H.B. 105 Child Welfare Revisions

What this bill does

The bill would let a parent petition a court for custody or visitation time with their child when the child lives with the other parent or a spouse or former spouse, even if the permanent custody order was entered before the law changed. The parent must show a substantial and material change in circumstances since that order was entered.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the sponsor’s presentation in committee and on the floor. Check the official text below.

Your legislators on this bill

Enter your address to see what your own representative and senator did on this bill.

Quotes come from the official recordings' automatic captions, which can mishear words. Speakers and summaries are identified by AI and can be wrong. Use the ▶ links to check the recording.

Take action

This bill's session is over, but your legislators still want to hear from you. Ideas that died often come back next year.

Enter your address to get your legislators' contact information and a ready-to-send message about this bill.

Every vote

• 9 yes, 0 no, 2 absentHouse Judiciary Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 2, 2026Who voted how
• 9 yes, 0 no, 2 absentHouse Judiciary Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 2, 2026Who voted how
• 63 yes, 1 no, 11 absentFinal House vote · Feb 10, 2026Who voted how
• 4 yes, 0 no, 3 absentSenate Health and Human Services Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 18, 2026Who voted how
• 23 yes, 0 no, 6 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 25, 2026Who voted how
• 20 yes, 0 no, 9 absentFinal Senate vote · Feb 26, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Jan 28, 2026 House Judiciary Committee
• Feb 2, 2026 House Judiciary Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (17 turns)

  1. Rep. Christine F. Watkins42:06

     Thank you Madam Chair. Um, This is a substitute bill to house Bill 1 0 5. Um, they're not even the same. They're in the same code, but they are not the same. So if you read the original, uh, house Bill 1 0 5, uh, please ignore that. This one's a very, very different, uh, bill, and I'm gonna give you the story to the bill. Um, literally just a little over a week ago, I had a local attorney reach out to me and say that she had a great bill for me, and I said, Hey, we're kinda late in the session. And she goes, no, you really like this one. And she was right. And so that's what this bill is dealing with. And she had gone in front of a local, um, uh, family court attorney, uh, representing a client who, um, lost custody of their child or children. I have no idea whether it's a mom or dad. I just know as someone who did, and because of a bill that we passed last year, uh, the bill said that, uh, if you had not lost your parental rights and the children were with your spouse or former spouse and you had changed your life and you were doing really, really well, and you could prove that you could petition to have some, some custody time with your children. And the judge told her, yes, that's great, but, uh, the legislature did not make it retroactive. So we know that we have a lot of people in this state right now who are working on, or have changed their lives and turned them around, never lost their parental rights. All of that was in the original bill. And their kids are with their, um, spouse or ex spouse. It's the only one they can't be with, uh, foster parents. They can't be with grandparents or an aunt and uncle has to be with the, uh, spouse or former spouse. And so if you read line 57 through 61, and I'm going to read it so you know what the difference is, a parent may file a petition in accordance with subsection three EI regardless, uh, when the order granting permanent custody and guardianship to the child's other parent was entered, if the substantial and merit material change of circumstance described in subsection three EI has occurred since the permanent custody and guardianship order was entered. So the key there, it says, is regardless of when the order granting permanent custody was entered. So we're gonna, we're going to be giving a lot of people that chance that they've been working for. And so, um, that is my, uh, bill, uh, Madam chair.

  2. Committee chair45:09

     Alright, thank you Representative Watkins to the committee for clarifying questions. Seeing, oh, Representative Miller.

  3. Rep. Miller45:20

     Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, just a quick question. Uh, uh, this is a, a full and complete sub. So all this stuff that originally, uh, contemplated, uh, uh, uh, warrants that, that's no longer it's All gone, gone. That, that answers my question. Thank you so much. You

  4. Rep. Christine F. Watkins45:32

     Bet. Alright,

  5. Committee chair45:33

     thank you representative. Seeing no further lights, we'll go to public common. Is there anyone here who wishes to speak to this bill? Seeing no hands. Is there anybody online? All right. We'll come back to the Committee for action.

  6. Committee chair45:51

     Representative Miller.

  7. Rep. Miller45:53

     Thank you, Madam Chair. I, uh, move, uh, substitute the first substitute on the bill.

