Dear OSCC Members & Colleagues –

Let’s start with a general update on the three pillar issues of the 2026 session thus far:

1. Budget/Taxes:  SB 1507 is the key linchpin bill that leadership is counting on to balance the 2025-27 budget – a $300 million tax increase that disconnects from some important tax incentives that were contained in the big federal tax cut bill of 2025 – HR 1. The biggest piece of revenue in SB 1507 is the disconnection from the federal bonus depreciation for business investments in machinery and equipment. OSCC has testified against this bill three times and continues to push lawmakers to oppose this bill. 

The Senate has already passed SB 1507 by a 17-13 vote. We expect the House to vote on the bill as soon as tomorrow.

2. Gas Tax Referendum Date: Senate Democrats have hit a roadblock on SB 1599. As of now, they cannot find the 16 votes in their caucus to pass the bill – and the bill has stalled on the Senate floor for nearly a week.  It is our expectation that Democratic leadership will still try to muscle through this legislation to alter election deadlines and procedures to move the gas tax referral from the November General election up to the May Primary election. However, popular pushback on this bill appears to have made a significant impact. 

3. SB 1501. The bill to help keep the Portland Trailblazers in Portland commits $360 million of state bonding authority to update the Moda Center and give the State an ownership stake in the arena. Supporters are pushing hard on the bill. There was no action on this bill in the past week. We expect there will be some political give and take needed for this bill to advance - as this bill exposes the urban/rural divide – but there is some consensus that failure would be a disastrous outcome for the state.

A MAJOR VICTORY: HB 4098 Defeated!

The first major victory of 2026 came this past week with the defeat of HB 4098 on the House floor. HB 4098 was a bill that would have opened up a myriad of third party lawsuits against insurance companies and their policy holders. OSCC opposed this anti-business bill with a coalition of business and trade groups. It was a unique bill in that it was far more aggressive than even the most permissive laws in the other 49 states – and would have been a costly disaster for business policyholders of liability policies. 

The bill died when it only received 29 votes on the House floor. Attempts by Governor Kotek to pressure the seven Democratic holdouts failed, and the House decided to abandon the bill.

URGENT UPDATE: Lodging Taxes Require “All Hands On Deck”

OSCC will be focused this week on the two TLT bills being considered in the House:

HB 4134: Statewide TLT tax increase.

We are expecting a House floor vote on the Statewide TLT tax increase as soon as today. It will be a very close vote. 

If you have not done so already, please email your State Representative and ask them to VOTE NO on House Bill 4134.

HB 4134 increases the state TLT tax from 1.5% to 2.75%. OSCC is opposing this bill and encourages all chamber members to continue to engage in opposition to this tax increase that will hurt the tourism sector and make travelling more expensive for Oregonians. 

HB 4148: Transient Lodging Tax diversion to Local Government. 

This bill underwent a “transformation” last week with new amendments. The new version of the bill would allow local governments to increase their share of local TLT revenues to pay for more general government purposes and away from tourism promotion. The new version of the bill is now a 50/50 split between tourism promotion and general government operations.

However, the new version of the bill contains a “poison pill” that OSCC continues to oppose. It creates a “resiliency grant” program – funded out of the 50% dedicated to tourism promotion – that permit local governments to give cash grants to food service and lodging businesses.

OSCC’s position is this: Our small businesses need customers that comes from promotion, not grant programs or handouts paid for by their own tax dollars.

We are expecting a House floor vote on this as soon as tomorrow.

STATUS UPDATE: Recreational Liability Waivers

SB 1593: This bill is still alive in the Senate Rules Committee. OSCC has already issued an Action Alert on this issue. Oregon is the only state in the western US that gives recreational, outdoor and fitness businesses no ability to enforce liability waivers for ordinary negligence. This is a key issue for our outdoor industries and fitness and recreation businesses. SB 1593 appears to be in a holding pattern for end-of-session negotiation. 

We will be holding our weekly legislative update calls on Fridays at 9:30am. You can add these calls to your calendar using this link.