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Oregon News
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Oregon transportation bill heads back to committee, co-chair resigns
Statesman Journal | By Dianne Lugo
The Oregon Legislature's $14.5 billion transportation funding bill is being sent back to Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment after a motion passed on the House Floor on June 23 to revise the measure and co-chair Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, resigned from the panel.
"To allow for the committee's focus to remain on completing the Oregon Transportation Reinvestment Package this session, I have offered my resignation from the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment effective immediately," Gorsek said in a text message to the Statesman Journal.
In a memo obtained by the Statesman Journal, Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, also removed himself from the committee. Sen. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland, has been appointed as the new co-chair. Sens. Lew Frederick, D-Portland and James Manning Jr., D-Eugene, were added to the committee.
Gorsek said he supported a "compromise that's being offered from the House" and looked forward to voting in support of it on the Senate floor. He did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about the compromise being negotiated.
Co-chair Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove, declined to share specifics such as when the committee would meet or what an amendment may look like.
The committee was not scheduled to meet again after passing House Bill 2025 out of committee along party lines on June 20. A time to reconsider HB 2025 was not scheduled as of 2:30 p.m. on June 23.
The committee was canceled twice in the second-to-last week of the session as lawmakers waited for additional documents from the Legislative Fiscal Office on estimates of the revenue the taxes and fee increases in the bill would create.
With support uncertain, Oregon Democrats look to rejigger major transportation bill
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
A major transportation funding bill is once again in flux, with less than a week remaining in this year’s legislative session.
Facing increasing skepticism over House Bill 2025 from her own party — and an uncertain path to winning the required three-fifths majorities in each chamber — House Speaker Julie Fahey spent the weekend negotiating with moderate Democrats.
The product of those negotiations wasn’t clear on Monday. But rather than moving ahead with a floor vote on the bill, lawmakers instead sent it back to committee, where any amendments might be considered. House Democrats were busy shopping potential changes with their Senate colleagues Monday morning.
“We work right till the bell,” said state Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove, a key author of the transportation bill. McLain declined to offer details of a forthcoming amendment.
Meanwhile, fallout continued over an incident in a committee hearing over the bill on Friday. An outburst from Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, aimed at Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, prompted some Republicans to boycott a floor session and call for Gorsek to be censured.
Gorsek announced Monday afternoon that he had offered his resignation as the chair of the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee so his presence would not be a distraction.
“I support the compromise that’s being offered from the House, and I look forward to voting in support of it on the Senate floor,” he wrote in a text message.
Shortly afterward, Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, made that change official. Wagner removed both himself and Gorsek from the committee, adding two new lawmakers: Sens. James Manning, D-Eugene, and Lew Frederick, D-Portland.
State Sen. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, replaces Gorsek as committee cochair.
The scramble over HB 2025 is a fitting reflection of the session’s final week. With a mandatory June 29 adjournment looming, lawmakers have yet to complete plenty of the major tasks they faced as the session began in January.
That includes plans to more fully fund the state’s efforts to fight and prevent wildfire, address a public defense crisis and shore up the state’s threadbare behavioral health system.
Many of those issues have at least some momentum. But the fate of HB 2025 remained a genuine curiosity on Monday.
“Get your popcorn,” said state Rep. Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, who was one of a handful of Republicans who helped negotiate the package with Democrats before concluding he could not support it.
As it passed out of committee Friday evening, HB 2025 would have enacted the largest tax hike in Oregon history. Via an eventual 15-cent increase to the state’s 40-cent-per-gallon gas tax, a new 2% tax on new car sales, a new 1% tax on many used car sales, increases in titling and registration fees and other changes, the bill is expected to raise $14.6 billion in the next decade.
Top Democrats say the bill will amount to a sea change in how the state funds transportation at a time roads and bridges are falling into disrepair.
Beyond merely levying taxes, it would require electric vehicle and hybrid owners to begin paying the state for miles they drive. That’s a way to ensure Oregon can still pay for roads as growing adoption of EVs and high-fuel-efficiency vehicles reduces gas tax revenues over time.
Revenue from the bill — nearly $2 billion a year by 2033 — would go toward nuts-and-bolts road maintenance on state, county and city-owned roadways. It would also help pay for a pair of highway megaprojects — on Interstate 5 in Portland’s Rose Quarter and on Interstate 205’s Abernethy Bridge — that lawmakers thought they had funded with a $5.3 billion transportation bill passed in 2017.
This year’s bill has been panned by Republicans, who accuse Democrats of hiking taxes at a time when Oregonians can ill afford it. Those concerns were plainly shared by some Democrats last week.
State Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, was removed from a key legislative committee Friday, after saying he would not support the bill — a position that could have blocked it from moving forward. Wagner placed himself on the Joint Transportation Infrastructure Committee instead.
