Transportation Committee votes to advance Oregon transportation package

SALEM, Ore. (KGW) — A major transportation package under development in the Oregon Legislature cleared a key procedural hurdle Friday. The Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment voted 7-5 to advance the proposed Transportation Reinvestment Package (TRIP) bill during a work session late in the afternoon, sending it onward for floor votes.

The vote came about two days after the Legislative Revenue Office released its first Revenue Impact Statement for the package, which estimated that the bill would bring in about $14.6 billion in new revenue for transportation over the next 10 years.

The proposed package, House Bill 2025, was largely authored by Democrats and relies on a host of new or hiked taxes and fees to raise the revenue, including a gas tax hike, a new per-mile tax for electric vehicles and a new point-of-sale fee on car purchases, with the ultimate goal of solving the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT)'s chronic budget woes.

Most of the revenue would go to the State Highway Fund, which pays for basic operations and road maintenance at ODOT, as well as county and city transportation departments. It would also set aside $250 million per biennium for major projects like the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter expansion, as well as increased funding for priorities like passenger rail and public transit.

Republicans have been highly critical of the Democrats' TRIP proposal, arguing that the legislature should put a stronger focus on financial accountability at ODOT and plug the budget gap by reallocating existing funding rather than raising taxes and fees. Republicans introduced a bill for their own proposal earlier this month.

The committee work session on Friday mainly focused on an amendment titled -23, which makes a series of tweaks throughout the bill but keeps the broader structure intact. It was submitted by the committee co-chairs, Democrats Rep. Susan McLain and Sen. Chris Gorsek, who also led the drafting of the original bill. 

The Revenue Office estimate — updated Friday to cover the -23 amendment — projects that the bill would bring in just over $1 billion in new revenue during the 2025-27 biennium, jumping to $2.5 billion in 2027-29. Revenue would rise to about $3.4 billion in 2029-31, then about $3.7 billion in 2031-33 and finally just under $4 billion in 2033-35.

Oregon Senate President’s Office told KGW that -23 is "in large part ... a technical amendment, plus some DMV fees were reduced and new studies were added."

Tax increases require a three-fifths majority to pass in the Oregon Legislature, and Democrats have the exact requisite number of seats in each chamber, meaning the bill won't make it to Gov. Tina Kotek's desk without securing either unanimous Democratic support or a few Republican votes.

Earlier this week, it began to look like the bill might be struggling to make it to the floor in the first place. OPB reported Wednesday that Democratic Sen. Mark Meek, D-Oregon City, said he wouldn't vote to advance the current version of the bill out of the committee. Democrats control the committee, but they only hold seven of the 12 seats, and the bill needs majority support to advance.

Another twist came Friday afternoon when the Oregon Capital Chronicle's Julia Shumway reported that Senate President Rob Wagner had ousted Meek from the committee and installed himself as a replacement. Meek was still present on the dais during Friday's work session, but so was Wagner, and as of Friday afternoon, the committee's webpage on the legislature's website had replaced Meek with Wagner on the committee's roster.

The Republican version also got a committee vote Friday, in sort of a roundabout way; co-vice chair Rep. Shelly Boshart-Davis at one point moved for a vote on a proposed amendment that would've rewritten nearly all of the bill, essentially substituting in the Republican plan. The motion failed 5-7.

Republican Rep. Kevin Mannix also proposed his own amendment that he presented as more of a compromise between the two approaches, with some of the tax hikes dropped and others maintained but at lower amounts, and with some of the transit funding from the Democratic version also maintained.

Democratic Sen. Khanh Pham replied that primary version of the bill was already a compromise, noting that Rep. Mark Gamba had put forth another amendment that would've provided greater support for electrification, transit and climate priorities. Mannix's amendment also failed.

The -23 amendment ultimately passed, and Gorsek immediately moved to advance the now-amended HB 2025 out of committee and onward to the floor. 

Ahead of the vote, Meek stated that he had been removed from the committee due to his opposition to the bill, and that he planned to vote against it on the Senate floor. He added that he would've been willing to vote for a tax increase to help fix ODOT's budget crunch, but he couldn't support the full bill as written and objected to the rushed and last-minute way it had been drafted.

"I was removed from this committee because of my opposition to this bill and my opposition to the process in which we have been rushing, I would say, this bill through," Meek said, adding that he supports local highway repairs — just not with this bill. 

"I'm ready to vote on a tax increase at this year to make ODOT whole, to do the work ODOT needs, and Oregonians want to see filling potholes and fixing bridges, all the rest, but this is not the solution at this time," he declared. 

Republicans also weighed in, calling it the largest tax hike in state history, with Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Polk and Yamhill counties, saying, "The idea that we will forever let gas taxes and diesel taxes go up according to inflation — it's absolutely the reverse; it's the flip side of accountability."

Supporters said the package may not be perfect, but it's crucial. 

"At this moment, I just think the stakes are really high, and I don't think Oregonians can afford to take the damage and hurt that we'll cause if we just kick the can down the road," Pham said.

The bill will head next to the House floor for a vote next week, according to a news release from Democrats just after the committee vote.