2009 Legislative Session Was Bad for Business

By Rep. Matt Wingard (R-Wilsonville)

With a poor economy and record-high unemployment, the Legislature should have improved Oregon’s business environment. After all, healthy businesses create jobs and generate the tax revenue we need to balance the state’s budget. Unfortunately, the 2009 Legislature defied common sense by raising taxes and passing mandates that will further slow our recovery.

You’ve likely heard about the permanent income and corporate tax increases that were approved. Salem used the current economic crisis as an excuse to not only raise the corporate minimum tax, but create a new tax structure that will hurt businesses regardless of their profitability. I encourage all chamber members to help put these tax measures on the ballot and give Oregonians a voice on this important issue. For more information, visit www.stopjobkilling taxes.com.

Corporate and income tax increases dominated the headlines, but you may have missed other new laws that could affect your bottom line. These include a new premium tax on health insurance that will further harm the ability of small businesses to provide coverage to their employees. The Legislature passed dozens of fee increases that will be passed to consumers who are already struggling to pay their bills. Businesses with high transportation costs will soon pay even higher gas taxes and registration fees. While this revenue will be directed to worthy transportation projects, Salem refused to utilize hundreds of millions in savings that could have been better spent on infrastructure.

In addition to tax and fee increases, the Legislature passed dozens of new regulations and mandates. For example, the Legislature passed a new employer “gag rule” that strips businesses of their right to require employee attendance at meetings that occur on company time. The Legislature passed a bill to give state agencies unprecedented power to regulate and punish businesses, such as allowing DEQ to enact fuel standards and excessive mandates on transportation equipment and parts. The Legislature also expanded Oregon’s product liability laws to enrich trial lawyers while exposing businesses to more expensive and frivolous lawsuits.

As your representative, I understand that Oregon needs a healthy business environment to create jobs. Some of my colleagues and I were successful in helping to stop bills that were even worse than those I’ve described, such as a statewide “cap and trade” program that would put our businesses at a competitive disadvantage. We helped stop a “product stewardship” bill that would give DEQ the ability to regulate, and ultimately ban, certain products. Democrats also failed to pass bills such as paid family leave and prevailing wage expansion, but they’ll likely attempt to pass these in future sessions.

Republicans introduced bills to reform Oregon’s minimum wage law by connecting automatic indexing to the unemployment rate. We sought to give employers the ability to keep medical marijuana away from the workplace, and boost our economy by providing tax credits to businesses and homeowners who invest in improvements to their properties. Unfortunately, all of these pro-growth proposals were killed by the Democratic majority. Overall, the 2009 Legislature was great for trial lawyers and unions. Precious little was done to encourage private sector job growth or to reform the regulatory environment for small businesses in Oregon.