A transportation funding bill that was a major priority for Gov. Tina Kotek in August has sat, unsigned, on the governor’s desk for nearly a month.
That’s a problem for enemies of the measure, which will hike gas taxes and other transportation-related fees by more than $4 billion in its first decade. Each day that Kotek withholds her signature is a day that opponents cannot collect signatures to force a public vote on the tax hike a year from now.
Kotek has until Nov. 12 to sign the bill. Republicans who have vowed to put the tax increases before voters have until Dec. 30 to amass roughly 78,000 signatures.
“No updates to share,” a spokeswoman for Kotek said last week when asked about the governor’s plans. Kotek previously told OPB she would sign the bill “by the time I need to have it signed.”
Pressure is building. GOP lawmakers have insisted Kotek is standing in the way of the public process by trying to hamper their referendum petition. The campaign to fight the transportation taxes is touting polling data that suggests 86% of likely Oregon voters would sign a petition to ask voters to reject the new taxes, and 67% would vote to repeal them.
“I think it’s pretty outrageous,” said state Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, who is helping lead the referendum campaign against Kotek’s bill. “I know that she views it to her political advantage, but it’s not a good look.”
Even a couple of Democrats are weighing in. State Sens. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, and Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, sent separate letters to Kotek on Oct. 22 urging her to sign the bill.
“Observers across the political spectrum seem to agree that the purpose of the delay is to minimize the available time that opponents of the bill would have to gather the signatures needed for a ballot measure to repeal it,” Golden wrote. “If that’s accurate — and I haven’t heard any other interpretation — the strategy runs squarely against some of our core values as Democrats: open government, citizen empowerment, transparency.”
Sollman, who like Golden is up for possible re-election next year, offered a similar take. She wrote to the governor that “preserving the full opportunity for civic participation is essential to democratic governance, and I worry that waiting until the statutory deadline risks undermining public trust in that process and in the fairness of our decision making.”
It’s not clear how many others in Sollman and Golden’s party share the concern. The Legislature’s top two Democrats, House Speaker Julie Fahey and Senate President Rob Wagner, would not answer questions about their feelings on the matter.
Some of those with the most to gain from Kotek’s transportation bill, House Bill 3991, have supported Kotek’s strategy. Service Employees International Union Local 503 has hundreds of members who could be laid off without the new money the bill sends to the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The union, a longtime political ally of the governor, said last month it favored any tactic that would “protect the safety of our roads and our members’ jobs.”
Cities and counties are also looking forward to road funding promised to them in Kotek’s bill, and the state’s freight interests backed the legislation because it simplifies how they are taxed.
Diehl believes the governor’s gambit will backfire. As Kotek waits to sign the bill, he said the campaign has amassed more than 2,000 volunteers willing to circulate petitions.
“We have assembled a volunteer army that is a lot bigger than we’d set out to build,” he said. “I’m confident that we’re going to get these signatures in short order.”
The campaign plans to hold what Diehl called a “mega event” on Nov. 22, sending hordes of signature gatherers to fan out throughout Oregon to reach its goal.
Kotek’s transportation bill contained a lot in its 48 pages, and opponents don’t plan to challenge the entire package. Provisions to increase oversight of the state transportation department, tweak taxes on heavy trucks, and require drivers of electric vehicles and hybrids to begin paying a fee for every mile they drive won’t be part of the referendum push, Diehl said.
The campaign will ask voters to reject or approve a six-cent increase to the state’s gas tax, sizable hikes to vehicle titling and registration fees, and the temporary doubling of a 0.1% Oregon workers already pay from their paychecks to fund public transit.
Those tax increases are currently scheduled to kick in next year, but if Diehl and his allies secure enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, they would be suspended until a vote can be held in November 2026. That would immediately revive talks about major layoffs at ODOT.
The agency said this year it would need to fire nearly 500 workers — about 10% of its workforce — without new money brought in by the bill.
