Brown said the four bills, dubbed the "Fair Shot" agenda, will
help working, low-income families by ensuring a living wage,
retirement security and protection against racial profiling by
police.
"Our work is not done. There are still people with full-time jobs
who are unable to make ends meet," Brown said in a statement. "We
must carry on the fight to ensure all Oregonians have the
opportunity to earn a living wage."
The measures, passed by the state's majority-Democrat legislature,
were backed by a coalition of unions, social service groups, health
care non-profits and minority-advocacy groups.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jul/14/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png) With the passage of the bills, Oregon became the first state in the
nation to automatically enroll residents in a defined-contribution
plan if they are hired by an employer that does not already offer
retirement benefits, according to the task force that designed the
measure.
Workers will have the right to opt out of the plan.
The package of bills also made Oregon the fourth state to require
all businesses, with limited exceptions, to provide paid sick leave
to their workers, after Connecticut, California and Massachusetts.
The law applies to all private-sector employers, regardless of their
primary place of business, and allows workers to accrue up to 40
hours of sick leave annually.
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Republicans decried the new bills, saying the measures will hurt
small business owners and do nothing to create jobs.
In a statement, Republicans said the new sick-leave mandate will
cost businesses $914 million, while the new retirement program for
private-sector workers created an "expensive government mandate on
Oregonians while doing nothing to increase incomes across the
state".
The two other "Fair Shot" laws signed by Brown on Monday prohibit
employers from asking job candidates about criminal records before
the interview stage and outlaws racial, ethnic and religious
profiling by police.
(Editing by Victoria Cavaliere and Miral Fahmy)
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