Has Oregon always automatically followed the federal definition of taxable income?
No. Oregon’s Constitution prohibits the state Legislative Assembly from delegating lawmaking authority to Congress, except with regard to the definition of taxable income. That exception was carved out by a 1969 constitutional amendment that authorized, but did not require, the Legislative Assembly to automatically connect to changes in the definition of federal taxable income. Following that amendment, the legislature automatically connected to federal tax code changes, a practice known as rolling or automatic reconnect. Thus, whenever Congress changed the definition of taxable income, the change automatically applied in Oregon. That practice, however, was short lived. In 1971, after the Legislative Assembly adjourned, Congress enacted changes that created a budget deficit in Oregon, necessitating a special session later that year. Having been burned by automatic reconnect, the Legislative Assembly subsequently removed it from the statutes and returned to picking and choosing which fe
