 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Recent business growth and regulation news
January 2012: Alliance thanks Portland City Council for supporting economic development and small businessThe Alliance recently thanked Portland Mayor, Sam Adams, and Portland City Council, for supporting general fund allocations for economic development in its most recent budget. The Alliance also urged city council to continue funding support for economic development programs in the upcoming budget cycle. Read the letter >> The Alliance also expressed its support for Portland City Council's funding of strategic programs for small businesses from the city's budget surplus for FY 2010-2011. Read the letter >> January 2012: Alliance comments on the Portland Plan Proposed DraftThe Alliance recently made the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission aware of its concerns about the Portland Plan Proposed Draft. The Alliance agrees with the goals of the plan, but is concerned that the plan lacks prioritization of action items, lacks guidance on how to resolve potential conflicts between action items, is not financially constrained and has no funding strategy. Read the letter >> October 2011: Alliance supports passage of Trade AgreementsLast week with support from the Alliance, Congress passed three trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and most importantly, South Korea. The Alliance sent a letter to federal leaders and joined in an op-ed with other business groups in support of the agreements. Click here to read the op-ed, which ran in The Oregonian. Congressmen Blumenauer and Schrader voted yes on South Korea and Panama but no on Colombia. Congressman Walden voted for on all three while Congressman DeFazio voted no on all three. In the Senate, Senator Wyden voted for all three agreements while Senator Merkley voted against the trade agreements. The Alliance feels the agreements are much needed because Oregon is one of the most trade-dependent states in the nation. Given the importance of trade to our region's economy, these agreements present an opportunity to enhance our international trade and open up markets for our region's goods and services. 10/03/11: State Small Business Credit Initiative program supports job growthGovernor Kitzhaber announced the approval of the Oregon State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) application. The program supports state-level small business lending programs and will be used to fund new private sector jobs. Oregon has access to $16.5 million in SSBCI funds, which is expected to spur more than $165 million in additional small business lending in Oregon. 10/03/11: Oregon economic and revenue outlook shows shortfallsOn August 26, the Office of Economic Analysis presented to the Oregon House and Senate Revenue Committees the revenue forecast from the close of legislative session 2011 to September 2011. As expected, and especially with the downturn in the various equity markets, total revenues are down from close of session. From the end of session, personal income tax revenues are down $158.4 million, corporate revenues decreased $18.7 million, lottery revenues are down $6.6 million, and other revenues are down $15.4 million. The total decrease is $199.2 million. Despite the revenue downturn, the Office of Economic Analysis expects revenues to grow about 10 percent through the 2011-13 biennium. Also, the personal and corporate income tax rebate kicker will not be in play in 2013 as a result of the revenue forecast. All legislative committees will be meeting for Interim Legislative Days from September 21-23, and again from November 16-18. In light of the budget projection reduction, the head of the Department of Administrative Services has asked each state agency to develop a new budget with a 10 percent reduction. The next two revenue forecasts, scheduled to be released in November and February, will determine whether the reserves budgeted by the legislature will be enough to cope with Oregon's revenue shortfalls. The Oregon Center for Public Policy is advocating for a renewal of the Measure 66 tax hikes enacted in 2010, stating that the state could lose out on $134 million if the rates expire. 04/09/11: Alliance reviews water rate increasesThe Alliance has convened a Water Bureau Rate Review Task Force as a result of proposed City of Portland water rate increases. The City of Portland's Water Bureau is proposing to increase water rates by 13 percent for the next five years, which would result in an 86 percent increase over five years. The Alliance is concerned that such rate increases, especially in conjunction with other bureau fee increases and ongoing charges and fees, create a compounding burden on business. In particular, this poses a significant impact on businesses that use a large amount of water for operations. The City of Portland said there are four issues driving water rate increases:
The Alliance is exploring opportunities to review the Water Bureau budget to better understand the primary cost drivers. The Alliance is also working with Commissioner Leonard, who oversees the Water Bureau, and the Large Water Users Coalition to identify options that may reduce or spread out the proposed rate increases. 01/11/11: Governor Kitzhaber makes economic development a top priority
Alliance leadership and members (Pat Reiten from Pacific Power, Sam Brooks from Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs and Dave Williams from Northwest Natural) join Governor Kitzhaber at his press conference announcing his short term business initiatives and economic stimulus plan. Alliance and other business association leadership briefed the governor on current economic development initiatives as part of the Oregon Business Plan. The governor announced a number of those initiatives that his team will be working on immediately and others that they will study for possible near-future implementation. 06/29/10: City approves water and sewer rate increasesIn the recently approved city budget, the council approved water rate increases of 12 percent and sewer and storm water rate increases of 6.4 percent. These increases come on top of steadily increasing rates over the past decade. At the same time, questions have been raised about the expenditure of rate-generated funds on non-utility programs and cost shifting (where general fund supported bureaus like the Parks Bureau shift costs to fee supported bureaus like the Water Bureau). Currently, the Sewer Bureau is considering developing a tiered system of strength-based rates for commercial and industrial customers that will likely increase costs for some small commercial and industrial users. 05/27/10: Alliance urges city to focus spending on programs and servicesCity council will likely vote to refer the Campaign Finance Fund program to the November ballot. The Alliance submitted a letter to Mayor Adams on May 11 stating that the Campaign Finance Fund program should be terminated at this time to redirect spending from the fund to essential programs and services. Read letter to Mayor Adams >> |
|
|
Home | Join | Events | PBA Blog | Members Only | Search | Site Map | Contact Us |
 |