Lawmakers Address Business Challenges, Opportunities at Leadership Summit
Whether you believe in big government or small government, Oregon House Democratic Leader Ben Bowman (D-Tigard) said government must be effective and efficient to grow the state’s economy and help businesses thrive.
Speaking at the 22nd annual Oregon Leadership Summit at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland on Dec. 9, Bowman said a bipartisan group has been meeting for the last eight or nine months to review government oversight and accountability. It might not be “sexy,” but he said the work is important to addressing key issues and challenges raised by business leaders earlier in the morning — including a lack of shovel-ready industrial land and a regulatory climate that ranks 49th nationally in corporate tax competitiveness.
“These are all real problems, and they were developed over a period of decades and will take time to address, but we should work on them,” Bowman said.
How exactly lawmakers should go forward remains a point of contention among party leaders. While Bowman said Oregon should lean into its unique strengths, newly elected House Republican Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby) said she hopes the upcoming 2025 legislative session will be an inflection point to get away from business as usual.
Drazan highlighted Oregon’s declining population and recent layoffs at Intel as indicators that the status quo is not working.
“We have an opportunity to reshape, restructure, and approach these challenges differently,” Drazan said. “I am optimistic that’s possible.”
Democrats head into the 2025 Oregon Legislature with supermajorities in both the House and Senate following the November general election. Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles) alluded to the 2023 session as a “disaster,” during which 10 Republican senators staged the longest walkout in state history lasting six weeks.
Then came the 2024 short session, which Bonham said was a success and saw lawmakers across the aisle come together on a compromise to roll back Measure 110, recriminalizing possession of small amounts of hard drugs.
“Was it because we had walked out, and the threat of a walkout remained? Or was it because we learned a lesson?” Bonham said. “Are we going to come to 2025 with a desire to work together with a policy agenda based on what Oregonians need? Or will it continue to be a partisan policy agenda? That remains to be seen.”
Governor’s Proposed Budget
Gov. Tina Kotek also spoke at the Leadership Summit, outlining priorities in her proposed $39.3 billion budget for 2025-27.
Though transportation funding is poised to be a major focus in the upcoming session, Kotek urged lawmakers to provide more investments for housing and homelessness, behavioral health, and education.
“Housing and homelessness, mental health and addiction care, and education do not lend themselves to quick results or, frankly, winning popularity contests,” Kotek said. “What they do lend themselves to is long-term economic prosperity.”
Upon being elected governor, Kotek declared a homelessness emergency and signed three executive orders to confront the crisis. Actions taken by the state since then have helped thousands of Oregonians find housing and prevented thousands more from becoming homeless, she said.
“If we continue at this pace, the equivalent of one-third of the Oregonians who were experiencing homelessness on my first day in office will be rehoused by the end of my first term,” Kotek said, drawing applause. “We must stay the course on what we see working.”
House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-Eugene) agreed that lawmakers “can’t take our eyes off the ball” when it comes to housing. Oregon needs more than 100,000 new units to meet the current demand, and then a half-million more over the next 20 years.
Meanwhile, Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) said the state will be focused in 2025 on coming up with a new way to sustainably fund transportation systems statewide. The Oregon Department of Transportation says it needs another $1.8 billion on top of its current budget just to maintain operations.
The State Highway Fund, used to maintain roads and bridges, gets a portion of its money from Oregon’s gas tax. But as Oregonians drive more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles, Wagner said that funding source is shrinking.
“The way that we’re approaching the conversation around transportation is through stability and safety, and trying to get upstream so that we actually have a revenue source and a system to be able to fund transportation for the long-term,” Wagner said.
‘Spirit of Creativity’
Rep. Paul Evans (D-Monmouth) praised Kotek’s economic plan as a step in the right direction, while adding the state must prioritize a strong economy through strategic investments and partnerships.
“We must reframe education and workforce development,” Evans said. “We must renew a spirit of creativity and innovation. And we must expand our trading partnerships, putting trade centers and targeted industrial partnerships center stage.”
Several of these industries were given a platform to discuss their needs at the Leadership Summit, including semiconductors, clean technology, and local food and beverage.
John O’Leary, president and CEO of Daimler Truck North America, co-chaired a task force dedicated to exploring opportunities for manufacturing clean energy technology in Oregon. O’Leary highlighted five main obstacles from their final report, issued in September:
- A shortage of shovel-ready industrial land.
- Constraints in energy infrastructure.
- Insufficient financial and tax incentives.
- An underdeveloped workforce pipeline.
- An underperforming innovation ecosystem.
In the two years since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, O’Leary said there have been 350 clean energy projects totaling more than $130 billion in planned investments, with the potential to create more than 113,000 jobs. Yet few of those are located in the Pacific Northwest.
The secret sauce for other states, O’Leary said, is ultimately a lower cost of doing business. He said Oregon has a lot of work ahead if it hopes to capitalize on the clean tech boom.
“We don’t need to make these changes overnight, but we do need to move more deliberately and decisively,” O’Leary said.