The maneuver infuriated some Democrats. State Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, accused Democratic leaders of putting forward “insane tax increases” in an Instagram post criticizing Wagner. Hartman and a handful of other swing-district Democrats took the unusual step of sitting in the audience during a committee vote on HB 2025 Friday afternoon.
The growing concerns from the majority party risked tanking the bill. If all Republicans oppose the transportation bill, Democrats would need to vote in lockstep in both chambers to get it across.
Rep. Hòa Nguyễn, D-Portland, returned briefly to the Capitol last week after an extended absence to receive cancer treatment, suggesting she could be on hand when a vote on HB 2025 comes up.
Meek’s removal was far from the only drama to emerge from Friday’s hearing. As the committee neared a vote, Gorsek cut off Boshart Davis, one of HB 2025’s chief critics.
Gorsek was angered by comments by Boshart Davis that included her calling the bill “grossly irresponsible” and lambasting Democrats for the way they rolled it out.
“You are impugning all of us who worked on that bill, so stop with that. Stop it!” said Gorsek, who helped write HB 2025. “You’ve made your point, representative. You’ve made your point.”
The outburst was still reverberating in the Capitol on Monday, as Republicans issued a series of press releases calling on Gorsek to be censured and removed from the transportation committee.
“Senator Gorsek has a documented pattern of bullying, harassing, and intimidating female legislators who speak up and express opinions that differ from his,” House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, said in a statement. “This behavior is not only abusive, it weakens our democratic institutions and has no place in our Capitol.”
Seven House Republicans announced in a press release that they were refusing to attend a floor session because of Gorsek’s conduct, though many in their party showed up.
Boshart Davis is taking more formal steps. On Friday, she filed a workplace complaint against Gorsek under legislative hostile workplace and harassment rules.
“Over a general discussion on the bill, he lunged at me across the dais, extended a finger, and shouted at me over my objection to the bill,” Boshart Davis wrote, adding that Gorsek singled her out because she is a woman. “His body language and speech were intimidating and aggressive.”
Gorsek declined to comment on the complaint Monday.
Gorsek and Boshart Davis were among a group of lawmakers who have spent roughly a year touring the state, holding hearings, and working to craft a transportation funding bill.
8 Oregon Republicans boycott floor session, call for reprimand of Democrat who raised voice at colleague
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
Eight Oregon Republican lawmakers boycotted a House floor session Monday in protest after a Democratic legislator interrupted and reproached one of their caucus colleagues during a tense committee meeting last Friday.
Several other Republicans did not boycott the floor session but called for the Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Chris Gorsek of Gresham, to be censured or removed from his committee assignments for his conduct at last week’s meeting of the legislative transportation committee.
Unlike past Republican walkouts in the House or the Senate, Monday’s boycott by the eight Republicans did not involve enough of their caucus to prevent the House from voting on bills. Under Oregon rules, 40 members of the House must be present to conduct business, so the 34 Democrats present needed only six of the House’s 24 Republicans to be present. Two Democrats were absent Monday.
During Friday’s committee meeting, Gorsek interrupted Republican Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis of Albany while she criticized Democrats for proposing a transportation package that would raise or implement a bevy of taxes and fees to be allocated for Oregon’s transportation network.
Throughout the 90-minute meeting, Boshart Davis characterized the transportation package and the rushed process to move the bill out of committee as “grossly irresponsible,” saying that Oregonians could not afford such high tax increases.
Gorsek interrupted Boshart Davis after she said the process to craft House Bill 2025 had been “really bad” and condemned Democrats for holding public hearings on the package before full revenue estimates had been made public.
“Excuse me,” Gorsek said, speaking over Boshart Davis and Rep. Susan McLain, his fellow co-chair of the committee. “You are impugning all of us that have worked on that bill, so stop with that. ... Stop with it. You’ve made your point, representative.”
A small group of Democrats and Republicans privately negotiated the details of the package for weeks. But ultimately, all five Republicans on the transportation committee voted in opposition to the bill on Friday.
Following the meeting, Boshart Davis filed a legislative complaint against Gorsek, alleging that he had violated a provision of Legislative rules requiring a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace.
“Prior to Representative Boshart Davis’s comments, multiple men on the committee spoke in opposition to HB 2025, but Senator Gorsek’s out-of-control shouting and aggressive behavior was directed solely towards Representative Boshart Davis,” House Republican Leader Christine Drazan of Canby said in a press release.
“This behavior is not only abusive, it weakens our democratic institutions and has no place in our Capitol,” Drazan said.
In response to the incident, Drazan asked Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, to remove Gorsek from his committee assignments; initiate a vote to censure the lawmaker; require a building-wide notification prior to Gorsek entering the state Capitol; and require him to undergo workplace harassment and anger management training.
