Oregon
Some Members of Kotek’s Prosperity Council Unhappy About Tax Change
This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the state.
One of the most contentious issues in the current legislative session revolves around an issue called “bonus depreciation.”
It’s a tax break that business groups hope could spur purchases of everything from tractors and commercial fishing boats to high-tech machinery and new housing. To progressive groups, it’s a giveaway to businesses that were going to make such investments anyway, at the expense of schools and social services.
The issue is also timely, as Gov. Tina Kotek builds her reelection campaign around a new focus on Oregon’s business climate.
Last week, Kotek’s Prosperity Council held its second meeting, this one in Redmond, where the panel toured BASX Solutions, which makes cooling systems for data centers, along with HVAC systems for everyday structures.
Kotek cited BASX as the kind of family-wage employer the state must nurture and seek to attract. “Oregon’s prosperity is not a given. We have to act with intention to be more competitive,” the governor said. “That’s exactly what the Prosperity Council has been charged to do, and today’s meeting helps us to understand the perspectives of Central Oregon.”
But just a week removed from the Redmond gathering, one member of Kotek’s Prosperity Council, real estate investor Jordan Schnitzer, expressed frustration with the governor’s actions, which he says are contradictory to the charge Kotek gave the panel: “to recommend actionable steps to accelerate Oregon’s economy, create good paying jobs, and recruit and grow Oregon’s businesses.”
Schnitzer, whose firm owns or operates 31 million square feet of real estate across 200 properties in six Western states, says Kotek’s position on Senate Bill 1507A, which would disconnect Oregon from certain tax cuts in President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is inconsistent with her prosperity message.
States have the option to follow federal tax cuts in Trump’s bill or to “disconnect” from some or all of the changes. Oregon typically applies changes in the federal tax code to state taxes, but this year has decided not to in the form of SB 1507A.
Legislative number-crunchers calculated that remaining fully connected to the Trump tax cuts would cost Oregon nearly $900 million in tax revenue over the next two years. That estimate came at a time when looming cuts to Medicaid and food stamps already threatened the state’s 2025–27 budget.
In legislative testimony, advocates, such as the Oregon Education Association and the Oregon Center for Public Policy, argued that the state should fully disconnect from the Trump tax cuts because Oregon schools and social service programs need the money. Business groups, such as Oregon Business & Industry and the Oregon Farm Bureau, argued that bonus depreciation provided a valuable incentive for their members to make new investments and create jobs in Oregon.
Democratic lawmakers are taking a piecemeal approach with SB 1507A. The bill retains Trump’s tax cuts on tips and overtime income but disconnects from bonus depreciation. That change eliminates a tax cut for businesses worth $267 million over a two-year period.
Typically, businesses depreciate new capital investments—such as equipment, buildings and machinery—over a period of years. That allows them to deduct a portion of their capital investment from current income, reducing their taxes. Bonus depreciation (a tool previous presidential administrations have also used to stimulate the economy) allows the entire investment to be written off in the first year. Democrats say that creates an unacceptable hit to tax revenues; Republicans and businesses say it would help Oregon’s economy, which has stagnated.
Democrats hold supermajorities in both legislative chambers, of course, and the bill passed the Senate and then the House on Feb. 25, on party line votes. As the bill moved, some in the business community expressed their concerns directly to Kotek, who announced her support for the bill earlier this week.
In a widely circulated Feb. 24 letter, Portland developer Bob Ball, part of a group Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson convened last year to brainstorm ideas to increase housing supply, cautioned Kotek that killing bonus depreciation is “putting another nail in our coffin.”
“I encourage you to exempt multifamily properties from SB 1507A,” Ball wrote. “I don’t think Oregon should decouple for any of the depreciation categories if we want to stay competitive in every industry, but the one industry I can say definitively will be hurt is housing production.”
Schnitzer told OJP he sent a similar message to Kotek on Feb. 25 via text.
“The only way to get out of the economic doom loop we are facing is by people coming and opening more businesses that pay good wages and paying their fair share of taxes,” Schnitzer says he told Kotek. “This bill creates a disincentive for businesses to invest in this wonderful state. Why would we do that?”
Schnitzer says other members of the Prosperity Council—he declined to say which ones—are also not happy with the governor’s position on bonus depreciation. Kotek did not immediately respond to his text message.
A Kotek spokesman says the governor believes the Legislature took necessary steps to preserve some of the tax revenue Trump’s tax bill would otherwise have cut, without putting Oregon at a competitive disadvantage.
“In disconnecting Oregon’s state taxes from the bonus depreciation and deciding to allow businesses to depreciate their investments over the life of the investment rather than all at once up front, Oregon would align with more than 20 other states including Idaho,” says Kevin Glenn.
SB 1507A now heads to Kotek’s desk for her signature.
Oregon’s juvenile justice system has been reshaped in recent years by a sweeping reform law that changed how the state handles minors accused of serious crimes.
Senate Bill 1008, which took effect in 2020, ended automatic transfers of juveniles into adult court and eliminated life without parole sentences for juveniles. The law also created “second-look” hearings and established parole eligibility after 15 years for certain offenders who committed crimes before turning 18.
To help explain the law and its impact, KVAL’s Frannie Pedersen put together a timeline video tracing the history of Senate Bill 1008, from the passage of Measure 11 in 1994 to the reforms that later reshaped Oregon’s juvenile justice system.
