Legislative staff updated the committee on two tax credits enacted in recent sessions. Kyle Easton of the Legislative Revenue Office reviewed the Oregon child tax credit (House Bill 3,235), a refundable personal income tax credit equal to $1,000 per qualifying child under age 6 (indexed to inflation) that phases out between roughly $25,000 and $30,000 of modified adjusted gross income. Preliminary filings show just under 33,000 taxpayers claimed the credit and that total annual cost was about $36.3–36.4 million for the initial year.

Easton then briefed members on House Bill 2,009, the semiconductor research‑and‑development tax credit. The credit is available only to certified semiconductor companies for incremental qualified research expenses in Oregon; certifications are issued by Business Oregon and subject to biannual caps. LRO presented preliminary certification totals: for tax year 2024, 20 taxpayers were certified with roughly $32.9 million in certified credit amounts and about $763 million in reported qualified research expenses (QREs) for that group. For 2025, certifications rose to 33 taxpayers with certified credit of about $40.3 million and reported QREs of roughly $3.9 billion; LRO noted the 2025 total hit the biannual cap and that $14 million was trimmed by the cap in proportional reductions.

LRO cautioned that tax‑return data are confidential and lag by multiple years; the office expects comprehensive return‑level information for these credits to become available only after corporate returns are filed (likely into 2027), so firm conclusions about how much activity was directly stimulated by the credit remain tentative. Committee members pressed the staff on whether the certification data indicate net new R&D activity; staff said the certification numbers suggest increased activity among certified firms but that distinguishing newly stimulated R&D from pre‑existing activity will require return‑level analysis and additional contextual data.

LRO also reminded the committee that the credits have statutory sunsets and reporting reviews scheduled in subsequent sessions (child credit scheduled for post‑2028 review; R&D credit scheduled for post‑2029 review under current law).