Five Bills to Improve Oregon’s Regulatory Environment
It is difficult for employers, especially small businesses, to navigate Oregon’s increasingly complex regulatory landscape. These five bills would make Oregon an easier state in which to operate.
It is difficult for employers, especially small businesses, to navigate Oregon’s increasingly complex regulatory landscape. These five bills would make Oregon an easier state in which to operate.
Senate Bill 498 would ease Oregon’s estate tax burden for families that inherit natural resource-based businesses such as farms and forestry operations. Thirty eight states don’t’ have an estate tax at all, and of those that do Oregon has the lowest exemption threshold.
House Bill 3042 would broaden the scope of products covered under the law to a potentially unknowable degree, increase reporting obligations and redefine “mouthable” in a way that would make compliance in Oregon extremely difficult.
Senate Bill 44 would create an office of business ombuds, which would help employers navigate Oregon’s complex and rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. Employers operating in good faith often don’t know where to go for answers to key compliance questions
A weekly rundown of recent legislative developments of interest to employers and a look at upcoming activity on significant issues.
OBI VP for Government Affairs Scott Bruun urged legislators to address barriers to opportunity by supporting existing economic development tools like enterprise zones, creating new tools like an R&D tax credit and a capital investment tax credit.
Freres Engineered Wood has translated its expertise in Douglas fir veneer production into a cross laminated timber product composed of many thin layers, a design that provides great strength and rigidity..
Policy team changes include promotions and role adjustments for Scott Bruun, Sharla Moffett and Katie Koenig as well as the addition of Derek Sangston, former legislative director to Senate President Peter Courtney.
The Greenbrier Companies has developed a hatch for covered hopper rail cars that opens and closes automatically, eliminating the need for workers to climb on cars
Boardman Foods created an after-school program for employees in 2004. Then COVID happened, creating a demand for full-day child care. Company officials now run a community day care program at the Port of Morrow.
Proposed DEQ trip-reduction mandates would affect hundreds of employers in almost 70 Oregon cities. The rules would discriminate against industries like manufacturing and hospitality while rewarding employers for taking highly regressive measures.
The Northwest’s hydropower system provides reliable, clean and affordable electricity as well as efficient transportation for barged goods. Preserving these benefits is critical given the increasing importance of electrification and the importance of reducing greenhouse gases.
Southeast Portland-based Bullseye Glass created a process to fuse glass of different colors, allowing for the creation of glass paintings. The company also produces glass for historical restoration, including the windows in the U.S. Capitol cupola.
Salem-based International Housing Concepts produces tiny homes for a range of markets while providing job opportunities for the homeless and for people re-entering the workforce.
Oregon’s September 2022 revenue forecast indicates that the state continues to collect record revenue. Oregon should focus on living within its means rather than considering new taxes.
Kate Brown asks for money to streamline permitting for large semiconductor manufacturers. She deserves credit for her urgency. However, small employers need efficient permitting just as much as large ones do.
Georgia Pacific’s Juno facility, in Toledo, separates paper fiber from about 70,000 tons of household trash every year and uses it to make cardboard used in corrugated boxes.
The task force identifies several impediments to further growth in the semiconductor industry, including Oregon’s regulatory environment, its land use system and its inadequate portfolio of incentives.
The proposed health plan would raise taxes by more than $21 billion per year through a payroll tax on employers and personal income taxes on individuals.
The largely uncoordinated layering of regulations goes virtually unreported in Oregon but creates significant cost and compliance problems for businesses that employ Oregonians and generate billions in critical state and local revenue.
The largely uncoordinated layering of regulations goes virtually unreported in Oregon but creates significant cost and compliance problems for businesses that employ Oregonians and generate billions in critical state and local revenue.
The largely uncoordinated layering of regulations goes virtually unreported in Oregon but creates significant cost and compliance problems for businesses that employ Oregonians and generate billions in critical state and local revenue.
For more than an hour, the three answered questions on a range of issues, including taxation, workforce challenges, Oregon’s land use system, state agency leadership and the appropriate use of executive orders.
OBI President and CEO Angela Wilhelms urged planners and policymakers to maximize vehicle capacity in replacing the century-old bridge spanning Interstate 5.
It will be difficult for employers to offer incentives that will be enticing enough to convince many employees to abandon their vehicles in favor of public transit.
The heat and smoke rules are lengthy and complex, and complying with them will be difficult. We have distilled the requirements of each set of rules and produced a pair of high-level explainer documents.
At our June 7 annual meeting, OBI will hold a gubernatorial candidate forum. Participants will include the winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries as well as other candidates likely to run competitive races.
Oregon OSHA has proposed workplace heat and smoke rules that will cause employers to cancel shifts and employees to lose money. They also will force employers, once again, to become mask police.
Lawmakers in Washington are trying to impose a 6-cent-per-gallon tax on fuel exported to Oregon . Our elected leaders should push back.
Oregon’s March 2022 revenue forecast suggests that record tax collections will persist for years. OBI President and CEO Angela Wilhelms urged lawmakers to end consideration of any tax increases for the near future.
Oregon voters are frustrated. That is the overarching takeaway from a statewide voter survey conducted by DHM Research for the OBI Education & Research Foundation in October. Voters are worried about the economy and their own personal finances, are highly concerned about homelessness, see Portland as dysfunctional and harming the state overall, and believe that…
Due to recently passed new taxes and increases of existing taxes, at both the state and local levels, a stunning number of Oregon businesses are now giving serious consideration to leaving Oregon according to findings from a survey of nearly 500 business CPAs and local chamber of commerce leaders.
“Employment is rebounding, but is still short of pre-pandemic levels, which makes it clear we are not out of the woods in terms of the pandemic’s impact on individual Oregonians,” said OBI President & CEO Sandra McDonough. “On the other hand, the state of Oregon is hitting record highs in terms of tax collections.”
By The Oregonian Editorial Board
Even as the pandemic begins to wane, there are still plenty of ways to go wrong. Oregon can’t relent in its push to immunize nor neglect the needs of children not yet eligible for vaccines. But Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has chosen to make a different mistake: Not letting up enough.
The May revenue forecast, released today, shows that Oregon’s state tax collections are at a record high, and that is expected to continue for the next several years. With billions in federal aid on the way and these astonishingly strong tax collections flowing to state coffers, Oregon lawmakers have more than enough money to balance the existing budget and create a reasonable spending plan for the next fiscal biennium.
These latest closures – with little time for the businesses to prepare – are one more setback to business owners who have followed all the rules, keeping their customers and employees safe for more than a year.