2019 Legislative Report – Week 9
[The following is an excerpt from the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce’s (OSCC) Legislative Report. Any opinions expressed or implied are those of OSCC and do not necessarily reflect those of the Springfield Chamber or its representatives. A link to the complete update can be found at the bottom of this article.]
What’s Happening (OSCC Political Observations)
The next two-and-a-half weeks will be the toughest weeks of the session.
Looming deadlines mean that all 3,000 of the bills currently introduced will be in play as advocates rush to meet deadlines that mean life or death for their legislation.
Bills need to be posted for committee votes by the end of Friday, March 29th in order to receive further consideration. By Tuesday, April 9th, all bills need to be voted out of their original committee in order to survive.
This means there will be a litany of surprise hearings and committee votes on relevant bills all over the capitol that will be largely impossible to track and influence in real time, but we’re going to give it our best effort!
Activity on Major Issues
- PAID FAMILY LEAVE HEARINGS! – This evening, March 25th, the House Business & Labor Committee and Senate Workforce Committee plan to host a joint public hearing on paid family & medical leave bills that would SIGNIFICANTLY alter Oregon’s business climate.
Here’s a look at the proposals and the impractical requirements they put on all businesses that will cost Oregonians billions!
- Applies to employers with 1+ employees
- Mandates 32 weeks of paid and protected family and medical leave each year
- Creates state-run family insurance program administered by DCBS
- Establishes new payroll tax of up to 1% to pay for the family-leave insurance:
- Expands OFLA eligibility to 1+ employees
- Mandates 24 weeks of paid and protected family leave AND an additional 24 weeks of protected family and medical leave for some types of leave each year – total leave could be 48 weeks!
- Requires employer to pay 100% of employee wages while employee is on paid leave
From the complete update CLICK HERE.
