What's Happening (OSCC Political Observations)
We've passed the first major deadline of the 2019 legislative session.
Bills needed to have been scheduled for committee votes by the end of this past Friday in order to stay alive. By Tuesday, April 9th, all bills need to actually be voted out of their original committee in order to survive.
At this point, it looks like about half of all legislation is now dead.
Among the bills that were killed on the Friday deadline: Anti-insurance industry bills (SB 728 and HB 2421), anti-forestry legislation (HB 2656), legislation that limits the enforceability of employment contracts (HB 2489), pro-business legislation fixing manufacturing overtime restrictions (SB 110), and all the PERS reform bills (SB 532 and SB 533).
But for the most part, the majority of relevant legislative threats to business are still alive.
Activity on Major Issues
The emergence of a new health care tax proposal from Governor Brown this week (HB 2269) and the full-scale threat of a new paid family leave bill (HB 2005) mean that the 2019 Oregon legislature could easily be the most costly legislature in history for local businesses.
Here are the four major tax hikes being pushed by legislative leaders. As of now, all four proposals are serious and viable:
What is the total biennial cost to the all the tax increases that are now on the table? $5 billion.
Other Key Issues Coming up This Week.
Dear OSCC members and colleagues -
The next two-and-a-half weeks will be the toughest weeks of the session.
Looming deadlines mean that all 3,000 of the bills currently introduced will be in play as advocates rush to meet deadlines that mean life or death for their legislation.
Bills need to be posted for committee votes by the end of Friday, March 29th in order to receive further consideration. By Tuesday, April 9th, all bills need to be voted out of their original committee in order to survive.
This means there will be a litany of surprise hearings and committee votes on relevant bills all over the capitol that will be largely impossible to track and influence in real time, but we're going to give it our best effort!
HB 3031
· Applies to employers with 1+ employees
· Mandates 32 weeks of paid and protected family and medical leave each year
· Creates state-run family insurance program administered by DCBS
· Establishes new payroll tax of up to 1% to pay for the family-leave insurance:
SB 947
· Expands OFLA eligibility to 1+ employees
· Mandates 24 weeks of paid and protected family leave AND an additional 24 weeks of protected family and medical leave for some types of leave each year - total leave could be 48 weeks!
· Requires employer to pay 100% of employee wages while employee is on paid leave
OSCC will argue that Oregon's small businesses are still scrambling to comply with the state's minimum wage increases, paid sick leave law and the new equal pay law. Now is NOT the time pass 'Cadillac' family and medical leave proposals that would further burden local businesses.
Proponents for these bills are planning to turn out hundreds of people on Monday evening. We need your help to show that Oregon employers have had enough and can't bear the costs of these workplace mandates! Please plan on attending Monday's hearing AND sending a letter to legislators about your opposition to HB 3031 and SB 947.
Email your legislators AND send personalized comments to the committees using the suggested talking points below. Check out the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce Advocacy Book for help with writing your testimony.
Chair Jeff Barker, House Business & Labor Committee: hbl.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov
Chair Kathleen Taylor, Senate Workforce Committee: swf.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov
Other Key Issues Coming up This Week
ACTION ALERT
What do the bills do?
HB 3031(requires 3/5 vote)
· Establishes new payroll tax of up to 1%:
o0.5% paid by employers
o0.5% paid by employees
oCreates state run family insurance program
oDoesn't allow employers to provide substantially similar plans/ currently existing plans
HB 3140/SB 947(don't require 3/5 vote)
· Expands family member definition
· Mandates 24 weeks of paid and protected leave AND an additional 24 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave each year
· Requires 100% of employee wages to be paid 100% by employers while employee is on leave
When: Monday, March 25th at 6:00 PM Where: The Oregon Capitol (900 Court St NE, Salem, OR 97301) Who: Public and private employers with 1+ employees
On Monday, March 25th, the House Business & Labor Committee and Senate Workforce Committee plan to host a joint public hearing on a paid family & medical leave bill that would SIGNIFICANTLY alter Oregon’s business climate. As national competitiveness rankings have shown, doing business in Oregon is often costlier and more difficult than running the same business in other states. With every workplace mandate the Legislature has passed, the competitive distance between Oregon and other states has increased. We understand the intent of this bill. However, the proposals establish impractical requirements on businesses, large and small, and will cost Oregonians billions! HB 3031
Oregon’s small businesses are still scrambling to comply with the state’s minimum wage increases, paid sick leave law and the new equal pay law. Now is NOT the time pass cadillac family and medical leave proposals that would further burden local businesses. Proponents for this bill are planning to turn out hundreds of people on March 25th. We need your help to show that Oregon employers have had enough and can’t bear the costs of these workplace mandates! Please plan on attending Monday’s hearing AND sending a letter to policymakers about your opposition to HB 3031.
