Join the 2025 Manufacturing & Innovation Roadshow
OBI’s Manufacturing & Innovation Roadshow is back for its fourth year. On Oct. 6 and 7, the Roadshow will visit seven manufacturers and host two roundtable discussions in the Willamette Valley and southern Oregon.
The Roadshow, which coincides with National Manufacturing Week, will make stops in Marion, Linn, Lane, Douglas and Jackson counties. Participants will tour industry leaders Garmin, ATI, PakTech, Richardson Sports, Carestream and Harry & David. They’ll also participate in a pair of roundtable luncheons at the University of Oregon and Rogue Community College’s Table Rock campus.
Check OBI’s Manufacturing & Innovation Roadshow web page for updates as the itinerary is finalized and short profiles of participating manufacturers are posted. Go here to register for as many stops as you would like.
Employment Department Seeks Input on Draft UI Rules
The Oregon Employment Department held a listening session on July 31 and will hold another at 4 p.m. on Aug. 4 to receive feedback on draft rules amending several unemployment insurance rules, notably those governing eligibility for unemployment insurance. While these rule changes are partially related to SB 916, the law giving striking workers the ability to collect unemployment benefits, the draft rules go much further. OED has posted draft rules, but that version does not show how current rules will be modified. Because of that, OBI staff created a redline document showing all changes, which can be found here.
To summarize, the draft rules make the following changes:
- Give unemployment insurance claimants the ability to create new restrictions on the types of work and schedules they will apply for;
- Eliminate the ability of the department director to require claimants to accept available work;
- An absence from area or an illness is not disqualifying unless it takes up more than half of the week;
- Eliminate restrictions on unemployment insurance related to incarcerations and drug treatment;
- Make significant changes to the division’s interpretation of “actively” looking for work:
- Create new standard for claimants who are “employer attached,” meaning there is an expectation they will return to work at some point, and exempt them from actively looking for work;
- Eliminate current four-week limit on temporary layoffs and exempt those people from having to look for work;
- Seem to be expanding the union hiring hall language, conflicting with federal guidance, saying claimants are “actively” looking for work if they remain in contact with the union;
- Create a blanket interpretation that employees are “actively” looking for work when they are unemployed due to a labor dispute and there is an expectation they will return to work when the strike ends
- Allow employees to seek only remote work if remote work is typically available for their occupation.
Written comments can be emailed to oed_rules@employ.oregon.gov. The deadline to submit comments is Sept. 4.
More Legislators Talking about Economic Development
The Legislature largely failed to take meaningful steps during the 2025 session to improve Oregon’s business climate. Nevertheless, more legislators have begun to talk openly about the importance of economic development, a message OBI has communicated consistently for years.
One of them is Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, who delivered several remonstrances about the importance of economic development during the session’s final weeks. You can watch a compilation here.
Here are a couple of notable quotes:
“Colleagues, if we want to address the structural changes facing our state and make the kind of investments our people need and deserve, to be the center of innovation, a magnet for intellectual capacity and a state that supports families by creating high-paying jobs and opportunities, then we must start taking economic development seriously.”
“We must take a hard look at our tax and regulatory structure and update both so that businesses are encouraged to locate and invest in Oregon.”
Oregon Business Matters Talks with Patsy Smullin and Bob Wise
The Oregon Business Matters podcast talked recently with two pillars of Oregon journalism. Patsy Smullin is owner and president of California Oregon Broadcasting (COBI), the parent company of KOBI-TV. And Bob Wise is president and general manager of KOBI-TV. KOBI is an NBC affiliate in Medford.
Bob Wise has worked at KOBI-TV for more than 20 years. And last November, Patsy was honored as a “giant of broadcasting and the electronic arts” by the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation.
Patsy and Bob talked with host Angela Wilhelms in Medford about their years in the broadcast business, the shifting journalism landscape, the importance of local news providers and much more.
The interview with Patsy and Bob follows recently released interviews with Jordan Papé, CEO of The Papé Group, Escape Lodging Chairman Patrick Nofield and Epic Aircraft CEO Doug King.
