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Oregon News
POLITICS
Progressive Democrats unveil plan for transportation funding driven by doubling of gas tax
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt
A group of progressive Democrats is proposing doubling the gas tax over the next seven years to help pay for overdue upgrades to roads, bridges, public transit and to help accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and buses. Republicans say it would give Oregon among the highest state gas taxes in the nation.
Lawmakers have spent much of the past few months negotiating long overdue funding for stunted public transportation systems and worn highways and bridges, with a deadline to reach an agreement fewer than four weeks away when the legislative session must end. Officials at the Oregon Department of Transportation earlier this year predicted a deficit of $350 million in the year ahead and warned they would need to lay off nearly 1,000 employees without additional funding.
Republicans and Democrats in recent weeks have shared competing proposals, including Wednesday’s from state Sens. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland, and Jeff Golden, D-Ashland and state Reps. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, and Sarah Finger McDonald, D-Corvallis. The four are among Oregon’s most progressive legislators, and it’s unclear how well their proposal will go over with other Democrats, especially those running for reelection in swing districts.
“Every state that surrounds us spends more per capita on transportation than we do, in some cases, significantly more,” Gamba said on the Capitol steps Wednesday at a press event launching the proposal. “It is time that Oregon do the responsible thing, and lean into ensuring that we are protecting the investments we’ve already made in infrastructure that exists in our roads, in our bridges and continuing to move us into the 21st century in addressing climate and safety.”
The proposal includes a 50% increase on vehicle registration costs, a 2% sales tax on new cars and a 1% sales tax on used cars costing over $10,000. It also would increase state payroll taxes employees and employers pay by half of a percentage point over the next seven years, with about one tenth of one percent added over each biennium. That means an Oregonian earning $4,000 per month in 2032 would pay an additional $20 per month in state payroll tax, Golden told the Capital Chronicle.
One big ticket revenue booster in the proposal would come from adding about 5 cents per year to the statewide gas tax, bringing it from 40 cents per gallon today to 80 cents per gallon by 2032.
Competing proposals
The proposal shared Wednesday would invest $750 million in the next biennium to upgrade existing highways and bridges, to make school routes safer, pay for wildlife crossings, improve and expand public transit infrastructure and ridership and subsidize electric bikes, vehicles and buses.
The package includes higher taxes and fees on new and used car purchases, gas and payrolls than the initial package Democrats unveiled in April. Another proposal shared by the Democratic co-chairs of the Transportation Committee on May 22 would generate revenue for roads and bridges from the sale of carbon credits, a controversial and surprising option given Republican opposition to cap-and-trade policies that would have created such a carbon market in the state years ago.
Environmental groups who worked for years with Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality to get a pseudo-carbon market set up to fund community projects in the state that reduce greenhouse gas emissions have lambasted that plan. Robin Rumancik, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Oregon Environmental Council, called the proposal “cap-and-pave” in a news release.
House and Senate Republicans have thrown their support behind a proposal that would not raise revenues from new sources, but from cutting funding for bike and pedestrian safety and public transit to provide more money for roads and bridges.
More money needed
The plan Phạm, Golden, Gamba and Finger McDonald are proposing, called the Safe Modern Affordable Reliable Transportation framework, or SMART, would be paid for by gradually adding 10 cents to the statewide gas tax per biennium — about 5 cents per year — through 2032, adding a 2% sales tax on new vehicle purchases and a 1% sales tax on used vehicle purchases over $10,000.
It would add $90 to vehicle title fees and $63 to $158 to vehicle registration fees, and increase the transit payroll tax by one-tenth of 1 percent or $1 per $1,000 in wages, hiking it to 0.5% by 2032. That tax goes to the State Transportation Improvement Fund for Public Transit.
These taxes and fees are all higher than lawmakers proposed in April. Both proposals, however, include increasing by nearly 17% the per-mile fee large trucks and trailers pay according to weight.
Golden said more revenue will be needed to fund the state’s transportation needs.
“When you are pretending you can provide adequate transportation infrastructure without more revenue in this day and age, you are not being straight with Oregonians.”
