Welcome to Oregon Business Insider, OBI’s Free Newsletter
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Oregon Business Insider, a free monthly newsletter created by Oregon Business & Industry (OBI), Oregon’s statewide chamber of commerce. It will appear on the first Wednesday of every month.
Oregon Business Insider is intended for anyone who’s interested in Oregon’s business environment. You do not need to be an OBI member to receive Oregon Business Insider.
Each edition will include information about noteworthy events, legal and regulatory updates, timely data and rankings, links to recent Oregon Business Matters podcast episodes, policy explainers and more.
If you’d like to subscribe to Oregon Business Insider, follow the link below – and feel free to share it with your networks.
Follow the link below to download a pdf of this month’s newsletter.
The Month that Was: Three Things that Happened
Each edition of Oregon Business Insider will feature three notable things that happened during the previous month – in this case March – and three things to expect in the coming month. Our three things for March:
2026 session: The 2026 “short” legislative session ended on March 6. The session will be remembered for the Legislature’s controversial decision to move a voter-approved gas tax vote from the November 2026 ballot to the May 2026 ballot. It also will be remembered for the passage of a bill partially disconnecting Oregon from the federal tax code, thereby increasing the tax burden for state businesses. Even so, the 2026 session could have been much worse. Read an OBI recap of the session to learn more.
Competitiveness ranking: The nonpartisan Common Sense Institute released its annual Free Enterprise Report, which ranks states for overall competitiveness and in 10 subcategories, including economic performance, taxes and fees, and state budget. Oregon fell six places in overall competitiveness and is currently 46th. The state received low marks for taxes and fees (49th) and public safety (50th) and comparatively high marks for infrastructure (5th) and energy (19th). Check out the full report here.
Transportation funding workgroup: Gov. Tina Kotek on March 19 announced the creation of a workgroup to develop “a framework for a transportation package that can pass in the 2027 legislative session.” As you may recall, the Legislature failed to pass a transportation funding package during the 2025 legislative session, prompting the governor to call a special session later in the year that did produce a $4.3 billion package featuring a gas tax increase, an increase in the employee-paid payroll tax that supports public transportation, and hikes in various fees. Voters subsequently forced a vote on many components of the package, and the fee and tax hikes have not gone into effect. The governor’s work group will be led by Bruce Hanna, a Republican who served five terms in the state House of Representatives, and Grace Crunican, who served as director of the Oregon Department of Transportation and, subsequently, manager of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART). Read the governor’s announcement here.
The Month Ahead: Three Things to Watch
School data coming: This one’s for the data nerds. Every April, the National Education Association releases its Ranking of the States and Estimates of School Statistics report. The report provides state-level data in several areas that are relevant to perennial school-funding debates in Oregon and elsewhere. Key areas include average public school teacher salary and public school funding per student. Because the NEA has published this report for many years, taxpayers can spot long-term trends, some of which OBI tracks on the Oregon Scorecard, its online data dashboard. Go here to download the 2025 NEA report.
Best states ranking: In April, Chief Executive generally releases its Best and Worst States for Business ranking, which is based on an annual CEO survey. Oregon ranked 44th in 2025, a one-place decline since Chief Executive’s 2024 ranking. Check out the publication’s 2025 rankings here.
Quarterly jobs report: In April, OBI will release a quarterly Oregon Jobs report produced by Colorado-based Aspen Tech Labs, which maintains a database of more than 10 million active job postings worldwide from over 300,000 employers. Its quarterly reports contain high-level hiring activity and advertised compensation across the state. The information in Aspen Tech Labs’ quarterly reports provides a useful snapshot of statewide hiring activity. Check out the 2025 Q4 report here.
Next month’s edition of Oregon Business Insider will follow up on the three reports noted above. So stay tuned!
Tell Me Why: Why Isn’t There a Corporate Kicker?
About the kicker: There actually is a corporate kicker, as we’ll explain below. Some kicker basics first. The kicker, first approved by Oregon voters in 1980, is triggered whenever state general fund revenue exceeds the amount estimated at the end of the previous legislative session by at last 2%. When that happens, all unanticipated revenue is returned to taxpayers, thereby tempering the growth of government spending.
The two pots: We totally lied. All unanticipated revenue isn’t returned to taxpayers, as Oregon businesses know well. For kicker purposes, general fund revenue is separated into two pots. One contains personal income tax revenue and various other revenue, and this excess is returned to individual taxpayers. The other pot contains corporate income tax revenue. The corporate income tax kicker is triggered whenever corporate income tax revenue crosses the 2% threshold. That money used to be returned to businesses (except when the Legislature suspended the corporate kicker, as it did twice). But …
Measure 85: In 2012, Oregon voters approved a constitutional amendment – Measure 85 – that directs the corporate kicker back to the general fund to support K-12 education.
How much? Through the end of the 2023-25 biennium, roughly $4.5 billion that would have been returned to Oregon businesses through the corporate kicker has instead been redirected to K-12 education.
