72nd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2003 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 1290
A-Engrossed
House Bill 2498
Ordered by the House May 21
Including House Amendments dated May 21
Sponsored by COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY (at the request of Oregon
Medical Association and Oregon Association of Hospitals and
Health Systems)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure.
Sets rate of interest on judgments { - in civil actions
relating to professional negligence of person licensed by Board
of Medical Examiners or Oregon State Board of Nursing at lesser
of five percent per annum or three percent in excess of discount
rate - } { + at nine percent per annum or at weekly average
one-year constant maturity Treasury yield for the week preceding
date of entry of judgment + }.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to interest on judgments; creating new provisions; and
amending ORS 82.010, 82.025 and 90.260.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 82.010 is amended to read:
82.010. (1) The rate of interest for the following
transactions, if the parties have not otherwise agreed to a rate
of interest, is nine percent per annum and is payable on:
(a) All moneys after they become due; but open accounts bear
interest from the date of the last item thereof.
(b) Money received to the use of another and retained beyond a
reasonable time without the owner's express or implied consent.
(c) Money due or to become due where there is a contract to pay
interest and no rate specified.
{ - (2) Except as provided in this subsection, the rate of
interest on judgments for the payment of money is nine percent
per annum. The following apply as described: - }
{ + (2) The rate of interest on judgments for the payment of
money for transactions described in subsection (1) of this
section is nine percent per annum.
(3) Except as provided in this subsection, the rate of interest
on judgments for the payment of money not described in subsection
(2) of this section is a rate equal to the weekly average
one-year constant maturity Treasury yield, as published by the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for the
calendar week preceding the date of entry of the judgment. A
judgment on a contract bearing interest at a rate other than the
rate of interest described in this subsection shall bear interest
at the same rate provided in the contract as of the date of the
entry of the judgment.
(4) The following apply to judgments described in subsections
(2) and (3) of this section: + }
(a) Interest on a judgment { - under this subsection - }
accrues from the date of the entry of the judgment unless the
judgment specifies another date.
(b) Interest on a judgment { - under this subsection - } is
simple interest, unless otherwise provided by contract.
(c) Interest accruing from the date of the entry of a judgment
shall also accrue on interest that accrued before the date of
entry of a judgment.
(d) Interest { - under this subsection - } shall also accrue
on attorney fees and costs entered as part of the judgment.
{ - (e) A judgment on a contract bearing more than nine
percent interest shall bear interest at the same rate provided in
the contract as of the date of entry of the judgment. - }
{ - (3) - } { + (5) + } Except as provided in ORS 82.025,
no person shall:
(a) Make a business or agricultural loan of $50,000 or less at
an annual rate of interest exceeding the greater of 12 percent,
or five percent in excess of the discount rate, including any
surcharge on the discount rate, on 90-day commercial paper in
effect at the Federal Reserve Bank in the Federal Reserve
district where the person making the loan is located, on the date
the loan or the initial advance of funds under the loan is made;
or
(b) Make a loan of $50,000 or less, except a loan made under
paragraph (a) of this subsection, at an annual rate of interest
exceeding the greater of 12 percent, or five percent in excess of
the discount rate on 90-day commercial paper in effect at the
Federal Reserve Bank in the Federal Reserve district where the
person making the loan is located, on the date the loan or the
initial advance of funds under the loan is made.
{ - (4) - } { + (6) + } Any person who violates subsection
{ - (3) - } { + (5) + } of this section shall forfeit the
right to collect or receive any interest upon any loan for which
a greater rate of interest or consideration than is permitted by
subsection { - (3) - } { + (5) + } of this section has been
charged, contracted for or received. The borrower upon such loan
shall be required to repay only the principal amount borrowed.
SECTION 2. ORS 82.025 is amended to read:
82.025. ORS 82.010 { - (3) and (4) - } { + (5) and (6) + }
and 82.020 do not apply to:
(1) Any financial institution or trust company, as those terms
are defined in ORS 706.008, any consumer finance licensee under
ORS chapter 725, or any pawnbroker licensed under ORS chapter
726.