Gorsek declined to comment Monday. Wagner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The eight House Republicans who boycotted did not include Boshart Davis or Drazan. They cited Gorsek’s behavior, as well as Democrats’ rushed process to move House Bill 2025 forward as the main reasons for their walk out.
“Friday’s spectacle laid bare the dysfunction in Salem,” seven of them said in a press release. “The public deserves better than rushed, closed-door deal-making, silencing dissent, and shouting down legislators.”
Unlike some previous walkouts, which Republicans have used as a tactic in recent years to deny Democrats a sufficient quorum to hold any votes, Monday’s boycott included less than half of House Republicans.
The eight who walked out are: Reps. Court Boice of Gold Beach, Virgle Osborne of Roseburg, Dwayne Yunker of Grants Pass, Alek Skarlatos of Winston, Boomer Wright of Reedsport, Darin Harbick of McKenzie Bridge, Darcey Edwards of Banks and Ed Diehl of Stayton.
Nearly a dozen House Republicans attended Monday’s floor session, meaning Democrats had more than enough lawmakers present to continue holding votes. Although Drazan and Boshart Davis were not present, a spokesperson for Drazan said neither was boycotting the floor session. Drazan is planning to return to the House on Tuesday, she said.
On Monday, Diehl told The Oregonian/OregonLive he wasn’t sure when he or his colleagues would return to the House. “It depends on a lot of things,” he said.
By law, this year’s legislative session must end by Sunday.
Senate President Boots Dissident Senator Off Transportation Committee, Appoints Himself in Bid to Save Bill
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) exercised the power of his office this afternoon in a fraught moment for the legislative session’s signature policy bill. He booted Sen. Mark Meek (D-Gladstone) off the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment and claimed Meek’s seat for himself.
Wagner did so after Meek expressed opposition to House Bill 2025, the long-awaited, much-maligned effort to shore up the finances of the Oregon Department of Transportation. Oregon Public Broadcasting first reported Meek’s concerns about the bill.
Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers. They need those numerical advantages in order to meet the threshold for passing new taxes. But even one defection in either chamber would likely sink the bill, as Republicans have expressed unified opposition.
In a brief exchange with the Oregon Journalism Project as the Transportation Committee prepared for a scheduled 2:30 pm meeting today, Meek expressed surprise and disappointment at being removed from the committee. And his reaction to removal makes it even less likely he would support the bill on the Senate floor.
At least initially, Wagner’s move appeared to have backfired.
State Rep. Annessa Hartman (D-Gladstone), one of the House Democrats whose votes is crucial to passage of HB 2025, sent a message on Instagram in response to the official notification of Meek’s removal from the committee.
“This is absolutely ridiculous!!” Hartman wrote. “I stand with @senatormarkmeek!
“We are here to elevate the voices of our constituents and we are saying NO to insane tax increases!! And this is what happens! Shame.”
When the committee meeting finally began about 35 minutes late, Meek sat silently at the dais, as did Wagner. Republican members offered various amendments to the bill, which Democrats batted down.
Finally, after a party-line vote to refer HB 2025 to the House floor, Meek broke his silence, saying that he’d only learned just before the meeting was to begin that Wagner was dismissing him.
Meek again voiced his concerns about the substance of the bill, which he called “unaffordable.”
“This package is fundamentally flawed for many reasons,” he said, adding that he believed the committee had rushed the bill toward a vote rather than taking the time to get it right. Meek added that he was willing to work to craft a slimmer version of the bill, but that offer fell on deaf ears.
Ultimately, Meek’s removal got the bill to the House floor, where it will face GOP opposition and some Democratic skeptics such as Hartman. Should it pass there, Meek left no doubt about his position should it arrive on the Senate floor.
“I will be a no vote,” he told the committee.
Massive Oregon transportation bill moves forward – but splits Democrats
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
A Democratic senator’s removal from a key committee Friday inspired backlash from some in the party.
Oregon Democrats’ major road-funding bill is heading toward its first floor vote, but the path forward for House Bill 2025 is less certain than ever.
The bill to raise a wide range of taxes and fees – totaling $14.6 billion over the next decade – passed out of a legislative committee in a sometimes testy hearing Friday evening. It now heads to the House.
The question is whether it can find the necessary three-fifths majority support once it gets there.
With Republicans opposed, Democrats may need to vote in lockstep to pass a bill that would eventually hike taxes by nearly $2 billion a year. But the party showed anything but unanimity in the run-up to the committee vote.
In order to ensure the bill passed out of the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee, Senate President Rob Wagner preemptively removed a skeptical member of his party from the committee. Wagner swapped himself in for Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, who said earlier in the week he would not support the bill.
The maneuver angered some other Democrats who, like Meek, represent swing districts.
