State Director Anthony Smith reports from Salem on the small-business agenda

May 30 was Day 130 of the 160-day 2025 Oregon Legislative Session and we’re finally entering the home stretch. With just 30 days remaining until the Legislature must adjourn, the presiding officers in the House and Senate have already “declared sine die imminent.”

And while some Capitol observers might think this announcement signals we’re just days away from an early adjournment, what it actually means is that legislators have even more power to schedule committee meetings and act on legislation with just one hour notice in most circumstances.

Now is the time during session where we must be more vigilant than ever because anything could pop up at any time between now and June 29.

Here’s what’s been happening in the Oregon Capitol – and what’s coming up.

UPDATE: Construction Contractor and Property Owner Liability
Unfortunately, SB 426, the bill that will make general construction contractors and property owners liable for the unpaid wages of their subcontractors, is heading to the desk of Gov. Tina Kotek.

We are currently working with our coalition partners on a letter requesting the governor veto the bill – and we’ll be sure to let you know the outcome of that effort.

Since our last update on this legislative measure, the bill was voted out of the House Committee on Labor and Workplace Standards on a party line vote. It was up for a full vote of the Oregon House May 28. After more than two and a half hours of debate and procedural votes, the final vote was 31-26, with two members excused (and one seat vacant due to Sen. Courtney Neron Misslin’s recent appointment to the Oregon Senate.)

The vote was bipartisan – both for and against the bill. Rep. Greg Smith was the lone Republican joining 30 Democrats to pass the bill. Four Democrats voted with 22 Republicans against it, including Rep. Shannon Isadore, Rep. John Lively, Rep. Daniel Nguyễn,​ and Rep. Mari Watanabe.

NFIB opposed the bill at every stage of the legislative process and will most certainly include it on NFIB’s next official Voting Record for Oregon. A special thank you is in order to Rep. Darcey Edwards for sharing NFIB members’ many concerns with the bill as a floor letter to her colleagues on the day of the final vote in the House.

Is the Legislature Really Considering Cap & Trade Again?
As reported in one of our previous legislative updates, legislators are currently looking to pass a major transportation funding package this year. And while there is broad agreement from a diverse community of stakeholders that the state needs to do a better job upgrading, maintaining, and managing its transportation infrastructure, how to pay for it is a hotly contested subject. The co-chairs to the newly formed Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment have laid out their outline in a memo that relies heavily on new taxes and fees to “invest in rail, transit, pedestrian safety” and “reduce the reliance on fuels taxes to fund state and local transportation systems in the medium and long term.”

Republican Caucus Leaders Rep. Christine Drazan and Sen. Daniel Bonham have proposed a plan that refocuses priorities on “core and constitutional purposes like roads, bridges, and public safety – and away from “transportation services Oregonians don’t use,” like “funding empty buses and poorly traveled bike lanes while cars are jammed in traffic.”

In that memo from the co-chairs, they also mention a new (to this conversation) potential strategy for funding transportation: “Exercising appropriate legislative authority to replace the current Climate Protection Program with a market-based emissions reduction program, linking to other West Coast markets and generating ongoing revenue,” i.e. Cap & Trade.

Except for a few Republicans rumored to be involved in the ongoing negotiations, GOP lawmakers are almost as critical of this idea as the environmental groups that have started calling the proposal “Cap & Pave”.

With so many outspoken opponents, it would be a wonder if the group(s) pushing this iteration of Cap & Trade will ever out themselves. For more information, check out these stories from Oregon Public Broadcasting and Oregon Capital Chronicle.

Up Next: House Floor Fight on SB 916 – UI for Striking Workers
SB 426 (mentioned above) turned out to be quite the fight on the floor of the Oregon House of Representatives. After 2.5 hours of debate, four Democrats voting with Republicans and one Republican voting with Democrats, the bill passed by just one vote.

SB 916, which would allow workers to receive unemployment benefits while on strike, is shaping up to be an even bigger fight. The bill is truly a disaster for private businesses both large and small, and with union and non-union workforces. Everyone stands to lose if the bill becomes law – higher experience ratings for businesses that are directly impacted by strikes and higher tax rates for everyone if strikes end up occurring more frequently, prompting unanticipated draw downs on the UI Trust Fund.

But as much as the private sector dislikes this bill, public sector employers might have even more to lose. They don’t pay into the system like private sector employers do via payroll taxes. When they have employees access UI benefits, they have to pay back the UI Trust Fund dollar for dollar. Cities, counties, and school districts are sounding the alarm big-time on this bill because they simply can’t afford it. The strikes themselves would be financially challenging, but the unions also would have a new tool to leverage even more concessions during contract negotiations, which would end up costing public employers dearly. And who funds local government? That’s right – you do.

A final vote in the House is scheduled for Tuesday, June 3. Will enough moderate Democrats who are concerned about the negative impact on small businesses and school districts stand together to oppose this bill on the floor? Will any Republicans vote with the unions? Does the Minority Report, an alternative proposal that would align this policy with Washington State’s new UI for Striking Workers Law, have a chance at passing? (This would be extraordinarily unusual, but I’ve seen it happen at least once in the last 10 years!) Will the bill fail on the floor and die forever, get sent back to committee for further amendments, or will it pass and go back to the senate for concurrence?

The stakes are high. Stay tuned.

Prior Legislative Reports 

— May 10: May 23 Deadline Approaches for Bills to Live or Die 

— April 25: Legislators’ Eyes on May 14 Revenue Forecast

— April 12: Oregon Legislature Reaches Mid-Point of 2025 Session

— March 21: Bills Look to Incentivize Litigation, End At-Will Employment

— March 8: NFIB Testifies for Bill Correcting UI Tax Trap

— February 14: Bad Age-Discrimination Bill Resurfaces. Flurry of Activity on Estate Tax

— February 1: Oregon Legislators Begin Work on 2,500 Bills