OSCC 2016 Legislative Priorities – February

OSCC Announces 2016 Legislative Priorities

The Oregon State Chamber of Commerce (OSCC) today announced it’s 2016 legislative priorities and a list of bills it will support and oppose in the 2016 Legislative Session that began this week. OSCC represents 70 local Chambers of Commerce from across Oregon. Here are the 2016 legislative priorities that the OSCC and other chamber’s support.

Said Alison Hart, Executive Director: “Our 2016 OSCC Legislative Agenda is a pro-active and defensive blueprint to promote business, job and income growth in our local communities. A healthy business climate is the key to building up prosperous local communities. Specifically, we want the legislature to pass legislation to address Oregon’s well-documented transportation need and ease compliance concerns with the mandate paid sick leave law passed in 2015. We’d also urge the Legislature to reject bills that will impose additional costs – mandates that increase the cost of energy, minimum wage increases, for example – on Oregon’s small businesses.”

OSCC supports:
1. HB 4012 appropriates lottery bond dollars for water storage infrastructure.
2. HB 4055 addresses Oregon’s transportation infrastructure needs.
3. HB 4077 reforms liability for ski areas.
4. HB 4078 creates a new Transit Expansion Fund to fund growing local transit needs.
5. HB 4084 allows for local tax incentive programs for brownfield cleanup.
6. SB 1565 allows local government to grant tax exemptions for up to $1mm in new industrial equipment.
7. SB 1581 makes paid sick leave compliance more reasonable for local business

OSCC opposes:
1. SB 1532 / SB 1592 / HB 4054 increases the state’s minimum wage to a level that small business can’t
afford.
2. SB 1532 / SB 1592 / HB 4054 allows local government to pass higher minimum wage rates.
3. SB 1574 / HB 4068 imposes a new ‘Cap and Trade’ tax system for utilities and local manufacturers.
4. SB 1587 imposes new pay records requirements, private right of action, and new BOLI powers.
5. HB 4136 increases insurance costs for critical health care providers.
“The Legislature can be a help or a hindrance to Oregon’s small businesses and the communities that depend
on them,” Hart said. We’ll be looking to see what role our legislators embrace over the next 35 days, and be
ready to hold them accountable at election time.

See “Senate Democrats propose three-region wage solution.” Please note, the Chamber does NOT endorse this minimum wage increase.

Media inquiries should be directed to J.L. Wilson, 503-363-7084.