In a stunning 11th hour loss for Democrats, lawmakers in Oregon’s majority party advanced a transportation package Friday that would deliver only a fraction of new revenue compared to earlier proposals.
It represented a huge setback for Democrats, who had planned to pass an array of tax and fee hikes this year to secure more funding to maintain Oregon’s roads and bridges and finish major interstate upgrades first approved in 2017.
The slimmed down funding proposal, crafted by Democratic leaders after they realized they did not have enough votes in both chambers to push through a heftier package, would increase the state’s gas tax from 40 cents to 43 cents and raise title and registration fees by $21 and $91, respectively.
The package would bring in about $215 million per year starting in 2027 — a paltry amount compared to a previously proposed transportation package that would have eventually raised about $1.6 billion per year.
Democrats in support of the new, slimmer plan, including Gov. Tina Kotek, acknowledged that it will not fund many of the state’s transportation needs to the extent initially desired. But they said passing the slim package was preferable to not taking any action and forcing the Oregon Department of Transportation to cut services and lay off workers.
“No one is arguing that this solution is sufficient. It is a Band-Aid in every sense of the word,” Kotek told lawmakers during a public hearing Friday. “It leaves (behind) communities and local governments who are relying on state funds.”
Unlike previous transportation proposals put forward this session, which would have allocated significant dollars to public transit and local governments, all of the new revenue in this proposal would go to the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Leaders of the state agency have said it needs an influx of money to avoid mass layoffs and cuts to services.
The proposal passed the House Rules Committee Friday evening on a 4-3 party line vote, with only Democrats in support. Republicans, who have for months criticized Democrats for proposing any tax increases this year, all voted against the bill.
House Speaker Julie Fahey, a Eugene Democrat, crafted the proposal in the final days of this year’s legislative session after it became clear Democrats did not have enough votes to pass an earlier transportation package that would have raised the gas tax to a greater extent and implemented an array of other tax and fee hikes.
Local officials from across the state urged lawmakers not to pass the new package, emphasizing their desperate need for money for local road and bridge repair. Several of them asked lawmakers to attempt to find a path to pass the much larger, earlier crafted transportation package.
“We ask you to oppose this bill and take the time we need to make this transportation (package) right,” Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty said during a public hearing leading up to the vote. “Don’t pass this package. Don’t wrap a yes vote up with the justification that this is a noble act.”
The severely dialed back package retained some provisions from the previous one, including rules to increase oversight of the Oregon Department of Transportation by requiring more frequent audits.
While transit advocates, environmentalists and local officials condemned the new package and urged lawmakers to revive the earlier proposal, Republicans celebrated the death of the proposed tax hikes included in the previous bill.
Although Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers, meaning they could theoretically pass any tax increases along party lines, they failed to convince every Democrat in the Senate to support more substantial tax increases, resulting in the new proposal.
“This is a huge win for Oregonians,” Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham of The Dalles said in a press release Friday night. “Thousands of people spoke up and said to the Democrat supermajority and Gov. Kotek: enough is enough.”
— Carlos Fuentes covers state politics and government. Reach him at 503-221-5386 or cfuentes@oregonian.com.