Gov. Tina Kotek to OR lawmakers: ‘Your work is not done’ on transportation bill

PORTLAND, Ore (KOIN) — After the Oregon Legislative Session concluded for the year late Friday night, Governor Tina Kotek held a press conference the following morning acknowledging “major progress” in certain areas. However, she had choice words to say on the transportation bill which has yet to pass.

State lawmakers faced

a mountain of bills this session, coming in at 2,200. This marks the most in a quarter-century, running the gamut from important issues such as housing and education to trivial matters such as cleaning up administrative language.

Gov. Kotek said she came into this legislative session with “clear priorities for the state,” including working to solve the homelessness crisis, housing supply issues, mental health and addiction treatment, improving schools, as well as dedicated funds for wildfire fighting and prevention.

“We had success in all of those areas,” she said. “We made progress, it was good work, it was bipartisan progress, particularly in the area of housing. A lot of work together – Republicans and Democrats to work on our housing ad homelessness crisis – and we have more work to do.”

However, issues began to arise when House Rules Committee discussed the amendment to HB 3402, looking to bridge the ODOT’s funding gap, after a slimmed-down version of HB 2025 died on the House floor.

ODOT has said if its $350 million shortfall is not addressed, several hundred jobs will be on the chopping block. The new amendment featured bumps to registration and titling fees, with a 3-cent increase to the gas tax, allowing for all that money to go to ODOT.

Republicans largely said working Oregonians don’t want more taxes. This led lawmakers to “not produce anything on transportation that we need in the state” by Friday night, concluding the legislative session two days before it constitutionally had to end, according to Kotek.

“Republican leadership in both the House and Senate refused to provide that collaborative procedural motion to move a bill that had the votes forward to pay for basic transportation services in our state,” she added. “What didn’t happen was support from Republican leaders who just wanted to go home. So here we are.”

Kotek previously stated that the possible ODOT job cuts include roles like incident response teams and maintenance crews, which would be “unacceptable” for Oregonians.

Without the funding, ODOT could face 700-800 layoffs on Monday.

Given this, Kotek said she is not giving up on the bill, telling lawmakers, “your work is not done.”

“Legislators will be hearing from me,” she said. “Because all 90 lawmakers and all the communities they represent depend on the Oregon Department of Transportation to support vital services. This conversation will continue.”

Another bill centering on banning student cell phones in schools statewide also did not pass. But Kotek noted she is still considering making that happen.

What’s more, with 30 days to sign bills into law, the governor can choose to call lawmakers back into a special session.