  8. Committee chair46:01

     All right. That is a motion to move first substitute house bill, or to move the first substitute on house bill 1 0 5. Any discussion to that motion? Would you like to speak to that? I'll waive. Okay. Uh, would you like to sign?

  9. Committee chair46:18

     I'll waive. All right. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. All right.

  10. Rep. Miller46:26

      Uh, Representative Miller, Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, if, uh, uh, what I'd like to do now is move, um, house Bill 1 0 5 with the first substitute, uh, with a favorable recommendation to the house floor for their consideration.

  11. Committee chair46:40

      Thank you. The motion is to favorably recommend house Bill 1 0 5 sub. Any discussion? Would you like to speak to that?

  12. Unknown speaker46:48speaker not certain

      I apologize. Oh, waive. Waive. Okay.

  13. Committee chair46:51

      Any discussion to that motion? Seeing no lights? Would you like to speak to it?

  14. Unknown speaker46:56speaker not certain

      I think I have. Alright. Thank you.

  15. Committee chair46:58

      We'll do a roll call. Vote.

  16. Unknown speaker47:04speaker not certain

      Representative Abbott. Aye. Acton? Yes. Okay. Uh, lube. Aye. Manga? Aye. Millard Aye. Thompson? Aye. Oxia, can she give a thumbs up? Ti Tiara was online. She has to be promoted. You heard? Do we need her for form? No, we don't. Okay, I'll text her after this. Um, Clancy? Yes. And Liz b Aye. All right. That passes unanimously.

  17. Committee chair48:09

      Thank you for being here. We'll move to the next item on the agenda.

• Feb 10, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (5 turns)

  1. Speaker Pro Tem (presiding)1:56:38

     For substitute house Bill 1 0 5 Child welfare revisions by Representative Watkins. This bill was heard in judiciary with a vote of 9 0 2. Representative Watkins.

  2. Rep. Christine F. Watkins1:56:50

     Thank you Mr. Speaker Pro Tem. Mr. Speaker. A couple of weeks ago I had, uh, an attorney friend of mine from price, um, reach out to me and say, I have a great bill for you. And I said, well, we're kind of getting light here. But when she told me what it was, I totally substituted a bill I had, because I felt that this one was very, very important. She had been in court that day with a, a client who had at one time not been a good person and had legal things happen. Um, his, the former spouse had full custody of the kids and, um, they had come back after several years being able to prove that they had, uh, changed their lives and they, because their spouse had custody of their children, they were asking the court to help give them, to allow them to have some custody time with their children. And this is something that we passed as a body a year ago. Well, the judge told my, uh, friend, attorney friend, well that's great, but the legislature didn't make it retroactive, so there's nothing we can do. So if you look at my bill, Mr. Speaker pro tem, uh, under online 57 down to 59, it actually says, and I'm just gonna quote the little bit, regardless of when the order granting permanent custody and guardianship to the child's other parent was entered. So what it's doing is saying if this happened six years ago or five years ago, or maybe even 10 years ago, they can come and petition the court to, um, see if they will allow them, uh, some custody time with their children. It does not guarantee time, nothing like that. It just allows them to petition the court and prove that they are so much better now and, um, to have some time. And as we all know, whenever there's been a divorce and there's things that happen, sometimes those children need to have some time with that other parent, even if it's a little bit at a time. So the big important thing is this in this bill is that it makes it so no matter when that happened, they can come back to the court and thank you Mr. Speaker Prote.

  3. Speaker Pro Tem (presiding)1:59:23

     Thank you Representative Watkins. Discussion to the bill. Seeing none, Representative Watkins for summation.

  4. Rep. Christine F. Watkins1:59:29

     Thank you. I'd really appreciate your support.

  5. Speaker Pro Tem (presiding)1:59:33

     Thank you. Voting is open on first substitute house Bill 1 0 5. Seeing all present, having voted voting be closed. First substitute house bill 1 0 5, having received 63 yay votes and one na vote passes the house and be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration. Madam Reading Clerk

• Feb 18, 2026 Senate Health and Human Services Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (12 turns)

  1. Committee chair33:14

     First substitute child Welfare revisions by Representative Watkins. Welcome representative. It's good to see you and your smile today. It's always a you light in the room whenever you come. So, welcome.

