By Jason W. Douthit Bullard Law In 2016, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 1532, which requires annual minimum wage increases. The next scheduled minimum wage increases take effect July 1, 2020. It is anticipated that the minimum wage increases will take place as scheduled without any relief due to […]

By NFIB, The Small Business Optimism Index increased 3.5 points in May to 94.4, a strong improvement from April’s 90.9 reading. Eight of the 10 Index components improved in May and two declined. The NFIB Uncertainty Index increased seven points to 82. Reports of expected business conditions in the next […]

Take Notice: Updates to the Terms of the Paycheck Protection Program By Gabrielle Hansen Barran Liebman Oregon law firm Good news for the businesses focused on using their Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds in such a way so as to obtain maximum PPP loan forgiveness. Today, President Trump signed the […]

Oregon NFIB, From Anthony Smith, Oregon state director for NFIB, which released the latest findings of its Small Business Economic Trends report. The SBET, also called the Optimism Index, is the nation’s leading measurement of the small-business economy. “It’s great to see the Optimism Index moving in the right direction […]

COVID-19 Leads to Oregon’s Record Job Losses in April By Oregon Employment Department, Public health measures implemented in March to combat the rapid spread of COVID-19 are having an unprecedented economic impact on Oregon and the United States. April provides the first full month of data measuring the initial impact […]

By Eric Fruits Cascade Policy Institute, Government is pretty bad at running government, but it’s even worse at running business. In Oregon, government runs a lot of business. The state’s a liquor wholesaler. Metro runs a zoo, a convention center, solid waste processing, and is the landlord for arts organizations. […]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Small Business Policy released the following statement in response to the Senate’s passage of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act: “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce applauds this evening’s Senate passage of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act that will […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis The economy faces years of high unemployment which directly translates into reduced revenues for public services. While the baseline forecast is our outlook for the most likely path of the Oregon economy, many other scenarios are possible. Given the uncertainty about the […]

By Steve Elzinga From Sherman Sherman Johnnie and Hoyt May 6, 2020 Update: One day after this blog post, the Oregonian published an article that appeared to be based partly on this post. The Department of Revenue has now decided that forgiven PPP loans will not be subject to the commercial activity tax. […]

By US Senator Ron Wyden, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said he has introduced a bipartisan bill that would protect recovery payments provided in the recent CARES Act pandemic response legislation from garnishment by private debt collectors. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis. Relief was intended for struggling families, not predatory […]