A Penny for Your Thoughts: The City’s $10 Million Question (and a 0.1% Answer) August 28, 2025 The City of Bellingham has recently floated the idea of a new sales tax — specifically, a 0.1% increase. Yes, that’s one-tenth of one percent. On paper, that means if you buy a $10 sandwich, you’d pay an [...]
Cross-Border Update: “Thank a Canuck for Spending a Buck”… and Don’t Cheese Them Off July 2025 Many of you will recognize the phrase above — a favorite of the always-memorable Mike Kent, a beloved member of our business community. He’d say it on his KGMI radio show, at events, and pretty much anywhere he could. [...]
Working More Than 40 Hours a Week? Here’s What You Should Know About Overtime in Washington State Did you know that in Washington State, most employees must be paid overtime for any hours worked over 40 in a single workweek? Overtime pay is calculated at 1.5 times your regular hourly rate, and it [...]
Independence and Interdependence: Supporting Our Local Economy This July Monday, June 30, 2025 As we gather with friends and family to celebrate the Fourth of July — a day rooted in the ideals of independence, resilience, and shared purpose — it’s a fitting time to reflect on what those values mean for our local community [...]
Leadership Starts with Showing Up May 29, 2025 With everything going on in the world lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership — specifically, the opportunities we have to lead and the gaps where leadership is needed. Before I go too far down that path, I want to share what I believe is one [...]
Tariffs, Taxes, and Minimum Wage ... Oh my April 24, 2025 It seems that at every level of government, decisions are having a direct impact on our local business community. Consumer confidence is faltering—and based on conversations with many of you, business and economic confidence may be even more fragile. Tariffs and Cross Border Business [...]
Employers Guide to Workers’ Rights: Join our Live Webinar! Looking for a refresher on current workplace rights? Whether you are an employer, HR professional, or employee, understanding these rights and the latest compliance updates is essential to creating a fair and compliant workplace. We are excited to invite you to our upcoming live [...]
A Fond Farewell to The Chamber Personality Liz Leighton, 1951-2025 A little-known fact, known only to a few of the people who have worked for the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, is there is a qualification in each of our staff job descriptions: Must have a chamber personality. It is my assumption that each of [...]
Prepare Your Business for 2025: Join Our Live Webinar As the new year approaches, it’s time to ensure your business is ready for the changes and opportunities ahead. We are excited to invite you to a live webinar featuring Andrew Bryan, Small Business Liaison from the WA Dept. of Labor and Industries, who [...]
New Wildfire Smoke Rules for Workers: What You Need to Know As of January 15, 2024, new wildfire smoke rules are in effect to protect outdoor workers from the harmful chemicals and fine particles in wildfire smoke. These rules aim to safeguard the health of those who spend significant time working outdoors, where [...]
Does your Business have an Accident Prevention Program? Are you aware that Washington State requires every employer to create a written Accident Prevention Program (APP)? From small businesses, to logging or firefighters, having a safety program is a must! Fortunately, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries has a ton of [...]
Vote No Again The proponents say this initiative is for affordability. We agree our community is not affordable for many of our residents. Unfortunately, the primary thing this initiative will do is simply make things more expensive – thus decreasing everyone’s affordability. If a higher minimum wage leads to affordability, we should already be affordable [...]
Young Professionals recognized with the 2023 Top 7 Under 40 September 14, 2023 Tomorrow’s leaders are here today working in positions behind the senses and in those of prominence. The Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Whatcom Young Professionals, a chamber program, recently announced this year’s Top 7 Under 40. This is our [...]
Working Together for Additional Public Safety Solutions The Downtown Bellingham Partnership, in collaboration with the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and a group of community-minded leaders and business owners, are working together to encourage additional public safety solutions and investment in Downtown Bellingham. Since mid-2021, the Downtown Bellingham Partnership and the City of Bellingham [...]
Why "Yes for Kids" October 12, 2022 You may have seen our name as a supporter of the Healthy Children's Fund (Prop 5) to be on the ballot in November. Yes, you read that correctly. As an organization that values efficient and effective government with smart taxation, it may be a bit surprising to see [...]
Thank you Mayor Fleetwood Climate Action Fund proposal has been paused Wednesday, June 22, 2022 Last night the City of Bellingham issued a press release regarding the newly proposed Climate Action Fund levy originally scheduled to be on the ballot this November 2022. We value this prudent decision for a number of reasons. We would [...]
How NOAH concepts can help the Whatcom County rental market May 25, 2022 We hear a lot about the need for affordable housing in Whatcom County. But what, exactly, makes housing affordable? Elements such as vacancy rates, property size, location and building condition play large roles in the cost of rental housing in any community. [...]
The Junior Ski to Sea Race and Parade events have been canceled for the third year in a row; however, plans are in the works for one of those events — the Junior Ski to Sea Race — to return under the management of Whatcom Events in 2023. A volunteer-based nonprofit organization, Whatcom Events owns [...]
Guy Occhiogrosso, President/CEO, handed the reigns of this month’s blog over to Schantell. We hope you find insight in her words and interest in the perspective. My name is Schantell Hummel, and I was hired in August 2021 as the Chamber’s program and event coordinator. I am responsible for planning, supporting and executing our programs [...]
The future of a thriving Bellingham relies on a willingness to say ‘yes’ to more pro-housing solutions Like the rest of Washington state, Bellingham and Whatcom County are continuing to recover from the human and economic tolls of COVID-19. Today, the county is outpacing the state in terms of the total population vaccinated, with 66% [...]
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