Now, with less than two weeks to go, at least two Democrats say they aren’t ready to vote yes and advance the bill out of committee.
Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, voiced concern over House Bill 2025 in a meeting with the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment on Tuesday.
“I am frustrated to the highest level,” Meek, a committee member, said. “And you can expect a no vote out of me right now.”
A single no vote could imperil the nearly $2 billion transportation package’s chances, assuming Republican committee members uniformly vote against it, as they are expected to do. A majority of the lawmakers on the committee must approve the bill for it to move to the floor of the legislative chamber.
Meek said lawmakers haven’t had enough time to assess a slew of new amendments introduced Tuesday, especially with a vote expected this week. In an interview Wednesday morning, he maintained his stance on the bill, which calls for significant tax and fee hikes to fund Oregon’s beleaguered infrastructure system and fill budget shortfalls facing the state transportation department.
“I just think we’re crossing the lines of what Oregonians are expecting of us, especially when it comes to paying for their repairs, maintenance, and investments in our highway structures,” said Meek.
Specifically, Meek voiced concerns about a new “transfer tax” on new and used vehicle sales that’s expected to bring in $265 million a year when up and running, according to a recent revenue analysis. But he’s not the only Democrat on the transportation committee who is concerned about the bill and the prospect of raising taxes at an economically tenuous moment for many Oregonians.
“I’m not a yes at this point,” Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, told OPB Wednesday. He added, “I think that we have to be very careful and balanced and make sure that whenever we increase taxes there’s a demonstrable benefit for the public.”
In an interview, Evans said that those working on the bill have so far been working together “in good faith,” but the bill now faces many competing priorities. The “best way to explain what’s going on is if you have a balloon, and somebody pokes one side of the balloon, the other side of the balloon pokes back out,” said Evans. “I think that the package is not quite ready.”
To move toward a yes vote, Evans said he wants to see ample oversight of the funds to cities and counties generated by the fuel tax, which allocates 50% of those funds to ODOT, 30% to counties and 20% to cities for transportation. He also wants lawmakers to prioritize plans to make Salem’s Center Street Bridge earthquake safe, a project in his legislative district that is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
“I’m not terribly excited about voting for a bill that puts the capital city last again in projects that are seen as legacy projects,” said Evans. He noted that the unfinished project was not prioritized in 2017, the last time the Legislature passed a major transportation package.
“I want it done,” he said of the project to seismically retrofit the bridge, which spans the Willamette River. ”It would be catastrophic to have a seismic event and have 45,000 people on one side of the river, unable to access the hospital where care can be provided, and as long as I live I’m going to be fighting to get that linkage fixed and rehabilitated.”
The tensions come at a critical moment for the package, estimated to bring in more than $1.8 billion per year in fiscal year 2029. Multiple new amendments — including those with additional incentives for electric vehicles and a tax on luxury vehicles — have been introduced as lawmakers have deliberated within the past two weeks.
Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove, said in a statement that the latest amendments “are a product of ongoing conversations among legislators, stakeholders, and community advocates.” They include changes to “the timeline and structure of proposed tax changes” and “strengthening accountability measures and clarifying legislative oversight of ODOT and major project delivery.”
“We’ve heard strong and diverse feedback throughout this process on the importance of getting this right,” said McLain, co-chair of the transportation committee. “Committee leaders are working to balance that feedback and ensure all voices are reflected in the final bill, while also recognizing the urgency of delivering a transportation package that addresses safety, deferred maintenance, and future funding stability for Oregonians.”
Sen. Chris Gorsek, a Gresham Democrat and key author of the bill, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.
Even if it passes through the committee, the bill will face a difficult path ahead. Democrats will need a supermajority in both chambers to pass it.
Meanwhile, Republicans are lining up behind a push to refer the package to voters. As of Wednesday, a political action committee created by Republicans to oppose the package had reported $193,000 in contributions in the span of a few days.
“Oregonians cannot afford to be all things to all people for these ultra-progressive Democrats’ wish list for the State of Oregon,” House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, said in a statement Tuesday night. “This is out of touch for everyday Oregonians. I will support efforts to refer this outrageous tax package to the voters.”
For months, Oregon lawmakers have been hearing from transportation leaders who say the state is in urgent need of a bill to maintain the state’s roads and bridges, fund increasingly expensive megaprojects and stave off 1,000 job cuts at ODOT. Evans, however, sees it differently: “I don’t believe we need to be in a hurry to force a bad outcome. That said, sometimes the best deals happen when there is a sense of urgency.”
“I think there’s a 50% chance it comes together and that it actually is good,” said Evans. “I think there’s a 50% chance we don’t get it together and we come and re-attack it another time. Unlike some, I refuse to accept this narrative that the opposition party wants to put around us, that if we don’t come up with a package, we fail.”
Meek acknowledged that the economic challenges are part of the reason why he can’t support some of the new and higher taxes proposed through the bill, including raising the state’s 40-cent-per-gallon gas tax by 15 cents, which he called “inappropriate right now, in light of what our families are experiencing with both inflation and loss of economic certainty.”
“There’s a lot of folks being laid off right now from all types of agencies,” said Meek, referring to the Trump administration’s mass firings of federal employees. He added, “We need to be very cautious of putting more burden on our families at these trying times.”
But he said he could still be persuaded to change his vote.
“I’m willing to pass a package which will keep (ODOT) whole, get down to basics and fundamentals of what ODOT needs right now,” said Meek. “We can get a package done. But we don’t need a lot of fluff. We need to get it back to basics and fundamentals.”
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.