Committee advances five bills to Ways and Means; several adopted with amendments

The House Committee on Economic Development, Small Business and Trade met March 31 and advanced five bills to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means with due-pass recommendations, adopting several amendments along the way.

The bills moved on the committee floor were House Bill 3,104 (rural community resource center funding), House Bill 2,120 (changes to liquor store agent compensation and CPI adjustments), House Bill 3,101 (county fairground capital planning and horse racing account changes), House Bill 3,724 (changes to OLCC advertising rules for marijuana items), and House Bill 3,315 (ODBD website redesign). The committee also heard a public hearing on House Bill 2,291 and carried House Bill 2,527 to the committee's next meeting pending receipt of a fiscal note.

Why it matters: Committee action with a due-pass recommendation sends these measures to the next stage of budget review in Ways and Means; several measures declared emergencies and noted fiscal impacts in committee summaries.

Key actions and outcomes

House Bill 3,104 — rural community resource center - Summary: Establishes a statewide rural community resource center, creates a rural community resource leverage fund and appropriates funding to the Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD) for distribution to the selected rural community resource center; declares an emergency and is effective on passage. The summary presented to the committee listed an appropriation of $6,000,000, split in the summary as $3,000,000 for professional staff and $3,000,000 for submitting proposals. - Committee action:…