(2) Any lender approved by the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development of the United States for participation in any
mortgage insurance program under the National Housing Act (12
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
(3) Any loan secured by a first lien on real property or made
to finance the acquisition of real property and secured by any
lien on that property.
(4) Any loan which is secured by real property, which is
scheduled under the loan agreement to be repaid in substantially
equal payments and which is made by a lender described in this
subsection. A lender under this subsection is one who makes,
invests in or arranges real property loans, including loans
secured by first liens on residential manufactured homes,
aggregating more than $1 million per year. Under this subsection,
payments shall be 'substantially equal' if, under the terms of
the loan agreement, no single scheduled payment is more than
twice the amount of any other scheduled payment.
(5) Any loan wholly or partially secured or covered by
guarantees or insurance by the Federal Housing Administration,
the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or the Farmers
Home Administration of the United States, any department, bureau,
board, commission or agency of the United States, or any
corporation wholly owned, directly or indirectly by the United
States.
(6) Any loan permitted under applicable federal law and
regulations from a tax qualified retirement plan to a person then
a participant under the plan.
(7) Any bona fide sale or resale of securities or commercial
paper.
(8) Any interest charge by broker-dealers registered under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for carrying a debit balance in
an account for a customer if the debit balance is payable on
demand and secured by stocks or bonds.
SECTION 3. ORS 90.260 is amended to read:
90.260. (1) A landlord may impose a late charge or fee, however
designated, only if:
(a) The rent payment is not received by the fourth day of the
weekly or monthly rental period for which rent is payable; and
(b) There exists a written rental agreement that specifies:
(A) The tenant's obligation to pay a late charge on delinquent
rent payments;
(B) The type and amount of the late charge, as described in
subsection (2) of this section; and
(C) The date on which rent payments are due and the date or day
on which late charges become due.
(2) The amount of any late charge shall not exceed:
(a) A reasonable flat amount, charged once per rental period.
' Reasonable amount' means the customary amount charged by
landlords for that rental market;
(b) A reasonable amount, charged on a per-day basis, beginning
on the fifth day of the rental period for which rent is
delinquent. This daily charge may accrue every day thereafter
until the rent, not including any late charge, is paid in full,
through that rental period only. The per-day charge may not
exceed six percent of the amount described in paragraph (a) of
this subsection; or
(c) Five percent of the periodic rent payment amount, charged
once for each succeeding five-day period, or portion thereof, for
which the rent payment is delinquent, beginning on the fifth day
of that rental period and continuing and accumulating until that
rent payment, not including any late charge, is paid in full,
through that rental period only.
(3) In periodic tenancies, a landlord may change the type or
amount of late charge by giving 30 days' written notice to the
tenant.
(4) A landlord shall not deduct a previously imposed late
charge from a current or subsequent rental period rent payment,
thereby making that rent payment delinquent for imposition of a
new or additional late charge or for termination of the tenancy
for nonpayment pursuant to ORS 90.400 (2).
(5) A landlord may charge simple interest on an unpaid late
charge at the rate allowed for judgments pursuant to ORS 82.010
{ - (2) - } and accruing from the date the late charge is
imposed.
(6) Nonpayment of a late charge alone shall not constitute
grounds for termination of a rental agreement for nonpayment of
rent pursuant to ORS 90.400 (2), but shall constitute grounds for
termination of a rental agreement for cause pursuant to ORS
90.400 (1) or 90.630 (1). A landlord may note the imposition of a
late charge on a notice of nonpayment of rent pursuant to ORS
90.400 (2), so long as the notice states or otherwise makes clear
that the tenant may cure the nonpayment notice by paying only the
delinquent rent, not including any late charge, within the
allotted time.
(7) A late charge includes an increase or decrease in the
regularly charged periodic rent payment imposed because a tenant
does or does not pay that rent by a certain date.
SECTION 4. { + The amendments to ORS 82.010, 82.025 and 90.260
by sections 1 to 3 of this 2003 Act apply to judgments entered on
or after the effective date of this 2003 Act. + }
----------