The House Committee on Economic Development, Small Business and Trade on April 28 heard the Oregon Secretary of State's Office of Small Business Assistance present its 2024 annual report and explain how the office serves small businesses statewide.

OSBA Small Business Ombudsman Trevor Leahy told the committee the office helps "improve interactions between small businesses and state and local government agencies" and operates under statutory authority in ORS 56.2 through 56.209. He described how the office tracks registrations and casework and where gaps in state data limit conclusions about employment or economic impact.

The committee was told the office began in January 2014 with one full-time equivalent employee and has grown to four FTEs. Leahy said OSBA handled 995 customers in 2024; nearly 900 of those had questions about state or federal programs and resources, and 57 were complaints seeking assistance. The office closed roughly 74 percent of cases within 10 days last year.

Leahy and other staff explained that OSBA defines a small business as a for-profit or nonprofit enterprise with 100 or fewer employees and estimates 99.4 percent of Oregon businesses meet that definition based on Secretary of State registrations adjusted by large-employer counts from the Oregon Employment Department. He cautioned the committee that the office's business-opening and -closure counts reflect registrations of all sizes, and that passive closures (businesses that simply do not renew registration) limit the ability to measure employees lost or gained.

"We consider a new business any new business registration," Ricardo Lujan Valerio of the Secretary of State's office told the committee, noting registration may reflect subsidiaries or assumed business names rather than newly created operations.

Committee members asked for more granular data. Representative Rob Osborne urged follow-up to understand closures in specific counties after the report showed Marion County adding about 2,800 registrations between December 2023 and December 2024 while Josephine County lost 75 registrations. OSBA staff said matching registrations to layoffs or employee counts requires coordination with other agencies and local partners.

Leahy described how OSBA triages contacts: many questions are redirected to the Corporation Division contact center or to specialized agencies, while the ombudsman works cases that lack a more appropriate agency. The office receives calls, emails and web-form submissions and attends community events across the state. Leahy said OSBA is not a regulator and cannot compel agencies or businesses to act; its cases commonly end in referrals or redirections.

OSBA highlighted recurring service areas: licensing requirements and tax obligations are the two most common topics; frequent cross-referrals involve the Department of Revenue, the Construction Contractors Board, Business Oregon, and the Bureau of Labor and Industries. Federal matters such as the Corporate Transparency Act and IRS employer identification questions also drove customer contacts in 2024.

Leahy said OSBA plans to expand outreach, publish refreshed handouts in English and Spanish (with additional translations intended), and update the Oregon Start a Business Guide and Oregon Employers Guide. He urged stronger interagency communication so businesses are not surprised by rule changes, citing the January 1 styrofoam-container ban as an example in which multiple agencies coordinated to help affected licensees.

Committee members requested OSBA follow up with agencies such as the Higher Education Coordinating Commission and local partners to try to match registration changes to employment impacts and WARN notices. OSBA staff said they would pursue offline coordination to identify layoffs and better contextualize county-level changes.

Leahy closed by urging continued collaboration and said the office will increase county visits and resource updates this year.

Less critical details: the report is distributed as a two-sided 11-by-17 poster, OSBA publishes quarterly newsletters with about 14,000 subscribers and maintains a legislative-tracking website that lists bills potentially affecting small businesses.