Speaker Paul Ryan aims to make 2017 Tax Cuts permanent. By National Small Business Association, On Dec. 22, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1), following passage earlier that week by the Senate and House—both along party lines. The bill is […]

Oregon Congressman Kurt Schrader Press Release, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, with House members Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader, demanded that the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately allow individuals being held at a federal prison in Sheridan, […]

Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis In honor of our value-added manufacturing, declining start-up trend bucking, homegrown Oregon breweries out there, I thought I should update our numbers of Oregon beer production. These figures come from the OLCC beer reports which only cover beer made in Oregon and sold […]

By Kathryn Hickok Cascade Policy Institute What’s better for welfare recipients and low-skilled workers: a higher minimum wage, or a larger Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)? David Neumark, director of the Economic Self-Sufficiency Policy Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine, explains in a recent op-ed in the Wall […]

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation, This year, Portland ranks as the ninth best city in the United States for entrepreneurs and start-ups, and the eleventh best city for women to start a business. Business.org released its rankings  after evaluating more than 300 North American cities, large and small, and […]

By Oregon Small Business Association An overwhelming response from people seeking to grow and sell recreational marijuana has prompted the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to temporarily halt processing of new applications for licenses. As of June 15, the OLCC will focus on processing applications already submitted rather than moving new […]

National Retail Federation Imports at the nation’s major retail container ports are expected to set record numbers this summer and fall even as the debate over trade and tariffs continues in Washington, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Congressman Peter DeFazio Press Release, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR) introduced H.R. 5857, the “Stop Sexual Assault and Harassment in Transportation Act,” legislation that requires passenger airlines, commuter and intercity passenger railroads, transit agencies, operators of passenger vessels, and certain types of bus companies […]

By Jason W. Douthit Bullard Law, Portland based law firm The Oregon Legislature and Governor Kate Brown are banking on increased state income tax revenues (due to recent changes in the Internal Revenue Code) to incentivize PERS participating public employers to contribute to PERS. Under SB 1566, signed by Governor […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Over the past decade the number of lower-income households in the Portland region has fallen by nearly 60,000, or by 15%. Here, we’re defining lower-income to not just be those in poverty, but generally speaking in the bottom 40% or so of […]