Oregon Business Matters focuses on insights, issues and initiatives that affect Oregonians’ shared prosperity and the state’s economy.
Episodes can be found on OBI’s website here and on major podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify and YouTube.
Backlash from Public Halts Proposed Agritourism Rules
What happened: Oregon farmers in July mounted a remarkably successful campaign against proposed rules that threatened to make engaging in agritourism – a critical source of funding for many farms – more difficult.
A bit of background: In July, the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) initiated a rulemaking process ostensibly intended to clarify existing agritourism regulations and reduce conflict between farmers and local governments. According to the Oregon Property Owners Association (OPOA), the rulemaking followed the Legislature’s consideration this year of HB 3133, which was introduced at the OPOA’s request. According to the organization, the bill was designed to protect agritourism operations and preserve legal certainty about the types and sale of activities in which farms may engage. Rather than advancing the bill, according to the OPOA, the Legislature directed the DLCD to clarify rules administratively – hence, the rulemaking effort.
Rulemaking goes awry: According to the OPOA, the draft rules released by DLCD in July deviate from the Legislature’s intent. Rather than clarifying regulations, the proposed rules threatened to make it more difficult for farmers to offer popular agritourism activities like petting zoos, cow-train rides and live music. And even as the rules created new obstacles, they would not have clarified regulations governing the sale of prepared food like cider doughnuts at farmstands.
Not a new problem: DLCD’s draft rules illustrate some of the problems OBI members have pointed out for years. Oregon’s many regulatory agencies initiate so many rulemaking efforts with such frequency that businesses have difficulty keeping up. To make matters worse, rules adopted by regulatory agencies frequently deviate from the intent of the underlying legislation. OBI’s Oregon Competitiveness Agenda contains many proposals to address such problems, and the Legislature in 2025 considered – but did not pass – multiple OBI-supported bills that would have increased agency transparency and accountability.
Rules paused: Farmers, the OPOA and allied groups highlighted problems with the proposed rules and pressured legislators, the DLCD and the governor’s office to respond. On July 25, at the request of the governor’s office, the DLCD announced that it would postpone the release of proposed rules.
Oregon Infrastructure Summit to Take Place Sept. 8-9
The 2025 Oregon Infrastructure Summit, the state’s largest infrastructure event, will take place Sept. 8-9 at the Seaside Civic & Convention Center.
Presented by Business Oregon and the Northwest Environmental Business Council, the summit will provide a venue to exchange ideas about the interconnectedness of basic infrastructure, including capacity building, resiliency, economic development, investment and more.
The two-day event will offer a collection of workshops and roundtables as well as sessions on the following topics:
- Policy, ports and economic development
- Hot topics and case studies
- Industrial landscape
- Rural communities
The keynote address, delivered by OBI President and CEO Angela Wilhelms, will focus on restoring Oregon’s competitiveness, which is a prerequisite for healthy infrastructure.
Go here to learn more about the Oregon Infrastructure Summit and to register.
U.S. Chamber Highlights Three Supreme Court Victories
Fighting and winning in the courts is one of the most significant ways the U.S. Chamber of Commerce delivers for the American business community. The chamber’s Litigation Center recently wrapped up another Supreme Court term that saw continued advances in the chamber’s efforts to rein in federal regulators and limit government micromanagement.
Visit the chamber’s website here to learn about three of the 12 victories that the Litigation Center helped secure for members in the past term. These favorable outcomes were in environmental cases, but their impact promises to benefit the entire business community. Together, these decisions will lead to clearer and more predictable regulations, reduce compliance costs, and make it easier for businesses to challenge harmful government actions in court.
Notable News
Salem payroll tax: Salem’s mass transit agency wants to levy a tax on businesses in 2026 to increase weekend bus hours and fund new transit stations in south and east Salem. The Salem Area Mass Transit District, otherwise known as Cherriots, can impose the tax under a state law passed in 2018. Voters wouldn’t get a say. The tax is expected to raise $39 million for the district in its first year (Salem Reporter).
