NFIB Outlines its Legislative Agenda for Remainder of Session

April 17, 2023

NFIB Outlines its Legislative Agenda for Remainder of Session

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Anthony Smith, NFIB Oregon State Director, anthony.smith@nfib.org or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, anthony.malandra@nfib.org SALEM, Ore., April 17, 2023—A week into the second half of the Oregon State Legislature’s 2023 session, and on the eve of its annual Small Business Day at the Capitol, the state’s leading small-business association announced 13 bills it will be fighting to advance and working to defeat. “Leading our list of priorities are support for four measures reforming our estate tax (SB 68, SB 498, SB 939, HB 2624) and for two proposals (SB 127 and HB 2433) reforming the state’s Corporate Activity Tax (CAT),” said Anthony Smith, Oregon state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small-business association. “In today’s economy, it doesn’t take long for a middle-class estate to exceed $1 million in value. We need to update Oregon’s estate tax law – or better yet, get rid of it altogether,” said Smith. Likewise, according to him, a rise in the CAT exemption to $5 million from $1 million would also benefit smaller enterprises. “In 2020, nearly 15,000 taxpayers had CAT returns with less than $5 million in Oregon commercial activity. This accounted for just 6.5% of the $1 billion in CAT dollars collected by the state that year.” NFIB will also be on the defensive trying to derail or amend legislative proposals that threaten its members’ ability to own, operate, and grow their small businesses. Of immediate priority are:

SB 592A significantly increasing OSHA penalties

HB 2057A making general contractors liable for the illegal employment practices of their subcontractors

HB 3471A banning no-rehire agreements in workers’ compensation settlements

HB 3242A and HB 3243A incentivizing insurance lawsuits and raising insurance rates

SB 704A and SB 1089 instituting a state-run, single-payer health-care system requiring more than $21 billion per year in new taxes.

Keep up with the latest Oregon small-business news at www.nfib.com/oregon and follow us on Twitter at @NFIB_OR ### For 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com. National Federation of Independent Business/Oregon 1149 Court Street NE Salem, OR 97301 503-364-4450 www.nfib.com/oregon Twitter: NFIB_OR