Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposal to raise billions for road maintenance and public transit in the coming decade advanced by the barest of margins Monday.
The Oregon House passed House Bill 3991 by a vote of 36-12, the minimum number of yes votes required to approve the suite of tax increases the governor has put forward.
The vote means that a special session Kotek called in order to avert laying off hundreds of state employees is a step closer to completion, after initially being plagued by delay and gridlock. That movement wouldn’t have been possible Monday without Republican help.
State Rep. Cyrus Javadi, R-Tillamook, crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats on the package, rescuing the bill from what would have been an ignominious defeat. Javadi, a moderate maverick who sided with Democrats on a number of contentious issues during the regular session this year, acknowledged he might be torpedoing his political career.
“I’ve received a lot of phone calls — sometimes at 10 o’clock at night — from people I have never met in my life asking me to vote no and threatening me that I will lose my job,” said Javadi, who argued new revenue was necessary to ensure state roads are passable. “To them I say: I think my job’s worth the handful of jobs it’s going to save in Astoria if it comes to that. Or the hundreds more it’s going to save across the state.”
HB 3991 now moves to the Senate, where margins may be similarly tight.
Oregon Democrats possess the three-fifths majorities in each chamber necessary to pass tax increases. But the party hasn’t moved in lockstep on the notion of ratcheting up fuel taxes, vehicle registration fees and employee payroll taxes as Kotek has proposed.
In the House on Monday, Democratic Rep. Annessa Hartman of Gladstone refused to support the bill, saying residents of her suburban Portland district oppose higher taxes and don’t trust the Oregon Department of Transportation, the agency the bill is seeking to bail out.
“They’re fed up [that] the first answer to our problems is always increasing costs for working families,” Hartman said. “They’re fed up with poor project management and they’re frustrated with the lack of oversight and accountability.”
That sentiment was in line with the public stance of most Republicans, who have torn into Kotek and Democratic leaders for opting to hike taxes on residents. The GOP has argued the state should instead pull money from public transit, climate initiatives, bicycle and pedestrian projects and more to avert layoffs.
The party even brought a visual aid to drive home the point: a massive stack of pages that Republicans said amounted to all the written testimony against the bill dwarfed a smaller pile of supportive comments.
“If this Legislature can’t even acknowledge overwhelming public opposition, is it any wonder Oregonians feel unheard and underrepresented?” said state Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio.
Others commented on the irony of Democrats pushing to double a payroll tax paid by Oregon workers on Labor Day. Under the latest version of the bill, the existing 0.1% tax would be doubled to 0.2% for two years.
“I can’t even believe we’re doing it,” said House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby. “I cannot believe that today we are coming into the chamber to double the payroll tax on Oregon workers.”
But Democrats countered that the new taxes, while perhaps unpopular, were a necessary step in order to avoid a future in which roads aren’t reliably plowed, potholes fester, and major rockslides and other emergencies aren’t addressed in remote parts of the state.
Without at least $290 million in new funding, ODOT says it will lay off around 10% of its workers and close maintenance stations around the state.
“Right now ODOT has a sucking chest wound,” said state Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth. “We can all sit around and watch the patient die, debating life choices. But the fact of the matter is weather’s coming and our counties and our cities and our state need folks out there on the roads to make sure people can get from here to there.”
Kotek’s funding bill is a far cry from the more ambitious funding package Democrats attempted to pass earlier this year. But the bill contains some big revenue drivers. Following concessions made to Republicans on Sunday, it’s expected to raise about $4.3 billion in its first decade.
Among it’s provisions, HB 3991 would:
- Raise the state’s 40-cent-per-gallon gas tax to 46 cents beginning in January. That change is expected to raise around $90 million per year.
- Hike vehicle title and registration fees Oregon motorists pay. Registration fees would increase by $42 and titling fees by $139. Electric vehicles, which do not pay gas taxes, would be required to pay an additional $30 on top of existing fees.
- Double the payroll tax that currently takes 0.1% out of workers’ paychecks to support public transit. The increase was initially expected to be ongoing, but Democrats agreed to limit it to two years under pressure from Republicans.
- Require drivers of electric vehicles and hybrids to enroll in the state’s OReGo program, which charges drivers for miles driven. Such a shift is considered necessary for funding road projects as EVs continue to gain popularity and gas tax revenue is expected to decline.
- Require more frequent auditing of the Oregon Department of Transportation so lawmakers have better insight into the progress and cost of major road projects. Those accountability measures are a response to backlash over huge cost increases of ODOT projects.
- Eliminate existing statutory language requiring tolling for some highway projects. That language has caused heartburn for some lawmakers, even though Kotek paused tolling plans last year.
