This content was published: June 11, 2009. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.

Blog: Compromise in Senate leads to passage of two tax bills

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The dean of the Capitol press corps, Peter Wong of the Statesman Journal, just moved this story on line.

The bottom line: After two tax bills failed in the Senate on Wednesday, they passed today on a strictly party-line vote: 18 Democrats said “aye,” and 11 Republicans said “nay” (one GOP member was absent).

“Democratic Sen. Mark Hass of Beaverton joined 11 Republicans on Wednesday to block approval of the corporate tax increases in House Bill 3405,” Wong wrote today. “But Hass switched his vote today after an assurance that permanent increases in the corporate tax after 2012 will be diverted into the state’s general reserve fund.”

These two bills – which target higher-income households and corporations netting more than $250,000 annually – now go to the governor to sign.

Which means we’re days away from knowing the proposed budget for Oregon’s 17 independent community colleges.

We’ll keep you posted as the story unfolds.

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About Dana Haynes

Dana Haynes, joined PCC in 2007 as the manager of the Office of Public Affairs, directing the college's media and government relations. Haynes spent the previous 20 years as a reporter, columnist and editor for Oregon newspapers, including ... more »