By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation

Dave’s Killer Bread, the best-selling organic bread in the nation, is being sold to Flower Foods, Inc. for $275 million. The company, founded by the Dahl family as Nature Bake in 1955, assumed the name of its best-selling variety after Dave’s Killer Bread launched as an instant success at the Portland Farmer’s Market in 2005. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation

A lawsuit charging Nike with copyright infringement has been dismissed in federal court. Photographer Jacobus Rentmeester filed the suit in January, claiming Nike used the pose in his copyrighted image of Michael Jordan when they created their Jumpman logo. Rentmeester shot the original photo for a LIFE Magazine Special Issue previewing the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. In 1985, Nike paid him for a limited license to use the image. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation,

Forbes says Portland is overpriced

Portland placed #12 on Forbes’ list of America’s Most Overpriced Cities. Los Angeles was #1, followed by Chicago, Miami, and New York. To come up with the list, Forbes compared the housing prices, living expenses, unemployment rates, and average salaries for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher in the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. Read more »

Entrepreneurship in Oregon Plummets to Lowest Point in 40 years; Rate of Tech Startups Lags
By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation

Entrepreneurship in Oregon is currently at historic lows.

According to a recent data from state economists, the number of new Oregon businesses entering the marketplace on an annual basis is proportionally lower than at any point since the mid-1970s.
In the early 1990s, new firms comprised on average 12% of all Oregon businesses. According Joh Lehner, the report’s author, new businesses now comprises only 8% of all statewide business. That’s a 50% decline and marks the lowest level of entrepreneurship in 40 years—since the state began keeping such records. Read more »

Editor’s Note – Below is an excellent small business article on the problems with SB 478 toy mandate bill by economist Dr. Eric Fruits as As featured in The Oregonian, April 11, 2015.   If you would like to contact your legislator on this issue, click here.

“…just about any store selling these common toys would have to report the chemical contents to the state agency….But, it’s not just common toys. It’s also car seats, clothing, and even kitchen utensils designed with a cartoon caricature. For superstores like Fred Meyer, Target, and Walmart, tens of thousands of products would need a report filed with the OHA.”

Among the several thousand bills that the Oregon legislature will consider this legislative session is Senate Bill 478. On its face, SB 478 is designed to help protect children from harmful chemicals. It does so by setting up a new system to monitor a list of “high priority” chemicals in toys and other “children’s products.” The new system and the priority list would then be managed and administered by the Oregon Health Authority. Read more »

Labor grabs new power to shut down your business!

You are not safe! Oregon’s Labor Dept. (BOLI) is pushing House Bill 2386 which removes judges from labor & wage cases. The Labor Dept. would act as both judge and accuser when it shuts down a small business like yours with a cease and desist order. HB2386 violates your rights & is grossly unfair. Read more »

The Oregon Political Tax Credit allows you to give any qualified political action committee (PAC) up to $50/individual or $100/couple and apply that donation to your Oregon income tax bill. The effect will be to either lower your income tax liability or increase your refund.

This unique tax credit is the best way for you to support the hard work that OSBA is engaged in on your behalf…and get the entire amount back at tax time.

If you don’t use this credit, the State or Oregon just keeps your money…

Don’t take our word for it…  Here’s a site that explains more about the Oregon Political Tax Credit.

On February 16, 2015, OSBA spokesman, Tom Maginnis, testified before the Joint Senate & House Business & Labor committee on HB 2005 which mandates nearly 50 hours of paid sick leave. Maginnis gave an incredible TRUE-LIFE TESTIMONY on his own small business.

When I was working for Mark Hatfield, constituents would tell me, “You don’t understand what it’s like to run a business and make a payroll.” They were right. Now, as the former owner of three Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurants, I do. For nearly twenty years I carried a tremendous sense of responsibility for the lives of the 1,500 young people I employed.  When I bought my Portland store in 1997, I employed about 74 employees. After expenses, I cash-flowed about $750,000 per year; money which I used to replace worn assets, upgrade my store, replace old games and machines, repay my commercial loans and finally, support my family.

Minimum wage doubled, wage burden quadrupled Read more »

The Oregonian Small Business Association has been involved with many others against the $50 million dollar Portland Street Tax proposal. 

The Portland Street Tax has taken many forms over the past few months ranging from  a business-burden heavy plan to an income tax plan.   Recently the City of Portland has called off the plan and is now seeking statewide legislation in order to create a more universal solution.

Delays at West Coast ports, including Northwest ports, have reached a critical point and threaten regional economies, according to recent news reports. The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents 29 West Coast port employers, has been locked in contract negotiations with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) since July of last year. That’s when the six-year contract between PMA and ILWU expired.

Since then, both sides have blamed the other for major port delays that have left ships stalled at docks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, among others. The ILWU says port operators aren’t providing sufficient resources or that their equipment isn’t safe, which is causing delays. Port operators counter, and recent judicial rulings seem to affirm, that the ILWU is engaging in deliberate delay tactics to gain leverage during ongoing contract negotiations. Read more »