Measure on age discrimination, however, countering brief burst of good news
Oregon State Director Anthony Smith reports from the State Capitol on the small-business agenda for the legislative and political week ending February 10
Friday, February 10, was Day 25 of the 160-day 2023 Oregon Legislative Session and new bills continue to show up in the Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS).
This service is free for anyone to use (your tax dollars at work) whether they are legislators, lobbyists, or members of the public who want to keep tabs on what the Oregon Legislature is up to during session.
You can use OLIS to track bills, view committee agendas, watch floor sessions, and in many other ways for citizens to stay engaged in the legislative process.
You can also sign up to receive email alerts from any legislator, committee, or bill! It’s a very useful service, but beware – it can quickly fill your inbox if you subscribe to even a modest number of the available options.
Pro-Small Business Bills Receiving Early Attention
As of February 10, the number of pro-small business bills that have received a public hearing have far outnumbered the number of bad bills NFIB has opposed. This is not always the case during a typical legislative session, and it probably won’t last forever, but it’s a welcome change after many years of divisive partisanship in Salem.
On Thursday, February 9, NFIB testified on two important bills before the House Committee on Revenue. HB 2624 is one of 13 estate tax bills that NFIB is supporting this session, chief sponsored by Rep. Bobby Levy (R-Echo), Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena), and Rep. James Hieb (R-Canby). It doubles the current exemption threshold and indexes future increases to inflation. You’ll recall that this topic came up in the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue during the second week of the session, which I mentioned in a previous legislative update. You can read NFIB’s written testimony for HB 2624 here.
The other bill, HB 2433, would increase the amount of commercial activity exempt from the Corporate Activity Tax (CAT), and the threshold for filing a tax return, from $1 million to $5 million. This bill is chief sponsored by Rep. Virgle Osborne (R-Roseburg) and Rep. Boomer Wright (R-Coos Bay). Here are some excerpts from NFIB’s written testimony:
When the Legislature passed the CAT in 2019, an overwhelming 91% of NFIB members in Oregon opposed it. It’s no secret that small business owners have consistently and overwhelmingly expressed their frustration with the concept of a gross receipts tax, mostly because the very idea of taxing a business on its gross sales, whether it makes a profit or not, is objectionable to entrepreneurs who already bear the financial and legal risks of owning, operating, and trying to grow a small business.
The $1 million threshold was originally sold as a small business exemption, but due to the pyramiding effects of a gross receipts tax, even the smallest of small businesses have seen substantial increases in costs. This has only been made worse by labor shortages, supply chain issues, inflation, and an increase in the overall tax burden on Oregon businesses in recent years.
HB 2433 would set the new filing and exemption threshold to $5 million. This would exempt 72% of current CAT filers but accounts for only 6.5% of total CAT revenue. We didn’t have this data when the CAT was enacted. Now we do – and it’s time to make some reasonable changes to benefit small businesses.
Lawsuit Legislation
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news. HB 2800 received a public hearing on Monday, February 6, in the House Committee on Business and Labor. The bill seeks to address age discrimination in the workplace, and while the bill’s sponsors (too many to list here) may have the best of intentions, the legislation is fraught with problems that would undoubtedly result in a slew of new lawsuits against small businesses.
Age discrimination is already illegal under state and federal law, but HB 2800 would make it virtually impossible to hire or fire workers while taking into account seniority or previous work experience. The bill even directs the court to interpret anything that could be considered a proxy for age to be “liberally construed to carry out the purpose” of the legislation.
NFIB and our many partners in the business community testified in opposition to the bill, pointing out several common workplace scenarios where this legislation, if passed, would conflict with other laws, like Oregon Equal Pay Law. This short excerpt from NFIB’s testimony sums up the major challenge with bills like this:
For employers acting in good faith to follow both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, we can’t set them up for impossible decisions that result in breaking the law, no matter what decision they make.
In Case You Missed It – Open Invitation to Provide Public Comment
The House Committee on Economic Development and Small Business meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. and the committee chair, Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Clackamas), is allowing public comment at the end of each committee meeting. It’s an opportunity for small business owners to bring important issues forward for the committee’s consideration – and it should be noted that not only is Chair Bynum a small business owner herself, but almost every other member of the committee is a small business owner as well!
If you’re interested in testifying, check out the committee’s main page on OLIS, click on an upcoming meeting date, and check to see if the committee is taking public comment that day. If you have any questions about this process, please reach out to the NFIB office in Salem, (503) 364-4450 or shoot me an email at [email protected].
Previous Weekly Reports and Related Information
January 28—State Legislators Go to Work on 2,000 Bills, Another Thousand Possible
Photo snip courtesy of Oregon State Legislature website
