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In a stunning 11th hour loss for Democrats, Oregon lawmakers failed to
advance a transportation package Friday that would have secured more
funding for basic maintenance and upgrades to highways and bridges across Oregon.

In the final minutes of this year�s legislative session, Democrats also
failed to advance a slimmed-down stopgap package that would have delivered
only a fraction of new transportation revenue compared to earlier
proposals.

Instead, lawmakers ended the session shortly before midnight, having
failed to secure more dollars for the Oregon Department of Transportation, public transit, electric vehicle infrastructure, transportation programs
in cities and counties, bike and pedestrian infrastructure and the state�s ongoing highway megaprojects.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Tina Kotek had told lawmakers that she was
prepared to begin layoffs at the state transportation agency on Monday if
they failed to at least pass the stopgap bill.

The defeats represented a huge setback for Democrats, who had planned to
pass an array of tax and fee hikes this year to secure more funding to
maintain Oregon�s roads and bridges and finish major interstate upgrades
first approved in 2017.

Lawmakers had been crafting a transportation package for more than a year, touring the state, convening multiple workgroups and holding hours of
private negotiations and public meetings.

But they failed to get any funding proposal across the finish line.

Although Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers, meaning they
could theoretically pass any tax increases along party lines, they failed
to convince every Democrat in the Senate to support the more substantial
tax increases in the larger package. That led House Speaker Julie Fahey, a Eugene Democrat, to craft the slimmer funding proposal in the final days
of the session.

The slimmed-down proposal would have increased the state�s gas tax from 40 cents to 43 cents and raised title and registration fees by $21 and $91, respectively.

The package would have brought in about $215 million per year starting in
2027 � a paltry amount compared to a previously proposed transportation
package that would have eventually raised about $1.6 billion per year.

Democrats in support of the new, slimmer plan, including Gov. Tina Kotek, acknowledged that it would not fund many of the state�s transportation
needs to the extent initially desired. But they said passing the slim
package was preferable to not taking any action and forcing the Oregon Department of Transportation to cut services and lay off workers.

�No one is arguing that this solution is sufficient. It is a Band-Aid in
every sense of the word,� Kotek told lawmakers during a public hearing
Friday. �It leaves (behind) communities and local governments who are
relying on state funds.�

Unlike previous transportation proposals put forward this session, which
would have allocated significant dollars to public transit and local governments, all of the new revenue in the slimmed-down proposal would
have gone to the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Leaders of the state agency had said it needed an influx of money to avoid
mass layoffs and cuts to services.

Local officials from across the state urged lawmakers not to pass the new package, emphasizing their desperate need for money for local road and
bridge repairs. Several of them asked lawmakers to attempt to find a path
to pass the much larger, earlier crafted transportation package.

�We ask you to oppose this bill and take the time we need to make this transportation (package) right,� Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty said during a public hearing leading up to the vote. �Don�t pass this package. Don�t
wrap a yes vote up with the justification that this is a noble act.�

The proposal passed the House Rules Committee Friday evening anyway on a
4-3 party line vote, with only Democrats in support. Republicans, who have
for months criticized Democrats for proposing any tax increases this year,
all voted against the bill.

But Democrats needed Republican support to suspend rules to take up the
bill on the House floor. They didn�t get it, leaving them with no path
forward to approve new transportation funding before the session ended.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/06/in-major-loss-for-democrats- lawmakers-advance-ultra-slim-transportation-bill-with-no-new-dollars-for- cities-counties-transit.html

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