What a week!
First off, Senate President Peter Courtney takes a 10-day 'medical leave' to deal with the stress of the session and its impact on his Grave's Disease. There is wide speculation that he may not return. We aren't able to separate fact from fiction at this point, so our assumption is that he will return. If he does not return, the trajectory of the session and the Democrats' ability to pass major progressive legislative priorities is certainly imperiled.
The second major event of the week was the release of the Ways & Means Co-Chairs' 2019-21 budget blueprint. The budget proposal only left K-12 and Medicaid harmless. All other state programs, including early education, higher education, and CTE were cut short of 'current service levels.' The hue and cry that ensued, primarily from the government employee unions and higher education advocates, added more fuel and momentum for additional business taxes.
Finally, we have grown increasingly concerned that SAIF Corporation will indeed be targeted for a raid of its workers' compensation claims reserves to buy down PERS rates for K-12. We have reached this conclusion as it has become clear that any increase in business taxes will be absorbed almost totally by increased PERS costs within two short years. This would make it much less likely that business and/or voters would approve of any additional taxes.
We are getting the distinct impression that Democratic leadership will try and force a choice to buy down PERS rates: either suspend the $748 million personal 'kicker' and divert it to paying down PERS rates for K-12 schools or face the prospect of taking a similar amount out of SAIF's reserves.
ACTION ALERTS
East Portland Chamber of Commerce
March Government and Economic Committee Meeting
Location: Adventist Medical Center –
10123 SE Market St, Portland OR 97216;
Main Hospital Building Lower Level, Conference Room
Date and Time: March 13, 2019 @ 7:30 am
Whatever your city and state representatives do at City Hall or in Salem, it affects business. The more you know, the better you can plan, prepare and influence. Today's speakers will share information that will enable you to do just that!
J.L. Wilson is the principal of Public Affairs Counsel, a Salem-based public affairs firm and a leading provider of government affairs, campaign, association management and survey research services for 37 years. Prior to joining Public Affairs Counsel in 2014, Wilson had a 15-year history in association management as past Executive Director of NFIB/Oregon and past Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at Associated Oregon Industries. Wilson has also been a full-time lobbyist representing business interests since 2000. Before starting his career as an association manager and lobbyist, he served as Legislative Director for two Speakers of the Oregon House.
Ashley Henry, Executive Director for Business for a Better Portland will be speaking. Ashley leads the organization’s efforts to engage Portland’s business leaders in the civic processes that shape the direction of the city. She is passionate about ensuring that our community’s business leaders are connected with strategic opportunities to bring greater shared prosperity to all Portlanders. Just five months after launching BBPDX, the organization was recognized by the Portland Business Journal as one of the region’s Top 25 Chambers of Commerce. Ashley was also personally named as “One of 18 To Watch in 2018” by the Portland Business Journal. April 10 - Dr. Lisa Skari, MHCC & Dr. Jessica Howard, PCC
2019 Legislative Report - Week 6
The legislature continues to be a very tumultuous and uncertain place. The Senate is currently mired in a leadership struggle as a handful of progressive Democrats and some Republicans are looking to topple Senate President Peter Courtney. This leadership struggle is taking up precious bandwidth in the Senate and is bogging down the process as Senators are more focused on the leadership issues than anything else.
The death of Secretary of State Dennis Richardson this past week also cast a pall over the session, both emotionally and from a process standpoint. The Governor has the lawful ability to appoint a successor to the late Secretary Richardson, and has stated her intention to find a 'placeholder' who will promise not to run for election in 2020.
