By Eric Fruits, Ph.D. Cascade Policy Institute “It’s time to get this done!” Governor Kate Brown told the crowd at this year’s Oregon Leadership Summit, referring to a replacement for the Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River. The statement ended with an exclamation point, but it should have ended […]

US Chamber of Commerce, The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 (PRO Act, H.R. 2474). The legislation, which claims to be pro-worker, would, in fact, force employees to pay union dues regardless of whether they support a union, lose the right to […]

By Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s workforce is aging. The number of Oregon jobs held by workers age 55 and over more than tripled from 1992 to 2018, while the total number of jobs grew by just over 50 percent. Workers 55 years and over held just 10 percent of the […]

By Rachel Dawson Cascade Policy Institute Oregon state officials recently celebrated helping the state reach 25,000 registered electric vehicles (EVs) through local incentives and the Clean Vehicle Rebate Program. This celebration, however, is a punch in the gut to the state’s low-income and rural residents whose taxes fund the rebates […]

Oregon Attorney General, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum joined a group of 21 Attorneys General in a lawsuit filed challenging the Trump administration’s latest rule allowing 3D-printed gun files to be released on the internet. The rule would effectively enable anyone to access 3D-print files online and make unregistered, untraceable firearms. […]

By Oregon Small Business Association With the legalization of recreational marijuana five years ago, Oregon has seen medical dispensaries of the drug dwindle to only three. According to the Portland Business Journal, the state was once home to 425 licensed medical dispensaries. Most switched to selling recreational marijuana by the […]

By NFIB, Small businesses started 2020 on a strong note, adding an average employment change per firm of 0.49 workers, the highest level since March 2019, according to NFIB’s monthly jobs report. The small business labor market overall is starting on a good note, with strong hiring and higher employee […]

National Labor Relations Board Decision:Employers Can Restrict Use of Employer Email Systems Barran Liebman Oregon law firm In Caesars Entertainment, the NLRB restored employers’ rights to restrict employee use of the employer’s email system so long as it does so on a nondiscriminatory basis, and returned to the standard announced […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, Oregon businesses that accept only credit or debit cards for payment may be required to take cash under a bill proposed by Rep. Janell Bynum, D-Clackamas. She said refusing to accept cash discriminates against people of color who are five times less likely than whites […]

By Oregon Employment Department, Over the last decade, the wage disparity by race and ethnicity in Oregon has remained consistent. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD), Asian and non-Hispanic white workers have the highest wages. In 2018, wages for black, American Indian, mixed-race, and Hispanic or […]