Oregon Chamber Report – June 1
What we see coming up (June 1 – June 5):
- Mandatory Paid Sick Leave (SB 454-A) is moving out of the Ways & Means Committee this week. The Senate Democrats came to an internal agreement that will guarantee 16 votes to pass the bill out of the Senate.
Please see the other news post for new provisions of the bill. Primarily, the bill will now apply to all employers with 10 or more employees. (See post here)
As per our previous discussions, it appears the die is cast in the Senate. Chamber feedback and grassroots support, therefore, needs to be directed to the House of Representatives.
- OSCC is also anticipating that the Mandatory State-Run Retirement Savings bill (HB 2960-A) will also be approved by the full Ways & Means Committee this week and sent to the full House for a floor vote.
We still believe there is an opportunity to pass amendments that would make the bill more palatable to local businesses by ensuring that the state does proper due diligence, including getting a federal Department of Labor opinion on whether the new retirement plan will subject Oregon employers to ERISA requirements, before launching the plan.
We got a very favorable editorial in The Oregonian this weekend regarding the OSCC position. You can read it here:
OSCC will issue an Action Alert to the membership on HB 2960-A as soon as we have a better sense of whether the legislature will adopt our amendments or not.
- House Bill 2075, the bill that would increase the jet fuel tax and use the proceeds to address infrastructure and deferred maintenance needs at rural airports, passed out of the House Revenue Committee unanimously and will now go to the Ways & Means Committee, where it will be assigned to Senator Betsy Johnson’s Transportation & Economic Development Subcommittee. Senator Johnson is a major proponent of the bill.
- House Bill 3025, the “ban the box” bill that would prohibit employers from asking about the criminal history of job applicants on the job application form, is expected to be pared back even further this week in the Senate Workforce Committee.
OSCC and others were asking for a statewide preemption on the bill to disallow local governments from passing more stringent requirements. Although it appears we will not be successful in gaining this preemption, it does look like we will be successful in eliminating the private right of action that would allow job applicants to sue an employer for alleged violations of the bill.
- House Bill 3034, the bill that would remove the property tax exemption for local hospitals, appears to be stalled in the House Revenue Committee. OSCC issued an Action Alert for this issue last week.
- House Bill 2077, the bill that requires corporate tax disclosure for certain C corporations, keeps rearing its head in the House Revenue Committee. The bill is scheduled for a work session in House Revenue Committee on Tuesday, although there is a strong likelihood that the legislation does not have enough votes to pass out of committee.