“We are here to elevate the voices of our constituents and we are saying NO to insane tax increases!! And this is what happens! Shame,” state Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, wrote in an Instagram post criticizing Wagner’s decision.
It was not clear whether Hartman was intending to speak for other lawmakers with the post, but she was one of at least six House Democrats who came to watch Friday’s work session.
Alongside Hartman, Reps. Ricki Ruiz of Portland, Emerson Levy of Bend, April Dobson of Happy Valley, John Lively of Springfield and Daniel Nguyen of Portland were all on hand for all or part of the committee hearing.
With Meek removed, HB 2025’s passage out of committee seemed assured. But that didn’t make it simple.
Lawmakers in both parties drafted dozens of amendments to HB 2025 since it first emerged early last week. Republican lawmakers on the committee attempted repeatedly to advance their own proposals featuring far lower tax increases – or none at all – without success.
In the end, Democrats voted together to change some proposed fee increases and make a broad array of other changes to the 102-page bill. But lawmakers kept major tax increases and planned uses for new money in the bill essentially the same.
Among HB 2025’s many provisions, it would:
- Raise the state’s 40-cent-per-gallon gas tax by 15 cents.
- Index the gas tax to rise with inflation.
- Hike a broad array of vehicle registration, title and licensing fees.
- Create a 2% tax on sales of new cars and a 1% tax on sales of used cars worth more than $10,000.
- Require electric vehicle and hybrid owners to sign up for OreGo, the state’s decade-old program that charges drivers for miles driven, as opposed to fuel consumption.
- Institute a new per-mile charge for some commercial delivery vehicles.
- Simplify taxation on heavy vehicles and diesel fuel.
- Set aside money for a pair of uncompleted highway megaprojects in the Portland metro area.
- Mandate more frequent audits of the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Friday’s vote and surprise committee dismissal were the latest moments in a process that dates back nearly a year.
Lawmakers spent months last year touring the state, holding listening sessions about what Oregonians wanted to see in a new transportation funding package.
Democrats have insisted their proposal presents a legislative vision for the concerns they heard. And, crucially, they argue the bill will set Oregon on a path to enduring transportation funding at a time roads in many places are crumbling, and existing money goes less and less far.
But few lawmakers expressed pleasure with a process that didn’t see an actual bill emerge until the 11th hour.
State Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, pointed out that estimates of what the bill would raise over a decade came out only after public hearings on the bill were finished.
“The public has not been able to weigh in since we’ve gotten any sort of revenue impact on what this bill will actually do,” Boshart Davis said.
Sen. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, said she would support the bill – despite what she called a flawed process – because the stakes of inaction were too high. ODOT has said it would have to eliminate nearly 1,000 positions without at least $350 million more in the next budget, and cities and counties have repeatedly warned that they cannot pay for mounting road projects.
“It is not easy to vote for higher taxes, but I am skeptical that Oregonians pocketbooks are really better off if we continue to let our roads crumble,” said Pham, suggesting people could miss work because of reduced access to transit.
Others argued the Legislature should be doing more.
“I am getting hundreds of emails from people who say this package does nothing to reduce the 35% of the greenhouse gas load that the transportation is in this state,” said state Rep. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, who proposed additional tax hikes even further to fund priorities like vehicle electrification infrastructure.
Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, who was a key GOP negotiator on the package, said prior to the party-line vote, that the process had left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.
“I was really hopeful that we would be here today with a product that was a product of negotiation,” said Starr, who helped hammer out transportation spending with Democrats during a previous stint in the Legislature. “Unfortunately, that’s not where we’re at today and for me, that’s frustrating and sad.”
Starr called the package “a massive, massive tax increase on Oregonians.”
Among the last to speak was Meek, who sat in on the meeting despite being removed from committee. He said he was open to voting on a tax bill to help fund ODOT – but that HB 2025 went too far.
“It’s not affordable to Oregonians,” he said, vowing to oppose the bill on the Senate floor. “We are facing dire economic times… and yet we’re looking at this new tax solution.”
Democrats hold three-fifths supermajorities in both chambers. But with Republicans showing blanket opposition to the transportation bill, the party may need to muster all its members in order to get HB 2025 across the finish line.
Meanwhile, opponents of the bill are already vowing to send it to voters if it does pass. That could doom the proposal’s chances – Oregonians have shot down past statewide gas tax hikes.
But Democrats took a step on Friday toward giving their law a better shot at passing at the ballot. House Bill 3390, which passed the House by a bare majority vote, would allow majority Democrats to craft the ballot title for a referral – potentially pivotal in shaping voters’ perception of their law. That bill now heads to the Senate.
