Lawmakers reconvene to tackle $350M transportation gap
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Legislators will gather again in Salem for a special session to tackle some urgent unfinished business: funding a $350 million transportation budget gap.
Why it matters: Friday's special session represents a high-stakes negotiation that could end with higher taxes for Oregonians — or hundreds of layoffs in the state's transportation sector.
Catch up quick: Funding for transportation was one of the biggest priorities heading into the regular legislative session.
- But the session wrapped in late June with Democratic lawmakers, who hold supermajorities in both houses, unable to come to a consensus on how to fill the budget gap.
- Funding from a transportation bill supports the state Department of Transportation, but also provides crucial monies for counties and cities to keep up with maintenance at the local level.
- Officials warned of dire impacts to road maintenance, winter plowing, crash response time and mass transit if lawmakers don't get a deal done.
By the numbers: Gov. Tina Kotek proposed a framework last month that includes a number of tax hikes and fee raises:
- The gas tax would jump from $0.40 to $0.46.
- Annual registration fees would double on most vehicles and title fees would nearly triple, from $77 to $216.
- Fuel-efficient and electric vehicles would see an increase in registration surcharges, and EVs would be subject to a mandatory road use fee starting in 2031.
All told, that proposal would raise $5.8 billion over the next decade, per the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Threat level: That's significantly less than the $14.6 billion package floated during the regular session for the next 10 years, but enough to stave off hundreds of layoffs the Department of Transportation faces if the funding bill fails.
What they're saying: "Without additional funding, we would be abandoning Oregon families from Brookings to Joseph who are counting on us to step up and keep roads maintained all year round," Kotek said in a written statement.
The other side: At a public hearing on the proposal, most attendees spoke in favor of the new bill, though written testimony suggested a different take, with many expressing frustration at another potential bump in taxes.
- "This massive tax hike is simply not justifiable," Portland resident Lindsey Marsh said in written testimony. "Find the money somewhere else, stop coming to the taxpayers with your hands out."
What we're watching: Special sessions are short, sometimes as short as one day, but occasionally have stretched into several weeks.
- Lawmakers have not indicated how long Friday's session could last.