To pass a transportation package that includes increased taxes and fees, Democrats will need every party member in both chambers and likely at least one House Republican. Democrats started the session with 36 members, enough to pass bills raising revenue without help from Republicans, but they’re down one member until county commissioners fill a vacancy next week. Another Democrat, Rep. Hòa Nguyễn of Portland, has been absent since February while receiving cancer treatment.
Key Oregon Democrats signal support for public transit, climate-friendly transportation framework
Oregon Live | By Carlos Fuentes
A group of Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled a high-level concept for a transportation package that would significantly boost funding for public transit and climate-friendly pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.
To pay for those needs while also funding basic road and bridge maintenance, Democrats proposed gradually increasing the state’s gas tax from 40 cents to 80 cents per gallon, increasing car registration and title fees, implementing a 2% sales tax on new vehicles and increasing the state’s payroll tax for transit fivefold to 0.5%.
But a significant number of Democrats, about 17, have expressed support for the transit and climate related provisions, including three members of the key Joint Transportation Committee.
That framework suggested more than 10 tax and fee increases to better maintain Oregon’s roads and bridges as well as shore up funding to public transit, rail and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Those tax hikes included a 20 cent increase to the gas tax and a 1% tax on new vehicle purchases.
Oregon gas tax increases, new ODOT funding streams proposed
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason
A group of Oregon Democrats and transit advocates announced a proposal for the 2025 transportation package on June 4, focusing on preserving the existing transportation system and public transit options.
Pham and Gamba are both members of the Joint Committee on Transportation, which is crafting a multibillion-dollar bill to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation and major projects. The bill also will designate transportation funding for counties and cities.
The framework proposes biannual investments of $300 million in the Great Streets Program, which focuses on improving main streets that are state highways, and increasing biannual funds for Safe Routes to Schools from $30 million to $150 million.
Lawmakers are reportedly considering a carbon emissions cap-and-trade program as an additional revenue source for Democrats' main funding proposal released in early April. Republicans have brought forth frameworks of their own. Pham said she hoped a transportation funding bill might be released by June 6.
Multiple transportation proposals emerge as Oregon lawmakers await bill release
KGW | By Anthony Macuk
Republicans released their own proposed package framework last month, which included some measures aimed at ODOT accountability but was mainly geared around filling the road maintenance gap by cutting funding elsewhere rather than raising taxes, such as by moving $146 million for climate initiatives and $38 million for passenger rail over to the highway fund.
One of the most dramatic items in the GOP proposal was to take half of the revenue from the public transit payroll tax and give it to truckers for two years, as repayment for what Republicans argued is a disproportionate share of the tax that they pay under the current system. After two years, the entire payroll tax would go to the highway fund.
The plan didn't say what would happen to the transit agencies, but given that TriMet, for example, gets nearly 70% of its budget from the payroll tax, the result would presumably be drastic service cuts.
It's unlikely Democrats would entertain such an idea, and with Democrats in control of both chambers and the transportation committee, the Republican proposal is a bit of a political show — but not entirely, because as Wednesday's press conference illustrates, the Democrats aren't totally united. Competing transportation plans on the Democrat side could give Republicans more leverage for some of their own priorities.
Oregon governor’s $217M homeless shelter bill faces uncertain future as budget woes mount
OPB | By Bryce Dole
House Bill 3644 asks for more than $217 million in general fund money and lays the policy framework to run a statewide shelter program. The bill aims to continue funding the programs that state leaders have supported through a number of initiatives in recent years.
What precisely the Legislature plans to do remains unclear. The bill is sitting before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which determines state budget policy.
Republicans have said throughout the session Oregon is not making enough progress to stop the housing crisis, and that the state needs to change course.
Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, is calling for the state to get out of its own way by loosening regulations to speed up production.
“Certainly, in housing, we haven’t made headway,” said Anderson, the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Housing and Development. “We’re producing less housing than we did. How can that be successful?”
Oregon lawmakers approve higher compensation for ranchers whose livestock is killed by wolves
Oregon Live | By Carlos Fuentes
Oregon lawmakers have decided that ranchers should get higher payouts from the state to recoup their losses for cattle killed by wolves.