Lawmakers advance transportation package that could cost Oregonians more than $14 billion
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
After months of debate, Oregon lawmakers advanced a massive transportation package Friday evening that is projected to generate $14.6 billion in new taxes and fees mostly to maintain and upgrade roads and bridges over the next decade.
Finding consensus on a funding strategy to fix and slightly upgrade the state’s transportation infrastructure wasn’t easy. Nearly every lawmaker on the legislative transportation committee expressed concerns about aspects of the bill or the rushed, convoluted process leading up to the vote. House Bill 2025 passed out of committee on a 7-5 vote along party lines, with only Democrats in support, and now heads to the full House.
With less than 10 days left in this year’s legislative session, it’s unclear if Democrats have enough votes to pass the package in the House and the Senate — particularly after one of their members, who was removed from the committee before Friday’s vote, said he opposed the bill and will continue to do so.
The latest version of the bill would raise Oregon’s gas tax from 40 cents to 55 cents per gallon; increase most DMV fees; implement a new transfer tax on car sales; raise taxes on truck drivers; triple the state’s 0.1% payroll tax for transit; and enact a charge that electric vehicle users would pay per mile driven, among other increases.
Most of that new revenue would go to the State Highway Fund, half of which goes to the Oregon Department of Transportation for road maintenance and operations. Counties also receive about 30% of the fund for transportation-related services, and cities receive about one-fifth of the money.
Democrats on the committee all voted in favor of the bill — but only after Democratic leaders replaced one of their members on the committee, Sen. Mark Meek of Gladstone, who said he did not support the package and its many tax hikes.
“I have to admit, just fully state, that this package is fundamentally flawed for many reasons,” said Meek, who attended the committee meeting as a non-voting member. “One of the reasons is that it’s not affordable to Oregonians.”
Public transit districts statewide would benefit from the largest source of new revenue in the bill. Incrementally increasing the state’s payroll tax from 0.1% to 0.3% would raise about $450 million per year by 2031, according to a legislative revenue analysis, nearly all of which would go to transit providers.
But most of the new revenue in the bill would be directed to the State Highway Fund for road maintenance and operations. For instance, a new 1% transfer tax on the sale of used vehicles and a 2% tax on the sale of new cars would eventually raise more than $270 million a year by 2028, according to the state’s analysis.
A third major new revenue source, a 15 cent hike to the gas tax, would bring in more than $210 million to the State Highway Fund every year after 2027, the analysis said. Tying the gas tax to inflation would eventually bring in an additional $110 million annually, it said.
Several Democrats said Friday that they didn’t necessarily agree with every tax increase or provision in the bill, but they said they support allocating more money to the Oregon Department of Transportation and local governments, which have asked for more funding to better support the state’s transportation network.
“I think the fundamental framework, the building blocks that you’ve landed here, are something that the Legislature can be really proud of,” said Senate President Rob Wagner, a Democrat from Lake Oswego, who appointed himself as Meek’s replacement on the committee before Friday’s meeting.
All five Republicans voted against the bill. They said the dozens of tax and fee increases in the proposal would hurt Oregonians while not doing enough to address inefficiencies and mismanagement at the Oregon Department of Transportation, which has received significant scrutiny in the past year following multiple agency reviews that uncovered those flaws.
“I was really hopeful that we would be here today with ... a product of collaboration,” said Sen. Bruce Starr, a Republican from Dundee who spent months negotiating with Democrats on the package. “Unfortunately, that’s not where we’re at today, and for me, that’s frustrating and sad.”
Starr conceded that some technical aspects of the bill were negotiated by both parties. But he blasted many of the tax hikes, particularly the provision to eventually tie the value of the gas tax to inflation.
Although most of the new taxes would target car drivers, truckers would also pay higher taxes under the proposed bill. By 2030, truck drivers would pay an extra $140 million per year in weight-mile taxes.
The package would also raise DMV fees, increase the state’s vehicle privilege tax and implement a new road user charge that would require drivers of certain vehicles to pay per mile driven starting in 2026. That would eventually include many light electric vehicles and medium-weight electric vehicles owned by businesses.
The bill includes some provisions intended to increase oversight of the Oregon Department of Transportation, such as regular audits and more legislative monitoring of major projects. It also includes some measures to ensure that truckers and car drivers eventually both pay their fair share of taxes for their use of Oregon’s roads.
The partisan vote came as a disappointment to some Democrats who had hoped the need for more transportation funding across Oregon would incentivize some Republicans to support the package.
While Republicans said the latest version of the bill was far from a compromise, some progressive Democrats said the bill landed on middle ground because it did not include all of the tax hikes they had proposed.
“There are definitely things that I firmly believe could have been a lot better about the process,” said Sen. Khanh Pham, a Portland Democrat. “But at this moment, I just think the stakes are really high, and I don’t think Oregonians can afford to take the damage, the hurt that will cause if we kick the can down the road.”
