Oregon House again delays vote to reschedule transportation tax election from November to May

By Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle

SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon Legislature yet again delayed a vote on one of the most politically contentious bills of the year’s short legislative session, to reschedule a referendum on transportation tax and fee increases from November to May.

Lawmakers in the Oregon House on Thursday agreed to push Senate Bill 1599 to Monday for consideration, despite it being listed on the agenda for a vote on Thursday. One of the state’s top election officials had urged lawmakers to pass the bill and get Gov. Tina Kotek’s signature by Wednesday because of approaching deadlines for the May election. 

The loose Wednesday deadline, according to Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, would have given his office enough time to ensure Oregonians who wish to submit arguments for or against the measure in the state-issued voter’s pamphlet can gather signatures instead of paying a $1,200 fee.

The Senate passed the legislation on Monday mostly along party lines, with one moderate Democrat dissenting, after a one-day walkout by Republicans that threatened to derail Democrats’ plans to move the election date. Thursday’s move in the House allowed them to proceed with less controversial legislation while avoiding the potential of another walkout by House Republicans, who boycotted their chamber on Monday after the Senate sent them the election-shifting legislation.

A spokesperson for House Speaker Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, did not immediately return an inquiry about the move to push back the vote.

Rep. Ed Diehl, a Scio Republican running for governor, urged his colleagues to consider the entirety of the legislation when they vote on Monday. He pointed to provisions which would allow a joint legislative committee to create the explanatory statement for the referendum in the state’s voters’ pamphlet, as well as the bill’s financial estimate. 

“This bill is not simply the scheduling decision,” he said Thursday. “It restructures how information about the referendum is produced and who prepares that information.”

The gas tax transportation referendum has become a political lightning rod for lawmakers over cost of living issues in the state of Oregon, with Republicans slamming the state’s Democratic leadership for passing unpopular legislation during a fall special session to raise the gas tax, car registration and title fees and the payroll tax used for public transit. Republicans have vowed to fight the move to shift the election date in the courts, should Democrats’ effort pass.

State law mandates that any person who wants to have a line in the state’s voter pamphlet must either pay a $1,200 fee or file 500 signatures. If a person or group chooses the latter, then the secretary of state must verify those signatures by March 12. After lawmakers blew past his agency’s original Wednesday deadline, Read warned them that such a delay could “impact Oregonians’ ability to make an informed decision about the referendum and for proponents or opponents to make their voices heard.” 

A spokesperson for Read declined to comment further Thursday.

Democrats, in turn, have said that new revenue sources are needed to plug the transportation department’s declining revenue driven by declining gas tax revenue and inflation. The agency faces a $242 million budget hole in the 2025-27 budget alone, and it would have to lay off nearly 500 workers if lawmakers don’t come to a compromise. Gov. Tina Kotek has said an answer is needed from voters as soon as possible. 

The  “No Tax Oregon” campaign, led by Diehl and other Republicans, received enough signatures to pause new revenue streams from the tax increases until a November referendum. 

Many Republicans have portrayed the Democratic attempt to reschedule the referendum as an attempt to ensure an unpopular initiative is not on the same general election ballot as Kotek and Democratic legislators. Two top Oregon Democrats, Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, and Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, publicly acknowledged the political calculus behind the move, though a spokesperson for Wagner tried to downplay his comments.

“Both parties want the election date they want for partisan political reasons. Everyone in this chamber knows it,” Golden told his colleagues on Monday. “Most Oregonians who are paying attention know it. And if we imagine otherwise, we are greatly underestimating the intelligence of Oregonians.”

In the meantime, the budget gap facing the Oregon Department of Transportation continues to loom. Lawmakers this session had to weigh which programs within the agency to temporarily cut and redirect toward this gap, or face the prospect of leaving 150 positions vacant and laying off nearly 500 workers. 

Kotek told reporters Tuesday that lawmakers had reached a compromise on which transportation programs to cut, but offered few specifics on the depth of those changes. The details of such a compromise have not yet been made publicly available, allowing lawmakers to avoid any pushback from transportation workers or union leaders who hold significant political sway in Salem. 

But the governor maintained that the plan focuses on savings from job vacancies, avoiding  layoffs, and taking funding from infrastructure improvement projects that have yet to begin.

“Tough choices were made to get to our compromise,” she said. “And no one loves the proposal, but it will make sure that the agency can function through the end of the biennium and past the end of the biennium to provide basic services: Plowing roads, operating DMVs, things like that.”

Capital Chronicle reporter Mia Maldonado contributed to this report