Oregon today joined Washington and a growing list of other states in making eighteen the minimum age for both parties to get a marriage license with Governor Tina Kotek’s approval of Senate Bill 548, bipartisan legislation sponsored by Democratic Senator Janeen Sollman and Republican Senator David Brock Smith.
Kotek’s signature completes SB 548’s journey through the legislative process in the Beaver State. The bill had a remarkably smooth journey to enactment, drawing scant opposition from Oregon lawmakers. That’s because it is extremely popular. It costs nothing, harms no one, and ends a human rights abuse, as our friend Fraidy Reiss of Unchained At Last likes to say when advocating for the legislation.
Passage of SB 548 was NPI’s top legislative priority for the 2025 session in Oregon, and we’re thrilled to have gotten word that Governor Kotek has signed it today.
Last autumn, NPI’s research found that a strong majority of Oregon voters supported raising the age to marry to eighteen for both parties.
Unlike Washington, which hadn’t specified any minimum age to marry until enactment of HB 1455 last year, Oregon had a previous age requirement of seventeen.
