Oregon senators voted unanimously Tuesday to repeal a highly controversial wildfire hazard map. Republican lawmakers have repeatedly criticized the map, which they say has punished rural property owners with a flawed analysis of wildfire risk.

Sen. Jeff Golden, an Ashland Democrat and chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire, carried Senate Bill 83 on the floor Tuesday and urged his colleagues to support repealing the map regardless of their party affiliation.

“It was stoking hostility and mistrust and a division among us that’s exactly the opposite of what we need to overcome the wildfire crisis that will be a fact of Oregon life for years to come,” Golden said.

In 2021, the Legislature directed the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University to develop a map to show Oregonians how much of a wildfire risk each property in high probability wildfire zone faces. The latest iteration, released in January, was also intended to be used to decide where to prioritize fire mitigation efforts and which property owners would be subject to home hardening requirements.

But it prompted huge pushback from rural property owners and lawmakers who interact with them.

Republicans argue it is “riddled with inaccuracies” given that no one surveyed individual properties. Homeowners fear that insurance companies have used the map to change their premiums or deny coverage. Under state law, insurance companies are prohibited from using the map for that purpose, and the state’s Division of Financial Regulation argues they never have. But rural property owners have insisted they felt punitive effects from what they say is a flawed map.

“We can’t go back and restore insurance. … We can’t go back and reduce those rates for people. To a certain extent the cat is out of the bag,” Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham of The Dalles said Tuesday. “We do owe it to those constituents to continue this effort and this energy towards getting them back to whole.”

Senate Bill 83 revokes the map and any related requirements that property owners in hazard zones adhere to special construction rules related to their risk. Local jurisdictions can still require property owners to follow fire-safe building regulations, Golden said.

The bill will now move to the Oregon House for consideration.