  2. Rep. Christine F. Watkins33:27

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I've already made it through one committee meeting, so, uh, honor. Good roll here today. Um, uh, Mr. Chair and, uh, committee members, this is a, a pretty simple bill, but I'm gonna give you just a little bit of history. It actually started out as a totally different bill, and then I had a constituent call, uh, about a week into the session. And she told me what had happened in court that day. And she is an attorney and she had a constituent, uh, not a constituent. That's what I have. She had a client who, um, hired her, uh, and a bill that we passed last year. They were using that bill to, um, address the court to, to make a change in, uh, uh, the, the custody and guardianship of their children. And they had cleaned up their act. They were now respons on a responsible adult, and they wanted to be able to do that. So, um, this attorney said to the judge, we have this new law that the, um, legislature passed last session, and we think it applies here, and we'd like to, uh, app ask for a change. And the judge said, well, that's fine. But, uh, the legislature didn't, uh, put anything about, um, about when this would've happened. It didn't make it retroactive. So what this bill does, if you look on pay on line 57, and there's a couple of key words here. It says, A parent may file a petition in co in accordance with subsection three EI, regardless of when the order granting permanent custody and guardianship to the child's other parent was entered. So the key word is, regardless. So we, we don't have to start from last, this last May, it can go back five years, 10 years, whenever that person, uh, lost their custody rights, and now they've worked really hard and they're, um, asking, um, to have some custody time, uh, with their child or children. So it's a pretty simple bill. Basically just saying, regardless of when the order granting permanent custody was entered. And that's my presentation.

  3. Rep. Christine F. Watkins36:07

     Thank you. Subject to certainly court approval and Oh, yes, absolutely. All the other things that were already in law. Okay. This does not change any of that.

  4. Committee chair36:17

     We'll bring it to the committee for questions. Any questions here? Not seeing any. Is anybody here in the public would like to speak to this? No one's here. So we'll go ahead and close that public comment. Bring it back to the committee for further action.

  5. Committee chair36:38

     Uh, Senator Escamilla.

  6. Sen. Luz Escamilla36:39

     Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanna make a motion that we favorably recommend first substitute HP 1 0 5 to the Senate floor. And if I can speak to that

  7. Committee chair36:47

     Motion is appropriate, please speak to It. Uh, thank you.

  8. Sen. Luz Escamilla36:51

     I, you know, so nice to have the good, um, representative here, and I think you gave a, a good description of how she brings so much light to the room. She's also, um, works very tirelessly in, um, the child welfare panel. And I have the pleasure of serving in that, in that committee with her and I, I know where her heart is on this. And this are, this is how we learn is through those, uh, individuals connecting with us and learn, letting us know that we are maybe missing the vote. Something here. And I, I appreciate this modification. I think it makes sense. And with that, I'll be asking my colleagues to support this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

  9. Committee chair37:28

     Thank you, Senator. Discussion of the motion, not seeing any, I'll bring it back to the sponsor.

  10. Rep. Christine F. Watkins37:37

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a, a simple change can be such a big change in the lives of a parent and, and their children. Thank you.

  11. Committee chair37:46

      Thank you to the maker of the motion. Senator, Uh, waive. Thank You. All in favor of the motion as stated, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Say nay passes unanimously. Thank

  12. Rep. Christine F. Watkins37:59speaker not certain

      You. Thank you. Appreciate that.

• Feb 25, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (11 turns)

  1. Sen. Wayne A. Harper16:10

     House Bill 1 0 5 allows a parent to petition when permanent custody was granted to the child's other parent regardless of when the permanent custody order was entered. There was a confusion in the courts and this just clarifies that, that it does have, uh, retro retroactive operation. Thank you for the presentation.

  2. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)16:29

     Do we have discussion to the house Bill? See no discussion. Do you Senator Harper? For a motion thank

  3. Sen. Wayne A. Harper16:36

     I'd move the first sub house bill 1 0 5. Be read for a third time. Thank

  4. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)16:40

     You. And the question is, shall first substitute House bill 1 0 5? Be read for a third time Quel vote.