If Gov. Tina Kotek signs Senate Bill 777, ranchers will receive up to five times the market value for calves, sheep or goats that are injured or die from wolf attacks. The state would use lesser multipliers for mature cattle, working dogs and other livestock.
Despite revisions, farm groups oppose Oregon water transfer restrictions
Capital Press | By Mateusz Perkowski
Farm organizations remain opposed to Senate Bill 1153, which they say will paralyze one of the last flexible tools for managing water in the state while spurring more legal conflict. The bill sets a vague standard for potential harms to fish, which could encompass transfers with alleged impacts to stream flows that aren’t even measurable, said Sen. Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, who is a rancher. “To contribute to the reduction of flows is really easy to do,” he said. “You could go to the Columbia River, dip a tea spoon in, then throw it over your shoulder to the bank.”
The amended bill is being considered by the Senate Rules Committee, which is scheduled to vote on it on June 5.
Striking workers in Oregon are a step closer to receiving unemployment checks
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
In a 33-23 vote Wednesday largely along party lines, the state House passed Senate Bill 916. The bill now heads back to the Senate, which passed a previous version in March.
If signed into law, SB 916 would allow all workers — whether public or private — to receive unemployment pay two weeks after going on strike. Those payments are currently available to employees who are out of work through no choice of their own.
Pushed by labor unions that are influential among majority Democrats, the bill is aimed at giving workers more leverage in labor disputes.
Opponents say the bill will ensure strikes are more common and longer-lasting, and risks worsening Oregon’s reputation as an unfriendly state for business. They also argue that increasing pressure on the state’s $6.4 billion Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund will force tax hikes on the private employers who make quarterly payments into the system.
Oregon workers could soon claim strike payments under bill passed by House
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
Oregon could soon become the first state in the nation to extend unemployment benefits to most striking workers.
The legislation would allow striking workers — including most public employees — to collect unemployment benefits after their first two weeks of striking and up until the eighth week of a strike, pending the financial stability of the state’s unemployment fund. New Jersey and New York already extend unemployment benefits and payments to striking private sector workers but not to public employees.
Oregon House passes unemployment for striking workers bill
Statesman Journal | By Dianne Lugo
Oregon lawmakers passed a bill on June 4 that would make Oregon the first state to provide unemployment benefits to both public and private employees while on strike.
Under Senate Bill 916, workers who participate in a strike lasting at least two weeks would be eligible for unemployment insurance payments after a one-week waiting period.
Critics include Republican lawmakers, businesses, and school districts who cautioned the legislation could harm businesses and strain already tight education budgets because districts are responsible for reimbursing the state directly for any benefits paid to former employees.
Oregon's unemployment fund is the second most solvent in the country, with a formula that ensures the fund is maintained, she said.
Bill Granting Striking Workers Unemployment Benefits Passes House
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
Senate Bill 916 would grant striking workers unemployment benefits after two weeks. Debate about the bill has concentrated on how it might affect public employers, specifically cities, counties and school districts. While private employers’ payroll taxes fund Oregon’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, thus cushioning the bill’s impact, public employers don’t pay into this trust and would shoulder the full cost of unemployment benefits.
The bill has been amended in the House, so it will head back to the Senate, where it first passed in late March, for another vote. It passed the House on party lines, by a 33-23 vote. In the Senate, two Democrats, Sen. Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro) and Sen. Jeff Golden (D-Ashland) voted in opposition to the bill.
Several other Republicans used their time to emphasize the bill’s consequences for Oregon’s educational outcomes. As WW has reported, SB 916 has put school districts in an especially difficult position amid growing budget deficits. In May, eight superintendents from Oregon’s largest districts wrote a letter in opposition to the bill, saying it “risks further diverting critical resources away from students and classrooms.”
‘Get it done’: Advocates push Oregon lawmakers to fund services for victims of abuse
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Nonprofits that help survivors of sexual assault, and other crimes are urging Oregon lawmakers to maintain state funding for their jobs and the services they provide.