Oregon Democrats advance transportation bill during contentious meeting
Statesman Journal | By Dianne Lugo
The Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment amended a multi-billion-dollar transportation bill on June 20 and voted along party lines, 7 to 5, during a contentious meeting to send the measure to the full House, eight days before the 2025 Legislature must adjourn.
An updated revenue analysis for House Bill 2025 estimates it will raise $14.5 billion over the next 10 years through new and increased taxes and fees. Oregon's current 40-cent-per-gallon gas tax would climb to 50 cents starting January 1, 2026, and then to 55 cents per gallon beginning January 1, 2028. The gas tax would be tied to inflation after 2029.
HB 2025, as amended by the committee, also would increase the vehicle privilege tax that car dealers pay from 0.5% to 1%.
Half of the vehicle privilege tax would be directed to the Railroad Fund, which funds programs or projects to support public transportation by rail. The other half would continue to fund zero-emission vehicle rebates and the Connect Oregon Fund, which funds grants for aviation, rail and marine projects.
The committee, which had twice been canceled during the week, started nearly 90 minutes late as lawmakers waited for additional documents from the Legislative Fiscal Office.
Just after the meeting was scheduled to begin, Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, bounced a Democrat from the committee who had pledged to vote against the bill. And at one point, co-chair Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, yelled at Rep. Shelly Boshart-Davis. R-Albany, after she referred to the bill as "grossly irresponsible."
"You are impugning all of us that have worked on that bill, so stop with that," Gorsek said, interrupting her.
Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove, another co-chair, stopped the exchange. Boshart-Davis later said she would file a formal complaint against Gorsek, saying it was "wholly inappropriate by a member of this body and by somebody in a position of power."
Other changes the bill would make to fund Oregon's transportation system include:
- Implement a new road usage charge for electric and fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as delivery fleets with 10 or more vehicles. The charge would be the equivalent of a per-mile rate of 5% of the gas tax, or an annual flat fee of $340. Delivery vehicles would pay a rate of 10% of the gas tax. Drivers of such vehicles would be exempt from paying increased registration fees and would
- Simplify the weight-mile tax tables for heavy trucks.
- Increase the employee payroll tax from 0.1% to 0.18% on Jan. 1, 2026; to 0.25% in 2028, and 0.3% by 2030.
- Create a new tax on the transfer of a new or used vehicle sold for more than $26,000. The tax would be 2% of the sales price for new vehicles or 1% for used cars.
ODOT has stated it would need to eliminate approximately 1,000 jobs, nearly 20% of its maintenance stations and reduce services without additional funding.
"This package strikes a balance after a years-long process, including a statewide tour and public hearings that brought real concerns — and real solutions — to the table," said McLain in a statement. “The result is a strong bill that supports rural and urban Oregon, honors past commitments, and begins to fix the way we fund our roads and bridges in a changing world.”
Sen. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland, said Oregon has been disinvesting in its roads for decades. That disinvestment is visible in the road system daily with potholes on streets, weight-limited bridges, and "exploding" traffic fatalities. She said she recognized the bill was a "major investment" and that it was her responsibility and the responsibility of legislators to pass the bill.
"For that reason, I am unapologetic about the need for investing in our roads, for the health of our communities and the health of our economies," Phạm said.
Gorsek also celebrated the vote, saying the bill's investments mean "potholes can be fixed, roads can be plowed, bridges can be stabilized, and drivers and pedestrians can get around more safely.”
Senate President removes Democrat from committee, appoints himself
Minutes after the committee was scheduled to begin, Wagner's office sent a memo saying he had removed Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, from the committee and had appointed himself to fill the vacancy.
"Effective immediately, pursuant to Senate Rule 8.05, I am making the following committee appointments for the 2025 Session," reads the June 20 memo sent at 2:42 p.m. The committee had been scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
Meek told the committee on June 17 that he would vote no on advancing the major transportation bill out of committee because he was frustrated that he and other committee members had not had time to read and research amendments to the multibillion-dollar transportation bill.
"I don't see how anybody can expect us to vote on this tomorrow or the day after based on everything that was presented and the time we have to digest this and even to amend it or correct it and make sure it is accomplishing what we are looking at," Meek said on June 17.
The committee discussed several proposed changes to House Bill 2025 since its release on June 9. Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, also indicated he would vote no on moving any package forward, but he declared his support on June 20.
Meek said he was removed so the transportation bill could move out of committee
Republicans have panned the transportation package since Democrats first unveiled a framework for the bill in April. They suggested making various cuts to the Oregon Department of Transportation. Amendments from House Republican Leader Rep. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, and Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem, were not adopted.
Two former Republican lawmakers have raised $193,400 as of June 19 for an effort to refer the bill to voters.
