XPost: alt.business, talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: or.politics, sac.politics   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://lookouteugene-springfield.com/story/government-   
   politics/2025/09/12/oregons-business-reputation-has-taken-a-hit-are-   
   businesses-really-leaving/   
      
   House Republicans saw the bill before them near the end of the legislative   
   session as yet another regulation that would make manufacturing harder and   
   stifle Oregon’s competitiveness.   
      
   The measure, which is set to take effect later this month, will expand the   
   definition of public works and require businesses to pay the state’s   
   prevailing wage for off-site construction work done for public works   
   projects — things like boiler systems, ornamental iron work and roofing   
   that could be made elsewhere and brought to a construction site.   
      
   It passed the House on a bare minimum 31-22 vote, and with warnings from   
   Republicans including Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, that the   
   bill would push manufacturing jobs out of Oregon. Breese-Iverson cited her   
   district’s experience losing door manufacturing facility Owens Corning,   
   which had just announced plans to shut its Prineville plant and lay off   
   184 workers.   
      
   “This might mean I lose more people in my community, and if you’re   
   familiar with my district you know that they are looking in Idaho, not   
   Oregon,” she said. “…This particular bill will keep this trend going with   
   one more, and one more, and one more Oregon manufacturer leaving our great   
   state.”   
      
   It’s a common argument from legislative Republicans and business groups,   
   who have pointed to recent headlines like coffee chain Dutch Bros moving   
   its headquarters from Grants Pass to Arizona and Beaverton-based   
   Tektronix, once the state’s largest employer, moving to North Carolina, as   
   proof that the state is unwelcoming to business.   
      
   But research shows many businesses aren’t fleeing so much as they’re   
   expanding out of state after getting recruited. And some business leaders   
   say the state’s higher taxes, duplicative regulations and limited   
   industrial land make companies susceptible to leaving.   
      
   A report earlier this year from Business Oregon, the state’s economic   
   development agency, alongside researchers at the University of Oregon’s   
   Institute for Policy Research and Engagement found that 68% of businesses   
   that had been contacted by recruiters did eventually expand out of state.   
   As businesses eye other states for expansion, Oregon loses thousands of   
   potential jobs and private investment.   
      
   “It’s just an insane success rate for recruitment efforts,” Business   
   Oregon Economist Damon Runberg told the Capital Chronicle. “We don’t see   
   that level of success in the recruitment world, but it seemed almost like   
   a lot of these businesses were ready to expand, and it just took a little   
   bit of a nudge for them to go elsewhere.”   
      
   The Beaver State — once ranked among the top half of U.S. states —   
   continues to slide down CNBC’s annual “Best States for Business” list —   
   from 21st place in 2023, 28th place in 2024 to 39th place in July.   
      
   That doesn’t mean Oregon is losing its entrepreneurial spirit, Bob Parker,   
   the study’s lead researcher, said in a phone interview. He noted that each   
   month thousands of new businesses register with the Secretary of State’s   
   Office. The number of active businesses has actually increased from   
   515,000 in 2023 to almost 540,000 businesses in 2025, according to state   
   records.   
      
   “It is remarkably easy to set up a business in Oregon relative to other   
   states,” Parker said. “The state doesn’t have a license fee and there’s   
   not a sales tax. So that’s a big plus that Oregon’s got going for it. The   
   challenge for Oregon really ends up not being a recruitment challenge, but   
   a retention challenge.”   
      
   A statewide issue   
   Out-of-state business recruiters are focusing on traded-sector companies,   
   or businesses that manufacture in Oregon and sell their products   
   elsewhere, according to the study.   
      
   This includes mostly tech and manufacturing firms, Parker said. Many of   
   the companies surveyed wanted to stay in Oregon, but the financial costs   
   made it difficult to justify, he said. Instead, they expanded to states   
   with lower taxes such as Idaho, Texas and Utah.   
      
   The study surveyed nearly 400 businesses statewide. Of the respondents,   
   43% said Oregon is either a good or excellent place to do business, while   
   57% of respondents said it is fair or poor, citing concerns about cost of   
   living, taxes, economic conditions and crime and homelessness.   
      
   A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Christine Drazan did not respond   
   to the Capital Chronicle’s request for comment, but she previously said   
   taxes and strict regulations are why businesses are growing beyond state   
   lines.   
      
   “This report concluded what House Republicans have been saying all along:   
   To strengthen our economy, our state must support businesses by improving   
   incentives and cutting taxes and regulatory burdens,” Drazan said in   
   April.   
      
   CNBC’s July rankings also placed Oregon 47th in the nation for “business   
   friendliness,” just above New York, New Jersey and California.   
      
   Every time the Beaver State drops in rankings, it makes it easier for out-   
   of-state recruiters to convince Oregon firms to expand elsewhere, Eugene   
   Chamber of Commerce CEO Brittany Quick-Warner said in an interview.   
      
   Quick-Warner said Oregon has a history of duplicating business   
   regulations. Oregon’s land use laws, which require cities to go through an   
   expensive and time-consuming process to expand their urban growth   
   boundaries, or the invisible state-approved line around a city limiting   
   where and how it can grow, before annexing and developing new industrial   
   land, can delay projects for years or even decades.   
      
   “Companies that want to grow or invest in new equipment can’t find   
   available property with proper infrastructure,” she said.   
      
   The state’s corporate activity tax is especially burdensome for small   
   businesses because it is applied to revenue rather than profit, she said.   
   The tax applies to businesses with more than $1 million in taxable   
   commercial activity, taxing them $250 plus 0.57% of taxable commercial   
   activity above $1 million.   
      
   “Small businesses might bring in a million dollars a year, but their   
   expenses are $990,000,” she said. “They’re being taxed as though they made   
   a million bucks.”   
      
   Chambers in southern and suburban Oregon share similar concerns. Eli   
   Matthews, CEO of the Chamber of Medford and Jackson County, said that the   
   state needs to make a stronger push to market itself as “open for   
   business.”   
      
   “I think Salem needs to get the perspective right that business in Oregon   
   needs to be a top priority.” he said. “It’d be great to have big   
   businesses move to Oregon, but I think it’s going to take a lot on the   
   statewide level to change that perception.”   
      
      
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