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The video breaks down how the law changed, why lawmakers pushed for reform, and how SB 1008 continues to influence Oregon’s justice system today. Viewers can watch the full video for a detailed timeline and explanation of the changes.
PORTLAND, Ore. — A New Jersey man was sentenced to federal prison last Friday for conspiring to distribute fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon.
Mark T. Eager, 34, was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release.
“This defendant showed a blatant disregard for human life by trafficking fentanyl across the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Bradford. “My office will continue to pursue those who profit from poisoning our communities, and we will use every available resource and partnership to combat fentanyl trafficking and keep Oregonians safe.”
“This investigation brought together law enforcement agencies from across the nation,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle acting Special Agent in Charge April Miller. “Homeland Security Investigations special agents from Portland, Newark, and Houston contributed to the case, along with the Portland Police Bureau and HIDTA HIT officers, who were instrumental in identifying Eager. His 11-year sentence sends a clear message: no matter where you are in the country or the world, if you attempt to sell narcotics online to Americans, we will find you.”
“Fentanyl trafficking poses a grave threat to communities across the United States, and Homeland Security Investigations is committed to working with our partners to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks responsible,” said HSI Houston Special Agent in Charge Lucia Cabral-DeArmas. “This case demonstrates the power of interagency collaboration under the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, leveraging resources from across the country to hold traffickers accountable and protect the American people. We will continue to pursue those who endanger lives through the distribution of dangerous synthetic opioids, and we remain steadfast in our mission to safeguard our communities from the violence and instability caused by transnational criminal organizations.”
“By following this offender’s digital trail, Homeland Security Investigations and our law enforcement partners nationwide executed federal search warrants, dismantled an active dark web fentanyl packaging operation and recovered deadly amounts of fentanyl, thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency, and a trove of electronic devices and packaging materials,” said HSI Newark Acting Special Agent in Charge Spiros Karabinas. “This case is a powerful example of how coordinated, data-driven investigations can disrupt dangerous networks and help protect our communities from lethal synthetic opioids.”
According to court documents, from November 2023 through June 2024, Eager and his co-conspirator sold fentanyl on the Dark Net and Telegram. Eager operated as the vendor WRSEH10 and marketed the fentanyl as “China White Synthetic Heroin.”
In June 2024, HSI agents executed search warrants on two residences associated with Eager in Kearny, New Jersey, and seized over 360 grams of powdered fentanyl, counterfeit M30 pills, drug ledgers, cellular phones, two computers, and drug packaging consistent with three deliveries that were sent to Oregon.
On September 4, 2024, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a four-count indictment charging Eager with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl.
On February 4, 2026, Eager pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl.
HSI Portland and HSI Houston investigated this case with assistance from HSI Newark, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Interdiction Task Force (HIT). Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Kerin prosecuted the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey assisted the U.S. Attorney’s in Oregon in obtaining the search warrants that were executed in Kearny.
Oregon State’s season came to an end in Eugene on Sunday evening, after a rocky 7th inning doomed them against the 11th-ranked Oregon Ducks. The Beavers put up a valiant effort to try and fight their way back from the loser’s bracket, but they couldn’t accomplish this incredible feat that they pulled off in 2025.
A Bad Start Changed Everything
Winning the first game of a regional is almost a must if you want to advance, and this is where things started to go south.
After a nearly two-week layoff (since they didn’t have a conference tournament), OSU’s bats were rusty against a very solid left-hander in WSU’s Nick Lewis. Though the Beavers were able to put up a run early on, Lewis rolled with the punches and ended up throwing a complete game against the country’s seventh-ranked team. Though their bats came to life the next day, the uphill climb proved to be too much.
Pitching Wasn’t the Issue
Oregon State came into this tournament with the nation’s best ERA, and their starting rotation was exactly as advertised.
After a good outing from Kleinschmit on Friday afternoon, Eric Segura threw a 6.2 inning gem in an elimination game against Yale. True freshman Trey Morris threw 117 pitches in the rout of WSU early Saturday, and Wyatt Queen was excellent against the Ducks off of short rest later that evening.
The Power Just Wasn’t There
In today’s era of baseball where starting pitchers are so talented, it’s crucial to have guys that can get you runs with just one swing of the bat, especially when the man on the hill is striking a lot of people out.
Throughout the entirety of this season, the Beavers have not been a club that hits for much power, and this makes things difficult in the postseason. In four games across the Eugene regional, Oregon State didn’t hit a single ball out of the park. In 2026 they only hit a total of 55 homers, a stark contrast from the 107 of 2025’s Omaha year.
They Ran into a Good Team With a Deep Pitching Staff
In Mark Wasikowski’s tenure with the Ducks, his team’s pitching has often been a crutch that holds them back from big postseason runs. This certainly doesn’t seem to be the case this year.
Throughout the regional that they hosted, Oregon starters looked nearly untouchable. Will Sanford struck out 14 batters and didn’t allow a run against Washington State. Yesterday against the Beavers, left-hander Miles Gosztola was phenomenal, bouncing back after allowing a run in the second inning. The Ducks also have great relievers in guys like Tanner Bradley and Devin Bell. With a lot of reliable arms to go to, it would’ve been difficult to beat Oregon twice.
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