Legislative report - 2017

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OREGON

Oregon 2017 Legislative Profile

Governor: Kate Brown (D-Portland)
Legislative Majorities:

Senate 18-12: Democrat Majority
House 35-25: Democrat Majority

ORegon 2017 legislative highlights

The Oregon legislature convened for a regular session on February 6, 2017 and adjourned on July 07, 2017—just 3 days before the 160-day Constitutional deadline of July 10th.

In Oregon, we were able to stop a gross receipts tax on all Oregon sales over $3 million at the proposed rate of .35% for retail trade and .48% for all manufacturing sales. Estimated to raise upwards of $1.3M by 2023, this tax was a scaled back version of BM 97 defeated in November by voters. NWGA was also a key negotiator on all the major labor and employment laws debated this session. Wins included securing a key fix to the overtime laws allowing our manufacturer members to calculate overtime on a daily and weekly basis and pay the greater of the two (not both!) and a predictable scheduling law that included preemption, a voluntary standby list and cut out much of the regulatory burdens we’ve seen in Seattle and San Francisco laws. In addition, NWGA worked with our beer and soda colleagues to pass a Bottle Bill transition, allowing manufacturers to change their labels as soon as practicable, not immediately, and allows retailers to collect the dime refund regardless of the label on the product – easing confusion at the counter.