The Senate Committee on Labor and Business held a May 1 public hearing on House Bill 3550, which would exempt minor league baseball players from Oregon wage‑and‑hour rules (minimum wage, overtime and related requirements) while they are compensated under a negotiated collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the minor league players’ union.

Representative Dacia Graber, the bill sponsor, said the exemption is narrowly tailored and limited to periods when players are paid pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement. Graber said the CBA treats players as salaried employees who receive weekly pay year‑round except for a brief holiday period when players are not permitted to perform work. She told the committee that the CBA also provides health, retirement and housing benefits and salary continuation for disability from a work‑related injury.

Quest Meeks, director of state government relations for Major League Baseball, told the committee MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association jointly support the bill and submitted a joint letter to that effect. Meeks said states with near‑identical laws have already passed similar exemptions and that this change is necessary to allow the national collective bargaining agreement to operate uniformly across states where minor league clubs play.

Committee staff noted the bill came over from the House with 35 aye votes, 15 nays and 10 excused. The committee closed the public hearing and plans a work session next Tuesday.

Supporters said the measure is a routine, narrowly tailored statute of deference to a negotiated CBA; no opposition testimony appeared on the record during the hearing. The sponsor and MLB representatives emphasized that the exemption would apply only while the players are covered and paid under the specified CBA.