Columbia County (Oregon) Clerk: Free Recording of a DD-214

The Clerk's Recording page lists the exceptions to its $101 first-page fee: "Military Discharge DD214 - no charge". The State rule, ORS 408.420, has every county clerk keep a record of veterans' final discharges and bars a fee "when the veteran requesting the record is an actual resident of the county or was a resident at the time of entrance into the service"; Columbia's list does not limit the free recording to residents. Who may see it. ORS 408.425 lets the clerk show a recorded discharge only on a written request giving the requester's name, address and phone and the veteran's name and date of birth or last four Social Security digits, made by the veteran, a county veterans service officer, the Department of Veterans' Affairs or a licensed funeral establishment checking burial eligibility, and, since HB 4132 of 2026 took effect on July 1, 2026, "a person holding a power of attorney for the veteran or personal representative of the veteran". The amendment removed "the spouse, legal guardian" from the list, so a spouse now needs a power of attorney; the clerk must keep each request ten years. When. Order 21-2026 (June 2026) declared a fiscal emergency and closed the recording desk on the county's furlough days: December 24, 2026 and March 12, April 9, May 14 and June 11, 2027.