Meek remained on the dais throughout the delayed start of the committee and through the work session.
"It looks like the president isn't willing to reconsider policy options, instead he's going to remove me from the committee so that they can vote it through," Meek said in a text to the Statesman Journal.
He did not immediately respond to additional questions. During the meeting, he said he found out on his way to the committee that he was being removed.
"I was removed from this committee because of my opposition to this bill and my opposition to the process," Meek said.
He said HB 2025 was "fundamentally flawed" and unaffordable and he would be a no vote on the Senate floor in its current form.
Wagner's office did not immediately respond. During the committee meeting, Wagner stated that the committee had done "phenomenal work" despite "legitimate disagreements" over policy.
Oregon Republicans decried the announcement on social media.
Republicans condemn tax increases in HB 2025 that are expected to raise $14.5 billion over 10 years
Republicans also condemned the increased taxes and fees after updated revenue figures were released.
“By taxing and raising costs on literally everything, Salem Democrats have extended their disdain for businesses to everyday Oregonians and their families,” Boshart Davis, who serves as vice chair of the joint committee, said in a June 19 statement.
Boshart Davis repeatedly stated during the work session that she believes the public did not have enough time to weigh in on the updated estimates.
“This bill is so out of touch and exactly what you get when you scheme in the basement of the Capitol instead of listening to real Oregonians who tell us every day that the cost of living is their biggest challenge," she said.
Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, said he had been "kind of excited" about the opportunity to work collaboratively on the bill but that the negotiation process broke down.
"Here we are today," Starr said. "The size of this tax increase could easily, and I believe will, have a negative impact on our economy."
Divided Oregon panel sends massive transportation funding bill to House floor
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt, Julia Shumway
Oregon’s long-awaited transportation funding bill is headed to the House floor, but it remains to be seen whether it will make it to the end of the legislative session without running out of gas.
The 12-member Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment voted 7-5 along party lines Friday to advance an amended version of House Bill 2025, a plan to generate nearly $14.6 billion over the next 10 years with new and higher taxes and fees to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation and transportation needs throughout the state.
Supporters say it’s a way to reverse decades of underspending, caused by Oregonians paying far less than their neighbors in other western states in vehicle-related taxes.
“We can see the result of that disinvestment in our road system every day, when we see the potholes on our streets, the bridges that now are weight-limited so trucks cannot go over them, which affects our economy,” said Sen. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland. “We see that in the exploding traffic fatalities when county roads can’t even afford a shoulder, when kids can’t even bike and walk to school, and we have parents in my district who are crying every day because of the injuries and and the fatalities that are happening.”
The bill now moves to a vote by the full Oregon House. It would need to pass both the House and Senate by Sunday June 29, the final possible day of the legislative session.
But the measure’s path forward is more of a steep, curving, poorly maintained mountain road than a smooth stretch of highway. Republicans remain strongly opposed to it, as do some Democrats.
“These are massive, massive tax increases, and ultimately, I think they’re going to be dangerous to our economy,” Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, said before voting against the bill. “I understand that there is a need for long-term funding for our state for highways and highways, and this Republican was willing to negotiate how and where we raise those additional taxes as additional fees.”
Bipartisan opposition
Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, on Friday removed Sen. Mark Meek, a Gladstone Democrat opposed to the measure, from the committee and took his place. Wagner, who voted for the measure, said committee members led by co-chairs Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove and Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, had worked hard and produced something they could be proud of.
Meek, who remained sitting at the committee dais, said he would have been willing to vote for a tax increase and to spend the entire weekend working on a compromise, but that it was “fundamentally flawed” in its current form.
“I was removed from this committee because I’m gonna be a ‘no,’” Meek said. “I will be a ‘no’ on the Senate floor if this is the version that comes across, and you will see what happens.”
Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, shared a message to her Instagram story criticizing Wagner’s move as “absolutely ridiculous” on Friday.
“We are here to elevate the voices of our constituents and we are saying NO to insane tax increases!! And this is what happens! Shame,” Hartman wrote over a picture of a memo about Wagner replacing Meek.
Any measures to create new taxes or increase existing ones require support from at least 36 representatives and 18 senators. Democrats hold exactly 36 and 18 seats, meaning they would need united caucuses if no Republicans support the measure.
The bill, which lawmakers dubbed the Transportation Reinvestment Package, or TRIP, aims to provide the state transportation agency with funding needed to avoid a $350 million deficit in the year ahead and to avoid laying off up to 1,000 employees that agency officials earlier this year suggested would be necessary to remain solvent.
Meanwhile, Republicans opposed to the bill have begun leveraging it to raise money for political campaigns — “TRIP is a TRAP!” the Oregon Republican Party declared in a fundraising email this week.
