Ask Our Experts 8/4/2019
Q: On your website, you refer to helping policymakers as well as investors and other industry stakeholders. What is an example of your involvement with government authorities?
A: Instances of how New Frontier Data engages with policymakers and regulators to help inform their programs and oversight efforts extend from the White House and Capitol Hill, to state houses, and municipal committees. Most recently, our Vice President and Senior Economist Beau Whitney last week attended a meeting of the Oregon Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. The council consists of select economists who work with the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis (OEA) several times throughout the year to offer inputs about the state of the economy whether on a global, national, or regional basis.
Based on such expert information, the OEA provides updates to Governor Kate Brown’s office and the Oregon State Legislature to assist in tracking the state’s budget and revenue forecast, and advise whether Oregon is generating too little or too much revenue relative to the forecast from the beginning of the budget biennium. Oregon’s budget protocol is unusual, insofar as if the state generates too much revenue when compared to its forecast, Oregon taxpayers are offered a refund check (known as a kicker). At times such amounts can be quite substantial, so the OEA tracks it very closely. Whitney has been participating in the council meetings since 2013.
Whitney likewise provides inputs to the OEA’s Recreational Marijuana Forecast advisory group, organized in 2017 to examine the current status of Oregon’s legal adult-use environment, and to forecast the state’s tax revenues derived from sales of adult-use cannabis in regulated retail outlets.
To inquire about engagement with New Frontier Data, please contact Spencer Bentley, Associate Director of Data Partnerships and Business Development, at sbentley@newfrontierdata.com.