Recycling plant: Oregon’s largest glass recycling plant, Owens-Brockway Glass Container in Northeast Portland, will permanently close its production facility and lay off 90 of its employees. Owens-Brockway wrote in a press release that the closure is part of a company-wide initiative to “reduce redundant capacity” (The Oregonian).
Oregon unemployment: More Oregonians are filing for longer periods of unemployment benefits this year compared to the last. The state has seen a 17% increase in continued unemployment claims, data from the Oregon Employment Department shows, meaning more jobless Oregonians who have already filed for unemployment claims are still out of work a week later or beyond (The Oregonian).
Intel’s future: Intel has been the driving force in semiconductor technology for nearly all its 57 years, setting the cadence for advances in computer technology that made the PC ubiquitous and the internet transformative. For the last quarter-century, Intel has done that work at its Ronler Acres research campus in Hillsboro. Its Oregon scientists kept the company on the cutting edge with a succession of breakthroughs in transistor design, semiconductor materials and manufacturing technology. Intel shocked Wall Street recently when the company said it may be done with all that (The Oregonian).
Incoming Oregonians: Portland continues to attract new residents from its neighbors, according to U-Haul’s latest migration report. The top two origin states for migrants to Portland were the border states to the north and south: Washington, followed by California. Arizona, Idaho and Texas made the rest of the top 10, according to the moving company’s analysis (Portland Business Journal).
BPA rates: Power and transmission rates are going up for Bonneville Power Administration customers, though not as much as BPA originally sought. The federal agency at the heart of the Pacific Northwest electric grid — supplying power to consumer-owned utilities and transmission services to utilities throughout the region — announced average increases of 8.9% for power and 19.9% for transmission over three years (Portland Business Journal).
Chief privacy officer: Nik Blosser, who once served as a top aide to former Gov. Kate Brown and has held various high-profile business and government positions, has been appointed as the state’s first chief privacy officer. He will oversee the state’s data protection and artificial intelligence regulations, according to an announcement from the state’s information services department (The Oregonian).
Oregon timber: Sawmills have been closing across the Pacific Northwest over the past 30 years. Limited log supply from the region’s national forests has cut off their raw material, while cheap lumber from Canada has taken market share for their finished product. Owners of the remaining mills have high hopes that President Trump will deliver relief by increasing logging in national forests and raising trade protections against Canadian exports (The Wall Street Journal).
ODOT leadership: Kris Strickler, director of the embattled Oregon Department of Transportation, has restructured the leadership of his agency as it faces significant financial uncertainty and reckons with the departures of several high-profile leaders (The Oregonian).
Selling Portland: Gov. Tina Kotek and Mayor Keith Wilson plan a charm offensive this fall to win over housing investors skeptical of putting their money in Portland. Kotek said in an interview that she and Wilson agreed to meet with investors this fall to press them on the business case for Portland (The Oregonian).
Oregon ranking: Safety, affordability, education and health care have dragged Oregon to the bottom ranks of states to move to, according to online research platform Consumer Affairs. Oregon ranked 47th among states in the site’s annual ranking, down four places from 2024 (Portland Business Journal).
Multnomah job growth: Multnomah County, Oregon’s largest by population and home to Portland, has lagged the state and the nation in jobs for the past 12 months, according to figures from the Oregon Employment Department. Oregon added 8,700 nonfarm jobs, growing by 0.4%, in the year ended June 30, according to monthly data distributed by Jake Procino, economist for Multnomah County at the state employment office. Payrolls in Multnomah County, by comparison, fell 5,100, or 1%, during the same period (Willamette Week).
PacifiCorp route: More than 100 residents in Powell Butte showed up July 29 night to hear about and protest against a transmission line that could run across 10 miles of prime farm and ranch lands. Powell Butte is in the heart of one route PacifiCorp has proposed for a 500-kilovolt transmission line called the Blueprint South Transmission Line Project (Redmond Spokesman).
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.
- 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.
- ODP Business Solutions: Helps OBI members save money on office furniture, supplies and other services.
- 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.