As predicted, the Oregon Legislature took action this past session to crack down on landowners who lease their land to illegal cannabis growers. Governor Kotek signed SB 326 into law last month, and its emergency clause makes it effective immediately.
The new law makes landowners responsible for the cleanup of cannabis, irrigation systems, hoop houses, greenhouses, other structures, and chemicals used in an illegal cannabis operation on the landowner’s property. The landowner has 30 days after notification from a law enforcement agency to conduct such cleanup. If the landowner fails to do so, the city or county may conduct the cleanup and place a lien on the property for the costs. The lien may be foreclosed in the same manner as other government liens. The law also makes it a crime to divert water or dig wells for the illegal grow operation, and makes it a crime for the growers to threaten to report migrant workers tending the crop to authorities for deportation.
This comes after some high-profile busts by law enforcement of illegal cannabis grow operations and national media attention that followed. Often after law enforcement raids a site, waste from the illegal facility is left on the property and is not cleaned up. This new law gives local governments a tool to pay for the costs of the cleanup.
In some cases, landowners have tried to claim ignorance that their property was being used for marijuana instead of being a legal hemp grow. With this new law, ignorance won’t be sufficient to avoid liability. Landowners should make sure to vet prospective tenants to make sure they are legitimate business operators, and require copies of the tenant’s cannabis license or hemp registration.
