Oregon gas tax defeat leaves road funding crisis unresolved

• The proposal to hike gas and payroll taxes, as well as vehicle registration fees, was crushed last week, with 83% of voters saying "no thanks."

What they're saying: Democratic leaders, who pushed to get Measure 120 onto the May primary ballot, blamed Trump for the defeat.

• Gov. Tina Kotek said it was the war in Iran and the resulting spike in gas prices that made the measure "nearly impossible for voters to support," per OPB.
• Yes, but: Kotek and other supporters of the measure mounted little visible public campaigning in support of it.

The other side: House Republican Leader Lucetta Elmer of McMinnville told the Oregonian the vote boiled down to one thing: "People can't afford higher taxes."

Catch up quick: Oregon's transportation funding woes are the result of structural issues within the Oregon Department of Transportation.

• Unlike many other states, Oregon's gas tax isn't tied to inflation.
• ODOT has also struggled to replace declining gas tax revenue as more drivers switch to electric vehicles, despite higher EV registration fees.
• Those factors together put the agency in a $354 million hole for the two-year cycle heading into the 2025 legislative session.

What's next: Despite the measure failing, ODOT doesn't expect massive immediate implications.

• The agency has left more than 100 jobs vacant, cut spending and reshuffled funding internally "to preserve essential services," ODOT spokesperson Kacey Davey told Axios in an email.
• Davey said those measures would keep the agency solvent through the end of next year, but added they were "a short-term measure, not a long-term solution."
• Kotek in March convened a workgroup of transportation experts to come up with solutions to the state's funding problems for the 2027 legislative session.

The bottom line: The workgroup's recommendations and the November election results could shape whether lawmakers revisit similar proposals next year.