Oregon tax collections continue to surge, with Oregonians paying $1.2 billion more in income taxes this spring than last year. The increasing state revenues aren’t due to higher taxes. Instead, according to Oregon’s quarterly economic forecast, many people cashed in assets in late 2021, causing a short-term income boost. Most of[Read More…]
Salem
ODOT begins study process after passage of Highway 6 bill
With the ink barely dry on Governor Kate Brown’s signature on a bill requiring the Oregon Department of Transportation to study Highway 6 and make repair recommendations to the legislature no later than September 15, 2023, ODOT is already at work on their newly mandated task. “ODOT has issued a[Read More…]
Oregon’s short legislative session comes to a close
The Oregon Legislature’s 2022 short session came and went (did you blink?) and in this era of rapid inflation and soaring costs for food and gasoline lawmakers passed $2.7 billion in new spending with the lion’s share allocated to child care, education, homelessness, housing, job training, and mental health. The[Read More…]
Oregon Legislature passes bill mandating overtime pay for farmworkers
Oregon is headed towards becoming the eighth state to mandate overtime pay for farmworkers. The pay bill passed its final legislative hurdle on Thursday and heads to Gov. Kate Brown, who appears ready to sign the new requirement into law. That means an estimated 86,000 farmworkers next year will get[Read More…]
Proposal to pay farmworkers overtime overcomes first hurdle in Legislature
A controversial plan to require overtime pay that would affect the 86,000 farmworkers in Oregon advanced on Tuesday along partisan lines. All seven Democrats on the House Committee on Business and Labor voted for House Bill 4002, which would require owners to pay farmworkers time and a half for hours over[Read More…]
Will change come to deadly Highway 6?
Is change on the way for Oregon’s deadly Highway 6? One community leader pushing to raise awareness of the traffic fatalities on the rural highway stretching from Banks through Gales Creek to Tillamook says that a local elected official is finally pushing for change. Jesse Borough, founder of public awareness[Read More…]
Farmworkers plead for overtime pay as ag industry warns of harmful impacts
Emotional and passionate testimony stretched into the night Tuesday during a legislative hearing on a proposal to require overtime pay for Oregon’s farmworkers. Legislation put forward by two Democratic lawmakers would pay farmworkers time and a half after working 40 hours a week and would include tax credits for companies[Read More…]
Week one: Western Washington County’s legislators busy in first week of short session
Rep. Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis), Oregon’s first new Speaker of the House since 2013, told OPB the 2022 legislative short session that began on February. 1 is “the most important short session” of the state’s history, and with inflation, Covid-19, and homelessness on the minds of many Oregonians lawmakers have a[Read More…]
Oregon economic forecast: More money for lawmakers to spend, tax credits likely in two years
Higher wages for workers and more income for businesses is driving up state tax collections, creating the prospect for even more state government spending and then credits in two years for those paying income taxes, state economists announced Wednesday. The economists described a robust Oregon economy that they now project[Read More…]
How should Oregon spend $400 million on roads and transit? State officials want your input
The Oregon Transportation Commission wants Oregonians’ thoughts on how best to spend more than $400 million, available as part of the recent federal infrastructure law. Oregon will receive more than $3.4 billion for roads over the next five years, with $1.2 billion going directly to the state Transportation Department and[Read More…]
