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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2017
141st Year, No. 177
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Corporate
tax bill
could test
case law
Change would yield about
$5.5M in the next two years
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
“We’re here to keep the public safe, to keep our staff safe, but also here to release a
person we hope to never see again. We don’t want them to come back.”
SALEM — A bill passed in the House
of Representatives Monday to change the
way corporations are taxed for services
could serve as a test for
new case law on what
constitutes a new tax.
Senate Bill 28 would
tax national corpora-
tions on the percentage
of their services they sell
in Oregon instead of the
existing “all-or-nothing”
system of taxing only
national corporations
who perform the bulk of
their business in the state.
The change would yield about $5.5
million in the next two years and $11.1
million the two subsequent years,
according to an estimate by the Legislative
Revenue Offi ce.
Corporations already are taxed on the
proportion of tangible items they sell in
Oregon, but taxes on sales of services or
intangibles are only levied on corporations
where a majority of their services are
performed in Oregon.
“The Senate Bill 28 would move away
from that and toward a market-based policy
that mirrors that for tangible products and
is more in line with the policy intent of a
single sales factor,” said Chris Allanach,
senior economist with the Legislative
Revenue Offi ce, during a hearing on the
bill last month.
In the past, Legislative Counsel would
have considered the bill to be a new tax or
a “revenue-raising” proposal. Under the
Oregon Constitution, a revenue-raising
proposal requires a three-fi fths majority
vote in both legislative chambers, and the
measure must originate in the House.
An Oregon Supreme Court decision
in 2015 changed Legislative Counsel’s
interpretation of what qualities defi ne a
revenue-raising measure.
The court ruled in City of Seattle v.
Department of Revenue that a bill to
remove a tax exemption for out-of-state
utility companies did not need a three-
fi fths majority because it didn’t have the
“essential features” of levying a tax.
— Brigitte Amsberry, incoming EOCI superintendent
See TAX/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution superintendent Jeri Taylor, right, is retiring after a 32-year career in the Department
of Corrections. She is handing over the reins of EOCI to incoming superintendent Brigitte Amsberry, left.
SUPER-WOMEN
Jeri Taylor to pass on torch as EOCI superintendent
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
When Brigitte Amsberry set
foot in Eastern Oregon Correc-
tional Institution 17 years ago,
she knew that this was where
she wanted to work.
“I came out here for a tour
and I kind of knew right off that
this is home, this is where I’m
meant to be,” she said.
Amsberry said yes to a job
as a nurse at EOCI after the
tour, eventually working her
way through the Department
of Correction ranks to become
superintendent of Two Rivers
Correctional Institution in
Umatilla. Now she returns to
EOCI as its new superinten-
dent.
She will replace superinten-
dent Jeri Taylor, who retires
Friday. Taylor says as much as
she’ll miss the job, she knows
she’s handing the reins over to
someone who is already very
familiar with the institution.
“I don’t think they’ll skip a
beat,” she said of prison staff.
Taylor might know EOCI
better than anyone. She worked
there back when the building
was a state mental hospital,
then transitioned to being a
Department of Corrections
employee when it was retro-
fi tted and re-opened as EOCI
in 1985.
“I came with the building,”
she said.
See EOCI/8A
EO fi le photo
This 2014 fi le photo shows an aerial view Eastern Oregon
Correctional Institute in Pendleton.
Mushroom compost company
drops plans for Athena facility
Will build in Sunnyside, Washington
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
After months of fl irting
with development in
Umatilla County, Ostrom’s
Mushroom Farms has
decided instead to build its
new mushroom compost
facility across state lines
in Sunnyside, Washington,
partially blaming regula-
tory hurdles in Oregon.
The company, based in
Olympia, Washington, had
proposed a location for the
facility on Sand Hollow
Road between Adams and
Athena, going so far as to
obtain a conditional use
permit from the county.
But on June 16, the Yakima
Herald-Republic reported
that Ostrom’s instead
signed an agreement with
the Port of Sunnyside to
purchase 25 acres south of
Interstate 82.
David Knudsen, presi-
dent and CEO of Ostrom’s,
did not return calls for
comment, but Umatilla
County planning director
Tamra Mabbott confi rmed
the news Tuesday.
“It was unfortunate,”
Mabbott said. “It would
have really been a nice
complement to all of the
other types of agriculture
we have here.”
Knudsen met with local
landowners in February
during a community
meeting
at
Athena
Elementary School, where
he described how the
specialized composting
process works and how
the building design would
mitigate for odor. The plant
was expected to produce
See COMPOST/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Karlee Rogers, 4, jumps through a sprinkler as Noah Joy, 3, looks on while the
pair, both of Pendleton, played in Joy’s front yard Tuesday.
Summer Photo Shootout
Do you fancy yourself a photographer? Do you like to go out and search for that
one special shot? Then send us your best photos taken in Eastern Oregon this
summer for our 2017 Summer Photo Shootout. Email your best, high-res photos
taken this summer between the dates of June 20 to Sept. 22 with your name,
date the photo was taken and phone number with “Summer Photo Shootout” in
the subject line to lifestyles@eastoregonian. The best will be selected to run in a
special weekend edition lifestyle section.