Pressure grows on lawmakers to pass transportation bill

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – As new developments this week continue shrouding the 2017 legislative session in uncertainty, local leaders and special interest groups are trying to put pressure on Oregon lawmakers to pass a transportation measure.

On Tuesday, more than two dozen mayors, county leaders and mass transit officials from the metro Portland area signed a letter to lawmakers urging them not to leave Salem without having approved a long-term, $8.2 billion transportation infrastructure package.

That bipartisan proposal, a top priority for Gov. Kate Brown, is the culmination of almost two years worth of work that many assumed would’ve been a done deal by now.

Yet it remains in limbo today, as Democrats, Republicans, environmentalists and others argue over details such as the low-carbon fuel standard.

As a tax measure, it needs supermajority support in both chambers.