This upcoming week is going to represent a major milestone in the 2019 session as the 'Co-Chairs Budget' will be released. This is the legislative response to the Governor's budget that shows how state budget writers would craft the state budget with available resources. It is the first key budget blueprint that shows how the state's money would be allocated without any additional tax increases. The 'Co-Chairs Budget' provides the budgetary foundation for all additional tax and revenue discussions. Usually, it will spawn advocacy for additional taxes and budget investments.
2019 Legislative Report - Week 3
We have now completed three weeks of the 2019 legislative session. The upcoming week appears to be an abbreviated week with several committees being cancelled or otherwise not scheduled to meet this week.
Two major bills are moving quickly - rent control (SB 608) and the first Medicaid funding bill (HB 2010).
One other major bill is now in full swing - cap and trade (HB 2020).
Additionally, the legislative conversations are now underway on a major business tax to fund K-12 education. This discussion is happening every Tuesday and Thursday evening in the Joint Student Success Committee (Revenue Subcommittee). To date, the committee is looking at other state taxing models that utilize gross receipts - Washington, Nevada, Ohio, and others. At this point, it looks most likely that the committee will recommend a gross receipts-based tax and not additional increases to the state's corporate income tax.
We are expecting to see early activity this week on a handful of key policy and budget items that Democratic legislative leaders have identified as key priorities, including:
In 2010, The Oregon Supreme Court ruled in the case of Emerald Steel Fabricators, Inc., v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, and found that the use of medical marijuana, though authorized by state law, was an "illegal use of drugs" under federal law, which preempts state law in these circumstances. The Court held that employers can lawfully take adverse employment actions against employees based on their use of federally-illegal drugs. It upheld an employer's right to implement 'zero tolerance' drugfree workplace policies. In 2014, employer rights were again upheld by Oregon voters who voted in support of Measure 91, which specifically precluded "amend[ing] or affect[ing] in any way any state or federal law pertaining to employment matters" (Section 4. Article 1).
Maintaining a drug-free workplace ensures the safety and well-being of employees, the public, and the customers they serve. Furthermore, employers with federal contracts are required to maintain drug-free workplaces as a matter of federal law. The Drug-Free Workplace Act requires employers who receive grants or contracts from the federal government (construction companies, hospitals and long-term care facilities, among others) to ensure that their workplaces are drug-free. Drug testing will not reveal whether an employee with marijuana in his or her system used it during working hours or during “non-working hours” (a term in SB 379 that might be interpreted to include meal breaks), much less whether the marijuana was used on the employer’s premises or not. This would make it impossible for an employer to comply with the federal requirements.
The exception in SB 379 for off-duty marijuana use that impairs employees’ performance on the job cannot be implemented, because currently, there is no recognized test for whether an employee is “impaired” by the use of marijuana (off duty or not). Current testing protocols can do no more than confirm whether an employee has marijuana in their system, not whether it results in impairment or being “under the influence.” Without a drug test that measures impairment, an employer's efforts to maintain a safe work environment are compromised.
Both the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Oregon disability law require an employer to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability and the treatment of a disability with medication, including situations in which off-duty use of medication affects the employee’s performance at work. A well-developed body of federal and state case law tells an employer whether an accommodation is or is not “reasonable.” SB 379, on the other hand, imposes no such limitation: an employer may not limit employees’ off-duty use of any lawful substances except to the extent it causes an impairment at work or relates to a bona fide occupational qualification.
We are expecting to see additional early activity on a handful of key policy and budget items that Democratic legislative leaders have identified as key priorities, including:
- Transportation fuels are considered "covered emissions," meaning there will be fuel cost increases;
- Residential, commercial, and industrial natural gas rates will increase under the bill and ratepayer assistance options are limited; and
- Legislative counsel has determined that cap-and-trade is not a tax and is, therefore, exempt from Constitutional requirements for a 3/5th supermajority vote.
Key Issues Coming up This Week
In his annual Portland land use report, Peter Frye will cover the following topics:
This meeting will be at 7:30a in the Columbia and Willamette Rooms in the Pavilion Building, 10000 SE Main (not at our typical location).
March 13 - Oregon State Chamber of Commerce update on Legislative action
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