As the Oregon Legislature juggles lower-than-anticipated revenue and the possibility of further reductions from federal funding cuts and decreased tax revenue related to tariffs and economic instability, advocacy workers and abuse survivors rallied at a park next to the Oregon Capitol on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to keep funding services for children and adult victims.
As support for national parks craters, Crater Lake’s former leader says he had to walk away
OPB | By Courtney Sherwood, Allison Frost
Last week, the supervisor for Crater Lake National Park resigned, just five months after taking the job.
Kevin Heatley said he could no longer be party to the dismantling of the federal government, and he expressed concern for the mental health of workers who are working long hours to keep the park operating.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office faces scrutiny over $7M budget gap
Oregon Live | By Austin de Dios
Clackamas County Sheriff Angela Brandenburg faced pointed questions from county board members last week after she revealed that her office was on track to significantly overspend its budget and requested a $7.7 million bailout.
Law enforcement unengaged as tensions between contractors and homeless camps escalate
KATU | By Christina Giardinelli
For the second day in a row, confrontations escalated between private contractors hired by the Department of State (DSL) to clear homeless camps and a group of individuals living at the camps as well as some activists opposed the the camp's clearing.
Family of man killed by Portland preschool security guard seeks answers, insists he avoided fights
Oregon Live | By Zaeem Shaikh
A confrontation in the parking lot ended with a security guard at The Gan, a preschool next door, shooting the 32-year-old to death. Nearly a month after the shooting, Garza’s family has heard little from police about what happened. The Gan is a Jewish preschool, and most Jewish organizations in Portland employ security guards, including armed ones, owing to ongoing threats of antisemitic violence.
Salem man gets 13 years in prison for selling drug-laced cereal, candy
Statesman Journal | By Bill Poehler
A Salem man was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison on June 4 for manufacturing and selling products including candy and cereals with THC and psilocybin in them.
ECONOMY
Astoria Job Corps center will close amid cuts to federal workforce program, eliminating 168 jobs
Oregon Live | By Matthew Kish
The closure will mean the elimination of 168 jobs, including instructors, admissions counselors and advisers, according to a new filing with Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission, which is required when mass layoffs occur.
Job Corps is a free vocational training program funded by the U.S. Department of Labor for people ages 16 to 24. The Labor Department said last month it would “pause” the program.
HOUSING
Downtown Portland task force sets housing and foot traffic goals
OPB | By Kyra Buckley
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s major task force for downtown Portland wants the central city to break ground on 2,500 new homes by 2030.
The task force set priorities focused on more housing, reviving or repurposing office buildings, and increasing foot traffic downtown.
Oregon has struggled for decades to meet the housing needs of its population. And, the problem has gotten worse in the last decade. Estimates from the City of Portland show the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness shot up 65% between 2015 and 2023. More recent data suggests homelessness grew by nearly a quarter in Multnomah County from January 2024 to January 2025.
At the same time, businesses have been shrinking their presence in the city center. The combination of growing homelessness and shrinking business activity has caused state and city leaders to warn of irreversible damage if Portland doesn’t reverse course.
HEALTH CARE
OHSU Introduces Lone Candidate for President After One Other Drops Out
Willamette Week | By Anthony Effinger
Oregon Health & Science University, operating with an interim president for seven months, had planned to introduce two candidates for the job to the public on video calls, but one of the dropped out late yesterday, OHSU said.
Elnahal said his top priority at OHSU would be to preserve funding for research that is under threat from the Trump administration. A bill that just passed in the U.S. House of Representatives would cut funding for the National Institutes of Health, a major funder to OHSU, by 40%, Elnahal said.
Oregon to get $66M from Sackler family, Purdue Pharma in opioid settlement
Oregon Live | By Kristine de Leon
Oregon is expected to get up to $66 million as part of a national multi-billion settlement reached against the Sackler family and their company, Purdue Pharma Inc., for their role in fueling the opioid crisis.
Senior care, already challenged by pandemic and Boomers aging, needs Medicaid
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Sarah Silva, the president and co-founder of Arete Living, an Oregon-based company that operates assisted living and memory care facilities.
