Oregonians sound off ahead of transportation special session

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon residents are giving their lawmakers an earful ahead of Friday’s special session called by Gov. Tina Kotek to deal with a transportation funding shortfall.

Legislators will consider Kotek’s proposal — called Legislative Concept 2 (LC2) — to address the state’s transportation needs and prevent hundreds of layoffs at the Oregon Department of Transportation.

LC2 raises taxes and fees to pay for road maintenance, ODOT operations, transportation funding to municipalities and prevent those massive layoffs.

A 6-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax is one part of Kotek’s proposal. It’s projected to pump $791 million into the state highway fund over the next 2 years.

Beyond the gas tax increase, the package includes:

• Significant increases in annual registration fees, nearly double for passenger vehicles
• Another big increase in title fees
• Doubling the payroll tax to support public transit
• Additional surcharges for fuel efficient vehicles
• Phasing in mandatory road usage charges for EVs

More than 60 Oregonians testified during Monday’s 3-hour public hearing of the Joint Interim Committee on Transportation Funding. There was no unanimity among those who spoke, including Melissa Unger, retired Colonel Rick Kofel and Portland residents Angela Todd and Les Poole.

“This package, if it does not pass by September 15, a thousand positions will be lost and 500 people will lose their jobs,” said Unger with the Service Employees International Union.

Kofel, who lives in Sisters, said, “The idea of raising fees and taxes on Oregonians to make them pay for the (mistakes) that have been made in the past is just wrong.”

“I’m not ignoring need here,” Todd said at the meeting. “I am pointing to financial mismanagement that must stop.”

Poole agreed. “It’s very clear that ODOT is poorly managed.”

ODOT accountability is a big issue for opponents of the measure as well as the higher taxes and fees. These are the same issues the led Republicans to derail the transportation funding during the regular session.

But Kotek said this is a smaller package with more accountability for ODOT.

“What we’re going to do is make sure that your roads, your bridges are safe and maintained, no matter what time of the year it is,” Kotek said. “And that’s why this package has to pass.”

But even if LC2 passes during this special session, it only addresses immediate transportation needs over the next 2 years. Oregon will still need a long-term transportation funding solution, especially since the state can expect less help from the federal government.