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Advocacy Updates
Updates on advocacy efforts that OSCC is involved inThursday, November 10, 2016We did it! Measure 97 failed with a 59% No vote. Chambers should be very proud of this accomplishment. We were a driving force behind the grassroots engagement in defeating this Measure. Read moreFriday, December 9, 2016There are a couple of items we wanted to bring to your attention this week — 2017 Tax Policy and the Governor’s Budget. Read moreThursday, January 12, 2017The Oregon State Chamber of Commerce (OSCC) announced today its list of Legislative priorities for 2017. OSCC represents 84 local Chambers of Commerce across the state. Read moreFriday, February 10, 2017As you know from our discussions about the Governor’s and Legislative Framework budgets, Oregon’s legislature is required by law to adopt a balanced two year budget. It is no easy feat and requires difficult trade-offs between competing programs and services. Here’s is your opportunity to tell the Legislature what really matters to you. Read moreTuesday, February 14, 2017The 2017 legislative session has concluded its second week at a very cautious pace. Only 200 or so additional bills were introduced in the past week, a far lesser amount than anticipated. Committees are not yet diving into controversial issues. But this week there are a handful of legislative committees that will be sticking their toes in the water on legislation that business will oppose. Read moreTuesday, February 21, 2017The 2017 Oregon legislature continues to plod along at a cautious pace. Again, only a few hundred additional bills were introduced in the past week, a far lesser amount than anticipated. Only a few committees are delving into controversial issues, but many of those are simply informational hearings. Only the House Business Committee has taken up controversial anti-business legislation to date, while both the House and Senate Revenue Committee are exploring tax issues that have significant impact on the business community. Read moreThursday, March 2, 2017The 2017 Oregon legislature is picking up steam and starting to delve into issues of general concern to the business community. On the positive side, legislators received welcome news as economic forecasters delivered a positive revenue forecast that may lessen the need for additional revenues. But on the negative side, committees have started to schedule hearings on issues that will generally have a negative impact on business if passed. OSCC will keep members apprised as these issues and hearings start to populate committee schedules. Read moreMonday, March 6, 2017The 2017 Oregon legislature forged into familiar territory last week with orchestrated hearings on legislation that is opposed and hotly contested by the business community – predictive scheduling (SB 828), removal of non-economic damage limits in lawsuits (SB 487), and a slew of bills regulating carbon emissions. Read moreWednesday, March 15, 2017We’ll start with some great news this week … In a highly anticipated court decision, the Multnomah County Circuit Court ruled against the new BOLI interpretation of Oregon’s daily overtime statute for manufacturers in the Portland Specialty Baking case. Read moreMonday, March 20, 2017The 2017 legislative session is very slowly gaining focus and momentum. The big, defining political discussions of 2017 around the budget (how to solve the state’s $1.8 billion budget gap) and transportation (how to pass a comprehensive transportation funding package) are really just now starting to take shape. Read more