By US Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas J. Donohue issued the following statement after House Democrats unveiled their infrastructure plan for 2020. “Our nation’s infrastructure is deteriorating and only getting worse. By 2025, our crumbling infrastructure will cost American businesses $7 trillion. Today’s announcement from Speaker […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, (Photo: Flickr, Magnus Masnke) Union leaders who want to limit the number of self-checkout stands in Oregon stores to no more than two can soon begin gathering signatures to put the question on the ballot in November. The Oregon AFL-CIO must collect 112,020 signatures on […]

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, Nancy Pelosi famously proclaimed that Democrats had to pass ObamaCare to find out what was in it. On the other hand, Democrats in California last year passed legislation outlawing many freelance and independent contracting jobs knowing the disruption it would cause—and voters are now discovering […]

By Eric Fruits As featured in the Oregon Transformation Newsletter, Oregon’s Corporate Activities Tax went into effect New Year’s Day. Nine times, Oregon voters have rejected a state sales tax. But this year we ended up with something much worse than a sales tax, and voters had no voice in […]

National Retail Federation, The National Retail Federation welcomed the signing of a “phase one” trade agreement between the United States and China but said work remains to be done to end the trade war between the two countries. “NRF strongly supports the administration’s efforts to address China’s unfair trading practices […]

By Oregon Employment Department, Entering its eleventh year, the U.S. economic expansion is now the longest in recorded history. Growth slowed in 2019, and the burning question is why? Economic weakness – foretelling a recession – or simply what one might expect in such a mature expansion? The answer likely […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, Salt & Straw is rocking its portfolio with reports that famed wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson and his business partner have invested in the Portland-based ice cream chain. The Oregonian reported that Johnson, aka the Rock, and Dany Garcia acquired part ownership of the company […]

US Senator Ron Wyden, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and U.S. Rep. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., demanded the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigate Envestnet for possibly violating the law by recklessly selling Americans’ personal data. Envestnet operates Yodlee, the largest consumer financial data aggregator in […]

By Sarah Hale & Heather Fossity Barran Leibman LLP Oregon law firm On December 11, 2019, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) announced significant changes to the eligibility for employees to be classified as exempt under the white collar exemptions, as well as exemptions for outside salespeople […]

By NFIB, NFIB issued the following statement from Karen Harned, Executive Director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center in response to the United States Department of Labor’s final rule that simplifies and updates its regulations that determine joint-employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act: “Small and independent businesses […]