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April 30, 2025 - $2M returned to consumers already in 2025

Oregon Division of Financial regulation consumer advocates return over $2 million to Oregonians in first quarter of 2025 By Oregon Division of Financial Regulation Press Release, Salem – In the first quarter of 2025, the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) recovered over $2 million through the work of its […]


April 29, 2025 - Legislative Committee Warned about Economic Conditions

By Oregon Business and Industry April 23, 2025 Sobering Hearing: During an April 22 informational hearing held by the Senate Committee on Labor and Business, multiple economists shared information about the struggling economy in the Portland metro area. The information echoed several of the findings in OBI’s 2024 report on […]


April 28, 2025 - Failed Kroger merger cost $1 billion

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation, A failed attempt to create the nation’s largest conglomerate of supermarkets failed in December amid antitrust allegations by state and federal officials, but the effort to merge with Albertson’s cost Kroger Co. more than $1 billion, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.   Cincinnati-based […]


April 22, 2025 - Mid-Session business update

By Oregon Business & Industry During an April 15 webinar, the OBI policy and political affairs team discussed the 2025 legislative session, which had reached its halfway point. The webinar covered some of the session’s highest profile legislation, OBI’s Oregon Competitiveness Agenda and what Oregon business could expect during the […]


April 22, 2025 - 3 Oregonians make Forbes billion list

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation, Forbes’ list of billionaires includes three Oregonians who built their businesses but juggled places on the 2025 list.   Oregon’s richest man, Phil Knight, cofounder and retired chief executive officer of Nike, and his family ranked 49th on the list with a net worth […]


April 21, 2025 - New minimum wage rates announced

By Abby Fitts Barran Liebman Law, LLP, On April 11, 2025, Oregon’s Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson announced Oregon’s new minimum wage rates based on a 2.4% Consumer Price Index increase from March 2024 through March 2025. The annual automatic increases to Oregon’s minimum wage are effective each July 1 and […]


April 17, 2025 - Tobacco flavor ban comes at a huge cost

By Vera Pool National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, representing Oregon and Washington As a law enforcement veteran serving our Oregon for fifty-four years and a representative for the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, I have seen firsthand how well-intentioned policies can backfire. The push to ban […]


April 16, 2025 - Oregon AG joins Social Security lawsuit against Trump

By Oregon Attorney General, Press Release, Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a coalition of 20 other states filed an amicus brief supporting an injunction to block erratic and unlawful layoffs and mismanagement at the Social Security Administration by acting administrator Leland Dudek and the Department of Government Efficiency that jeopardize […]


April 15, 2025 - Beverage Tax Would Make Oregon Less Affordable

By Oregon Business & Industry What happened: On April 1, the House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment conducted a public hearing on HB 3940, which would assess a 5-cent surcharge (in effect, a tax) on each beverage container sold in Oregon. The revenue would be used for wildfire mitigation […]


April 14, 2025 - Temporary Injunction Issued Against Oregon Project Labor Agreement Requirement

4/9/25 Temporary Injunction Issued Against Oregon Project Labor Agreement Requirement April 9, 2025 By Nicole Elgin and Lex Shvartsmann Barran Liebman LLP Law On March 24, 2025, Marion County Circuit Court Judge Thomas M. Hart issued a temporary injunction against Governor Tina Kotek’s 2024 Executive Order requiring Project Labor Agreements […]