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Tax hikes approved – NOT

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Yesterday we told you about increases in state corporate and personal income taxes, which seemed all but assured. Not so fast. The Oregon Senate yesterday failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to raise taxes. Sen. Mark Hass (D-Beaverton) broke party ranks with his 17 fellow Senate Democrats by voting against one of the bills, […]

Presentation on immigration

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The Coalition for a Working Oregon is holding a joint event on immigration reform with the McMinnville Chamber of Commerce at 8:15 a.m. next Wednesday, June 17 at Chemeketa Health & Science Center, 300 N.E. Norton Lane, McMinnville, Ore. Two speakers from the Oregon Association of Nurseries – Executive Committee member Jerry Simnitt and Director of […]

Protecting growers against theft

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With Oregon’s legislative session winding down, it’s reckoning time for proposed bills that would offer nurseries and others in agriculture greater protection against metal theft and other kinds of agricultural theft. The Oregon Association of Nurseries and other groups have been active in promoting a pair of bills: Senate Bill 570 (HTML|PDF) would address metal […]

Tax hikes approved

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Yesterday, the Oregon House of Representatives approved two revenue bills that, combined, would raise an estimated $733 billion to fund state programs and services over the next fiscal biennium. The Oregon Senate is expected to follow suit, and Gov. Ted Kulongoski is certain to sign it. From there, the measures may be referred to voters […]

How the public feels

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How do Oregonians feel about agriculture? A recent public opinion survey by Conkling, Fiskum & McCormick revealed opinion trends on a number of issues, from water use to pesticides to organic farming. The Oregon Department of Agriculture outlined several of the most significant results in a press release. Among those results, a strong majority favors […]

Farm to market

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The Oregon Legislature this week approved a $300 million per year transportation package designed to upgrade roads statewide, create new capacity, and loosen bottlenecks that currently cost businesses time and money. The move was applauded by the Oregon Association of Nurseries as an important step towards helping growers move their goods to market. The improvements […]

Green Communities Act introduced

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The Oregon Association of Nurseries, and numerous other green industry trade groups, are getting behind the Green Communities Act, a federal bill introduced recently by U.S. Rep. Alyson Schwartz (D-Penn.). The bill would direct the U.S. Department of Commerce to award matching grants to up to 80 municipalities towards improving their “green infrastructure.” This could […]

Work site enforcement: a good thing?

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We reported last week that administration officials are planning to concentrate their immigration enforcement efforts on employers rather than employees. For employers, this sounds like a bad thing, but according to this e-mail from Tamar Jacoby, president of Immigration Works USA, that’s not necessarily the case: This will be the hallmark of DHS efforts going […]

Faith and immigration reform

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Trinity Episcopal Cathedral of Portland, Ore., is hosting a series of faith and ethics forums that pertain to the topic of immigraton. Jeff Stone of the Oregon Association of Nurseries and the Coalition for a Working Oregon are coordinating the speakers. Upcoming topics include “Labor and Community” (May 3), “Economics of Immigration Reform” (May 10), […]

New immigration enforcement guidelines target employers

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We mentioned a few weeks back that the Obama administration was sending signals that it would focus on employers, not employees, in its immigration enforcement under Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. Today came further confirmation of that in the form of an article in The New York Times. The newspaper reported that new guidelines […]