  5. Unknown speaker16:46speaker not certain

     Senator Vickers Spery Aye. Lewin b Brammer bus Aye. Comore Escamilla Fillmore Aye. Grover Harper Aye. Kins Aye. Ipson Aye. Johnson. Aye. Juab McKay Mikel Milner Musman Owens pitcher Plum Rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Aye. Bickers Aye. Er. Aye. Wilson Wilson. Aye. Winterton President Adams Aye.

  6. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)17:41

     First substitute house Bill 1 0 5, having received 23 yay votes, zero nay votes. Six being absent shall be read a third time. Senator, let me call that again if we can put it back up. If not, I'll get it here. Make sure I get the call right. First substitute house bill 1 0 5. Having received 23 yay votes, zero nay votes. Six being absent shall be read a third time. Senator Plumb, did you wanna encircle on second? You've been, I think you've been asking for a long time. Uh,

  7. Sen. Jen Plumb18:22

     Thank you Mr. President. I, um, was looking for the rest of my crew, but I think we just march forward either way. I would love to if we Could. Okay. I can, I can run another bill if you don't want to right now, I can come back to you. I'd love that. Will you give me a one

  8. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)18:34

     Bill or two? Okay, I will. So let's keep, keep going. Thank here. Thank, just let me know when you wanna UNC circle, uh,

  9. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)18:39

     house Bill one 17 House Bill one 17, Oregon donation Amendments.

  10. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)18:44speaker not certain

      Senator Owens. Senator. Sorry. Senator Musselman. Senator Musselman. Yeah. It's Representative Owens, but we try, I looked at the same thing. So Senator Musselman.

  11. Sen. Calvin R. Musselman18:56

      Thank you Mr. President. HB uh, one 17 Oregon Donation Talk. Uh, uh, bill is, is, uh, trying to help

• Feb 26, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (8 turns)

  1. Presiding officer16:35

     Senator Harper. Thank you.

  2. Sen. Wayne A. Harper16:37

     This bill clarifies, uh, uh, section of code that was passed last year that allows it 1 0 5 allows the parent to petition when permanent custody was granted to the child's other parent Or, Or when the permanent custody order, when the permanent custody order was entered. Boy, I can't even say that one. But anyway, uh, there's, there was a court that said that it, you couldn't have this retroactive before the, the effective date of the bill. This clarifies that is the intent that if a parent has changed to their behavior, then they have the right to petition for visitation. Thank you. Are there, is there any discussion to the bill?

  3. Presiding officer17:18

     Seeing none, Senator Harper,

  4. Sen. Wayne A. Harper17:20

     Thank you. I move that first house bill 1 0 5 pass And the motion is shall first substitute house bill one oh five pass roll call vote.

  5. Presiding officer17:30

     Senator Vickers Baldy Aye. Lewin Brammer bus Cullimore Aye. Escamia Fillmore Aye. Grover Harper Aye. Hankins Ipsen Johnson Kwan McKay Mikel Milner Musman Owens pitcher Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton ERs Weiler Wilson Winterton, president Adams First substitute house Bill 1 0 5 have received 20 yay votes, zero na votes nine being absent passes and will be signed by the President and returned to the house for the signature of the speaker. And we will do first substitute house bill. Oh yeah. Before I call that Senator Cullimore, you've got a series of motions.

  6. Sen. Kirk A. Cullimore18:58

     Oh, thank you Mr. President Pro. Tim, I have a motion to lift from tabled on third to the third reading calendar. Third substitute house bill 71. The intent of this is, I'm sorry, to the top of the third reading calendar, the intent of this motion is to substitute the bill. Once we do the substitute, that'll trigger hopefully a new fiscal note at some point. And so after we lift it to the top of third, I'll substitute, then I will circle it, wait for the fiscal note to catch up and then we'll address it at some future point. So the first motion is to lift the what's name the bill to Lift sub third substitute house bill 71 to the top of the third reading calendar. All right. The motion is to lift, uh, third substitute house bill 71 from tabled on third to the top of the third reading calendar.

  7. Presiding officer19:48

     All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. We will uh, put the bill at the top of the third reading calendar. Give it a second. Okay, there it is. Substitute does third substitute house bill 71 Third substitute house bill 71 health provider directory and access amendments. Senator Cullimore. Senator Cullimore.

  8. Sen. Kirk A. Cullimore20:21

     Okay. I have a motion to delete title