and nonprofit trail crew in the state. Senate Bill 1517 passed the House 55–2 and the Senate 29–0 in March 2026 and took effect on April 7, 2026, with an emergency clause.

The core rule is now statutory. An operator of a sport, fitness or recreational activity may require an adult participant, or a parent or guardian for a minor, to sign a clear and unambiguous written release that discloses the activity’s risks and waives the operator’s liability for injuries resulting from ordinary negligence. The Act states that such a release “is not per se unconscionable or void as contrary to public policy.” That sentence is the reversal of the last twelve years.

Who the law covers

The Act protects an operator: anyone who offers a person the opportunity to participate in a sport, fitness or recreational activity, or who operates or provides the facility or place where it happens. A sport, fitness or recreational activity is any indoor or outdoor activity involving elements of inherent risk. The statute lists, without limitation:

hunting, fishing, swimming, boating, rafting, biking, camping, skiing, snowboarding, winter sports, team and individual sports, climbing, equestrian and rodeo activities, hiking, outfitter guiding, environmental restoration and maintenance, ocean and water sports, motorized recreation, athletic or fitness competitions, fitness activities, training activities.

The release can also cover injuries suffered while volunteering to maintain the facilities or places used for such an activity, which is what brings trail-stewardship and restoration nonprofits inside the law.

Personal-service businesses are outside it. A salon, tattoo studio, med spa or massage practice in Oregon does not get the statute’s protection and remains under the older case-by-case analysis described on the Oregon state guide.

The five conditions a release must meet

1. It is in writing and signed. The statute protects a “written release” that the participant “voluntarily signs.” A verbal acknowledgement, a sign on the wall, or a line in a ticket-purchase flow that nobody signs does not qualify.
2. It is clear and unambiguous. The release must be “clear and unambiguous.” Plain headings, a conspicuous release paragraph, and the word negligence spelled out do more than pages of dense boilerplate. A release nobody can follow is the easiest one to attack.
3. It discloses the risks of the activity. The release must disclose “risks associated with the sport, fitness or recreational activity.” A generic “all risks” recital is weaker than a list of the real hazards of your activity: falls from height, cold-water immersion, collisions, equipment failure, exertion.
4. It waives liability for injuries resulting from those risks. The release covers “damages for injuries resulting from ordinary negligence” that arise out of the activity. It should say so. Releases that only mention inherent risks, without releasing the operator’s own ordinary negligence, leave the main claim on the table.
5. It is signed by an adult, or by a parent or guardian for a minor. A participant who is 18 or older signs for themselves. For a participant under 18, “a parent or guardian on behalf of” the minor signs. This is a significant change: Oregon now expressly recognises a parental release for a minor participant, subject to the same conditions and the same carve-outs.

The seven claims a release cannot waive

Section 1(3) lists the claims an operator “may not require a person to release.” A release that reaches further is not void; under section 1(4) it is “construed within the limits” of the statute. But a release that pretends to cover these looks over-reaching, and over-reaching is what unconscionability arguments are built on.

1. Claims for anything greater than ordinary negligence: gross negligence, reckless conduct, willful misconduct or intentional torts.
2. Claims for negligence per se, meaning the operator broke a safety statute or rule and that violation caused the injury.
3. Claims relating to the maintenance or inspection of safety equipment the operator supplied for the activity.
4. Claims relating to negligent safety-related training of an employee or agent whose conduct causes the injury.
5. Claims relating to abuse, or to physical or sexual assault of an adult.
6. Claims relating to negligent hiring, training, credentialing, supervision or retention of an employee or agent, where that person’s injurious conduct amounts to gross negligence, reckless conduct, willful misconduct or an intentional tort.
7. Claims relating to the operation or use of a vehicle, including transport to and from the activity in automobiles, buses, vans, snowmobiles, snow cats, ATVs or side-by-sides, unless the participant uses the vehicle as part of the activity itself.

Read that list as a maintenance schedule. Equipment inspection, safety training, hiring and supervision are exactly the exposures a waiver can no longer cover, so they are where an operator’s remaining risk sits.

Timing: old releases, new claims

Section 2 applies the new rule to releases “whether executed before, on or after the effective date” for claims that arise on or after April 7, 2026. A membership agreement signed in 2024 gets the benefit of the statute for an injury in 2026, but only if its release language actually satisfies the five conditions. Many pre-2026 Oregon releases were drafted defensively, or not at all, on the assumption that they would not be enforced. Those are worth re-signing.

Section 1(5) adds a procedural point: whether a risk is inherent to the activity is a question of law for the judge, not a question of fact for the jury. Section 1(6) leaves Oregon’s separate ski-area inherent-risk statute, ORS 30.970 to 30.990, untouched.

Operator checklist

1. Confirm your activity is one the statute covers. If you run a gym, studio, ski area, climbing wall, guide service, race, camp, or rental operation, it almost certainly is. If you run a salon, tattoo studio or med spa, it is not, and the older Oregon case law still applies.
2. Put the release in a separate, signed document, not a checkbox buried in booking terms.
3. List the actual risks of your activity in the release. Update the list when you add a new activity or piece of equipment.
4. State plainly that the participant releases the operator from claims for injuries resulting from the operator’s ordinary negligence arising out of the activity.
5. Do not claim to release the seven carve-out categories. An over-broad release is read down rather than voided, but a release that lists what it does not cover is clearer, more credible, and harder to characterise as unconscionable.
6. Collect a parent or guardian signature for every participant under 18. Do not let a minor sign for themselves.
7. Keep signed releases on file for at least the length of Oregon’s personal-injury limitation period, plus the time a minor has after turning 18.
8. Fix the things the statute will not let you waive: inspect and maintain supplied safety equipment on a schedule, train staff on safety, and screen the people you hire. Those are now the claims a waiver cannot touch, so they are where the residual exposure lives.
9. Have an Oregon attorney review the final document. The statute sets a floor for enforceability; it does not draft the release for you.

How WaiverPad’s Oregon waivers handle this

Every fitness, recreation and water-sports waiver on WaiverPad already carries a list of activity-specific risks, an assumption-of-risk clause that names the provider’s negligence, a release, and a signature block for an adult or a parent or guardian. When you set your state to Oregon, the release clause in those documents adds an Oregon notice that states the seven statutory carve-outs in plain terms, so the signer sees what the release does and does not cover. Start with a personal training waiver, kayak rental waiver, or browse fitness, recreation and water sports.

Questions operators are asking

Sources

• Enrolled Senate Bill 1517 (SB 1517-B), 83rd Oregon Legislative Assembly, 2026 Regular Session
• SB 1517 measure overview, Oregon Legislative Information System

Important

This page is general information, not legal advice, and WaiverPad is not a law firm. It summarises the enrolled text of SB 1517 as of its publication date; the statute may be amended, interpreted by courts, or renumbered on codification. Have any release reviewed by an attorney licensed in Oregon before you rely on it.