NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | June 19, 2015 | PAGE 3
Labor agenda advancing in Oregon Legislature
PAID SICK DAYS
A bill to guarantee workers have sick leave is heading
to the governor’s desk. SB 454 requires employers to
provide up to 40 hours a year of sick leave, starting Jan.
1, 2016. The leave would be paid where there are at
least 10 employees (or six, in Portland), and unpaid at
smaller employers. The leave can be used for the em-
ployee or a family member, for care and treatment of
an illness or injury, to attend a doctor’s appointment.
The requirement doesn’t apply to employees covered
by a collective bargaining agreement who are employed
through a hiring hall and whose benefits are provided
by a union benefit trust. It passed the Senate June 10 by
17-13, with only one Democrat—Betsy Johnson (D-
Scappoose)—joining Republicans in voting no. It then
passed the House 33-24 on June 12, where Brian Clem
and John Lively were the only Democrats to vote
against it. Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign the bill
into law, at which point Oregon will be the fourth state
with a statewide sick leave law. The others are Califor-
nia, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
PUBLICLY-SPONSORED RETIREMENT PLAN
HB 2960 forms a new board to work on a proposal for
a publicly-sponsored defined contribution retirement
plan for people employed in Oregon who don’t other-
wise have a retirement plan in their workplace. The plan
would be funded by payroll deduction. Workers would
be automatically enrolled, but could opt out. The board
would bring its proposal back to the Legislature by the
end of 2016. HB 2960 passed the Oregon House June
10 on a 32-26 vote and was scheduled for a June 16 vote
in the Senate.
BAN THE BOX
HB 3025 would make it against the law for an employer
to ask applicants to disclose criminal convictions on an
initial employment application (except where that’s re-
quired by law, or for criminal justice employers). It
passed the Oregon House 33-27 on April 29. The ver-
sion passed by the House would have barred employers
from inquiring about or considering criminal convic-
tions before making a conditional offer of employment.
But the Senate amended that to allow employers to ask
and consider once they get to an interview or a job offer.
The amended version passed the Senate 21-8 on June
11, and the House 34-25 on June 16.
MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE
Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) an-
nounced June 15 a renewed push to raise the state min-
imum wage—and remove a pre-emption on local min-
imum wage increases. Kotek’s plan would raise the
minimum to $13 an hour by 2018. Currently, Oregon’s
minimum wage is $9.25 an hour.
UNLOCKING A TOOL FOR AFFORDABLE
HOUSING
HB 2564, a labor-supported bill to increase the supply
of affordable housing, passed the House 34-25 April 13,
but appears to be stuck in the Senate Rules Committee.
The bill would remove a statewide ban on “inclusionary
zoning”—the ability of local governments to require
that a certain portion of new housing units be affordable.
Oregon is one of only two states in the nation to have
such a ban. The bill is backed by Oregon AFSCME and
the Oregon Working Families Party.