I am deeply concerned about what cuts to healthcare, or flat investments, will mean for our seniors as more Baby Boomers age into the years of their life when they need care, whether it is in an assisted living facility or in their own home. The increasing number of aging Oregonians who have more complex care needs than past generations, along with record-high inflation in medical supplies, food services, labor, and other critical health care components, means that the cost to provide care in Oregon is higher than it has ever been.
EDUCATION
Oregon schools get some relief from rising retirement costs amid tough budget season
OPB | By Natalie Pate
The change translates into $168 million in savings for districts across the state — money schools can now use for other needs.
In a budget season rife with cuts and constraints, school districts have some good news.
The Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, known as PERS, has announced a reduction in pension contribution rates for K-12 school districts.
Lawmakers further reduced the costs this spring by passing Senate Bill 849. The bill, introduced by Kotek at the request of PERS officials, changes how the state retirement agency distributes money from its School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund. That brought down the estimated retirement costs for schools from $670 million to just over $500 million.
The changes from the bill reduce some of the burden on school districts to absorb rising retirement costs. Contribution rates for school employers will drop 1.68 percentage points as a result, reducing costs by about 6% over the next biennium. For school districts, this translates into $168 million in savings statewide — money that can now be used for other needs.
Portland Public Schools will require district employees to return to office
Oregon Live | By Julia Silverman
Portland Public Schools is ending virtually all fully remote work options for central office employees starting in the 2025-2026 school year, Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong said Monday in a memo to staffers.
Oregon one of top states in US for racial equality in education, study shows
KOIN | By Ella Dunn
In WalletHub’s study, Oregon ranked #4 on the list. The measure of equality used values attributed to both white and black people, with examples of these values being shares of adults with a high school degree, standardized test scores, and average ACT scores.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Environmental groups take Oregon to court over renewable diesel refinery on Columbia River
OPB | By Alejandro Figueroa
Two Oregon environmental groups are asking a court to boot a water quality permit for a proposed $2.5 billion renewable diesel refinery back to state regulators.
Hood River-based Columbia Riverkeeper, two local people and the Northwest Environmental Defense Center – a Portland-based nonprofit – have filed a lawsuit in the Multnomah County Circuit Court, claiming a water quality certification the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued to NXTClean Fuels earlier this year is “legally deficient.” They are asking the court to send that certification back to DEQ for revision.
Oregon Department of Energy is looking for contractors for a new heat pump program
OPB | By Monica Samayoa
Oregon is looking for contractors to help kickstart a new heat pump incentive program, as part of the state’s ongoing push to reduce carbon emissions by supporting a move toward more efficient home heating and cooling systems.
The Oregon Department of Energy’s Oregon Heat Pump Purchase Program aims to help homeowners, rental property owners and builders of new homes by providing up to $2,000 in rebates. But first, the department is looking for eligible contractors to help.
National News
Trump issues travel ban on 12 countries
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Ariana Figueroa
President Donald Trump issued a long-awaited “travel ban” late Wednesday to bar entry of nationals from a dozen countries and partially restrict entry for nationals from a smaller set of countries.
Trump tariffs would lower deficit but slow U.S. economic growth, nonpartisan CBO finds
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Ashley Murray
President Donald Trump’s tariffs would decrease the deficit over the next decade but overall shrink the U.S. economy and raise costs for consumers, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Wednesday.
Tariffs are paid to the U.S. government by domestic companies and purchasers who buy goods from abroad.
The nonpartisan CBO found that tariffs would reduce the nation’s primary deficit by $2.5 trillion from now until 2035, plus an additional $500 million saved from avoiding even more mounting interest payments on the U.S. debt.
Republican tax bill could slash billions for Oregon Health Plan, state officials say
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
A Republican tax bill passed in the U.S. House and headed for a vote in the Senate would slash billions in federal Medicaid funding across the country — leaving an outsized mark on states like Oregon that offer health care policies centered on inclusivity.
The state relies on more than $11 billion in federal funding each year to cover about 75% of its Medicaid program, known as the Oregon Health Plan.
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