Learn more: Check out Public Finance: Basic Facts, an annual publication from the Legislative Revenue Office. It contains everything you ever wanted to know about taxes in Oregon. And then some.
Statistic of the Month: Oregon’s Export-Import Balance
What happened: According to federal data released Feb. 19, Oregon goods imports topped exports in 2025 for the first time since at least 2008. Goods exports fell by roughly 17% in 2025 while imports rose by about 9%, producing a goods trade deficit of about $2.7 billion. In 2024, by comparison, Oregon’s goods exports exceeded imports by about $5.7 billion. On a nationwide basis, meanwhile, goods exports increased in 2025 (5.8%) by a larger percentage than imports (3.1%).
Change not surprising: The Portland Business Journal sounded the alarm in January by reporting that exports through the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro area had dropped nearly 19% through the third quarter of 2025, the biggest drop among 40 tracked metro areas. Among the contributing factors, according to the Business Journal, were decreases in semiconductors and other electronic components as well as auto parts.
Why it matters: Oregon is one of the nation’s most manufacturing dependent states, ranking 19th nationally for the sector’s share of state GDP, according to OBI’s 2024 manufacturing report. Manufacturing jobs also pay well, with a median income that exceeds that in other sectors by nearly 17%. And exports bring money into the state, which supports employment, investment and local businesses.
Concern, not panic: Oregon’s manufacturing sector has struggled in recent years. The state lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in 2025, extending what the state economist has referred to repeatedly as a manufacturing recession. However, as Business Oregon economist Damon Runberg told the Portland Business Journal back in January, exports do tend to fluctuate, and 2024 saw a large surge in exports from Oregon. He said it’s more useful to track exports using a three-year average. Taken together, however, recent trends underscore the importance of policies that support Oregon’s manufacturers.
Bragging rights lost: For nearly 20 years, Oregon belonged to an enviable club: states with export surpluses. In 2024, it was one of 11 states whose goods exports exceeded their imports. In 2025, the list shrank to 10, and it doesn’t include Oregon for the first time in nearly two decades.
Learn more: For more Oregon competitiveness data and rankings, visit the Oregon Scorecard.
Oregon Business Matters Talks with Deschutes Brewery CEO
Oregon Business Matters is OBI’s biweekly podcast. It features interviews with state business and political leaders, economists, academics, pollsters – all with a focus on issues that matter to Oregon’s businesses.
This month’s spotlight episode is host (and OBI President and CEO) Angela Wilhelms’ interview with Deschutes Brewery CEO Peter Skrbek. Peter talks about the iconic craft brewer’s approach to product innovation, its connection with Central Oregon and lots more. You can listen to that interview here. You can check out all of Oregon Business Matters’ episodes on OBI’s website here.
You can also subscribe to the Oregon Business Matters podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
Opportunities to Engage
If you would like timely opportunities to engage in the political process, please consider signing up with the Oregon Prosperity Initiative. Participation will allow you to send comment letters to key legislators and policymakers in support of policies that would improve Oregon’s economic competitiveness – and in opposition to policies that would erode it. It’s an easy way to help improve Oregon’s business climate.
About Oregon Business & Industry
OBI is Oregon’s statewide chamber of commerce and also Oregon’s affiliate for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retail Federation. OBI works tirelessly as the voice of business in Salem, pursuing policies necessary to support a prosperous private sector.
OBI members enjoy many benefits, including opportunities to participate in OBI’s policy-setting committees, participation in OBI events, regular communications about key public policy developments, and access to cost-saving programs, including:
HealthChoice: Helps businesses with fewer than 100 employees offer comprehensive health-care benefits through our partnership with Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.
Partners Retirement Plan: Allows multiple employers to offer a 401(k) benefit to employees through a group structure while maintaining individual company design and control over the benefit – such as eligibility, employer match, and vesting.
CompSAFE: Helps eligible companies enjoy workers’ compensation discounts through SAIF Corporation.
Fuel Program: Helps members save fuel costs through our partnership with Ed Staub & Sons.
LegalPLUS: OBI members receive 15 minutes of free legal consulting per month from Innova Legal Advisors.
Go here to learn more about OBI, here to learn more about OBI’s member benefits and here to talk with OBI about becoming a member.
Check Out OBI’s Member Benefits
OBI offers members a range of programs that can save money or help small businesses offer benefits normally available only to much larger companies. Benefit programs include:
- HealthChoice: Helps businesses with fewer than 100 employees offer comprehensive health-care benefits through our partnership with Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.
- Partners Retirement Plan: Allows multiple employers to offer a 401(k) benefit to employees through a group structure while maintaining individual company design and control over the benefit – such as eligibility, employer match, and vesting.
- CompSAFE: Helps eligible companies enjoy workers’ compensation discounts through SAIF Corporation.
- Fuel Program: Helps members save fuel costs through our partnership with Ed Staub & Sons.
- LegalPLUS: OBI members receive 15 minutes of free legal consulting per month from Innova Legal Advisors.
Go here to learn about all of OBI’s member benefits.