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Washington Subcontractors Can Seek Bond for Early Release of Retainage
Governor Jay Inslee recently signed into law Washington House Bill 1538 which authorizes subcontractors on public projects to request the prime contractor submit to the public owner a bond to release its portion of the retainage before the public pro...
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Hidden Hazards: Oregon Proposes New Burdens on Charities Seeking Property Tax Exemption
Oregon has a long tradition of narrowing the scope of the property tax exemption afforded to charities operating in the state. This tradition is alive and well in 2017, as the Oregon legislature contemplates imposing an annual reporting requirement o...
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A Light in the Darkness: The “Small Business Know-Before-You-Bid Construction Transparency Act of 2017”
Federal government contracting comes with a myriad of challenges, not the least of which are sometimes opaque procedures for getting paid (or taking action if you’re not getting paid). A bill has just been introduced in the House of Representatives t...
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Environmental Groups Seek to Kill "Zombie Permits"
Environmental groups recently sued the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) over its alleged failure to renew permits in a timely manner. Most permits issued by DEQ under the Clean Water Act have an initial term of five years. According...
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City of Corvallis Loses the First Round of the Voter Annexation Fight
On February 24, 2017, Judge Matthew J. Donohue, Benton County Circuit Court, released a decision upholding SB 1573, which exempts certain annexations from voter approval. A number of cities in Oregon have home rule charter provisions that require vot...
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IRS: "Shea It Ain't So!" The Ninth Circuit Opens The Door For Real Estate Developers to Defer Income Tax
In a coup for real estate developers, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the U.S. Tax Court's approval of a real estate developer's strategy to defer income in Shea Homes, Inc. v. Commissioner, 834 F.3d 1061 (9th Cir. 2016). The strategy appears fairly narro...
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