Senate committee adopts amendment expanding stadium financing tool for potential MLB team in Portland

The Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue on March 31 advanced Senate Bill 110, a measure that would change how personal income tax revenue associated with a prospective Major League Baseball franchise could be used to help repay private stadium financing in Portland.

Legislative staff told the committee that the bill would update an existing framework created in 2003 (Senate Bill 5) and in current Oregon law that allows a portion of wages and associated personal income taxes from players and team staff to be captured for a grant agreement to repay stadium financing. Staff said the Dash 8 amendment the committee adopted raises the statutory grant cap from $150,000,000 to $800,000,000 (plus financing costs), raises the minimum estimated stadium cost from $300,000,000 to $2,000,000,000 and increases the per-person wage threshold for counting diverted income taxes from $50,000 to $100,000.

Why it matters: Under the proposal the state would not write a general-fund check up front, committee members and staff repeatedly clarified. Instead, the mechanism would direct incremental personal income tax revenues tied to a Major League Baseball franchise—players and certain team employees—to a…