The Oregon Natural Resources Report - Agricultural News from Oregon

June 30, 2009

Oregon Association of Nurseries
Daily Digger Blog

Yesterday we told you that House Bill 2904 (HTML|PDF) passed the Oregon Senate. Today we can report that it passed the Oregon House by a 59-0 vote. The bill blocks a move by the Oregon Department of Revenue to treat hoop houses as permanent structures on property tax statements. Without the bill, nursery owners would have been exposed to an added tax burden, just as many are struggling to recover from last winter’s storms that caused many hoop houses to collapse.  The Oregon Association of Nurseries was involved in lobbying for the clarification in statute. “The OAN thanks Reps. Tina Kotek (D-Portland) and Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) for their hard work on the bill,” OAN Director of Government Relations Jeff Stone said. “Senators Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) and Frank Morse (R-Corvallis) delivered the bill on the senate side. A good bill and a major victory for the nursery and greenhouse industry.”