OTA Dispatch Issue 2, 2021

20 Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch THE WORK OF MANY policy committees came to an end on May 28, when bills were either voted out of their committee or considered dead—until they reappear next session, anyway. Joint and fiscal committees are not subject to this deadline. Now it’s a race to the finish line with a target sine die deadline of June 18; however, the legislature is constitutionally permitted to convene until June 27. Budgetary Concerns As the end of the session approaches, conversations are increasingly centered on budgets. The legislature is tasked, every other year, with setting the budget for that biennium. While the impacts of the pandemic have been felt far and wide, Oregon’s May Revenue Forecast shows a remarkably strong economy. The Office of Economic Analysis (OEA) published the forecast and found that with the influx of federal aid there are few patterns indicating permanent damage to the economy. In fact, the most recent recovery rebate that went to about 95% of Oregonians contributed to incomes averaging 20% higher than at the start of the pandemic. The OEA presented the projected 2019–2021 Kicker, which occurs if actual state revenues exceed the forecasted revenues by 2% or more over the two-year budget cycle. The projected personal kicker is $1.4 billion, and the projected corporate kicker is $664 million. The final kicker numbers will be certified later this year. The kicker is paid out as an equal share of tax liability— meaning that the largest payments go to the highest earners. Help Wanted The OEA forecast also highlighted Oregon’s tight job market. Factors including, fear of infection, lack of jobs in a particular industry, lack of childcare and lucrative unemployment benefits have led 45,000 Oregonians to not actively seek employment. Oregon has just announced that it will start to enforce the common practice of requiring those on unemployment to actually search for a job. Infrastructure Funding Shuffle While Oregon’s economy is strong, transportation infrastructure projects, including the Rose Quarter project, continue to face funding challenges. A proposed gut and stuff amendment to HB 3065 would bond the $30 million raised through the 2017 Session’s HB 2017 for the Rose Quarter project and expand the bonding options to support additional projects like I-205 and the Abernathy Bridge. OTA has expressed strong concerns around this change and has been actively seeking improved language that provides statutory assurances that the Rose Quarter project will be completed. Additionally, the 8th amendment also includes language that would allow for additional design review of projects currently in process, opening up projects to litigation and other stall tactics from various stakeholder groups. Furthermore, the legislation also enables a tolling program to help pay for several of the projects. This presents challenges for communities across the state who have expressed opposition to tolling in the past. OTA is heavily engaged in negotiations on this bill, with work sessions planned for late May. Taking a Break Decades ago, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) was granted the authority to create and enforce rules for meal and rest breaks. Soon after implementing these rules, BOLI and other stakeholders learned that employees could not sue or claim damages for missing breaks, so they reworked the rules. Currently, Oregon employers not only have to provide 30-minute meal periods for hourly workers, but they have to ensure the employee Legislative Update