Republicans including former Sen. Brian Boquist, who represented Dallas and was a key player in crafting the 2017 transportation package, are preparing to refer the new fees and taxes to the ballot. The bill does not include an emergency clause that would make it effective immediately upon passage, so Republicans would have 90 days to raise the 78,000 signatures needed to refer it to the November ballot.
Anticipating such a referral, the House voted 31-18 Friday to pass House Bill 3390, allowing the Legislature to choose ballot language if any laws they pass this year are referred to voters.
House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, told Oregon Public Broadcasting on Tuesday that Republicans would also consider a walkout over tax increases. Because Oregon is one of only a handful of states that require two-thirds of lawmakers to form a quorum, Republicans who hold 12 seats in the 30-member Senate and 24 in the 60-member House can stop the Legislature from functioning by skipping floor sessions as a group.
Voters in 2022 sought to stop walkouts by passing a measure that punishes any lawmakers with 10 or more unexcused absences by blocking them from running for reelection, but there are fewer than 10 days left in the session.
Drazan submitted her own proposal late Tuesday, while the committee was already discussing four new amendments added by Democrats within an hour of the meeting’s start. Her proposal is a replica of an earlier Republican proposal, House Bill 3982, which avoids taxes and instead redirects funding from climate initiatives, public transit and passenger rail services, bicycle programs and payroll taxes.
Republicans on the committee sought unsuccessfully to adopt Drazan’s amendment on Friday. Rep. Kevin Mannix, a Salem Republican who worked more closely with Democrats than most other Republicans, said neither Drazan’s proposal nor the Democratic proposal were perfect. The Democratic proposal is “grossly obese” and Drazan’s amendment is “too thin,” Mannix said.
“So what sort of choices do you make? Well, if you’ve got something that’s slim and thin, you can add some weight to it over time,” he said.
Republicans also failed to adopt another amendment Mannix offered that would have had smaller tax increases, which Mannix described as a compromise.
Rep. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, and Phạm, two of the most progressive members of the Legislature, had introduced their own amendments that would have included significantly higher taxes than any other proposal. Gamba said.
“That is the amendment that puts us between the two pretty broadly spread ends of the spectrum here, at one end, attempting to get us back to parity with most of the rest of western United States, and at the other end, attempting to erode our system even further,” Gamba said. “I think the (co-chairs’ amendment) does find the sort of sweet middle.”
Where money flows
Revenue collected from vehicle use fees, state gas tax, titling and registration must go to the state highway fund for roads and bridges under the Oregon Constitution. That means the bulk of money in this bill is for vehicle infrastructure.
Specific projects that would be funded with the revenue by 2027 include the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project in Portland’s Albina neighborhood, upgrading the Abernethy Bridge and widening Interstate 205 in the Portland metro area, improving the Newberg-Dundee bypass in Yamhill County, and upgrading a Salem bridge off Center Street and State Highway 22 to make it strong enough to endure earthquakes.
When it comes to aging bridges, Oregon Department of Transportation Director Kris Strickler said Tuesday the funding will help pay for more bridge replacements per year. Most bridges built in Oregon can only be replaced every 900 years given the agency’s current budget — about three a year.
Under House Bill 2025 funding, “by the time you get to 2029-31, it’s roughly a 550- to 600-year replacement cycle. We’re able to pick up two to three more bridges a year, which is significant,” he said.
The bill would provide counties an average of 40% more money for transportation projects, according to Mallorie Roberts, a lobbyist for the Association of Oregon Counties and the Oregon Association of County Engineers and Surveyors. She said it would allow counties to invest in long-overdue capital projects on roads and transportation infrastructure rather than just operations and maintenance.
Taxes on car and bike sales and payroll taxes are allowed to go to pedestrian pathways, bike trails and rail transit. The privilege taxes on new car sales would provide an extra $1 million per year in funding for bike and pedestrian pathways.
Additional revenue from the higher payroll tax would provide up to $400 million per year in new funding for rail operations and projects.
The package includes the directive to undertake a number of studies, including a study of the costs and benefits of providing all Oregonians 22-years or younger with free access to public transit, and the costs and benefits of expanding the Westside Express Service, a commuter rail line serving parts of Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville, to include Salem and Eugene.
Long, winding road
Seven years ago, lawmakers poured more than $5 billion into the Oregon Department of Transportation to improve roads, bridges and public transit. Some of those projects have been criticized for being ineffective, and investigations by the Malheur Enterprise and the Capital Chronicle found two rail centers meant for cargo shipments that cost taxpayers $70 million are still nonoperational.
Between 2019 and 2025, transportation officials agreed to $296 million in voluntary budget cuts, Strickler told lawmakers Tuesday. Strickler said they have been paying for those cuts in employee morale.
“I would not be telling the full truth if I didn’t say that the funding issue looming over us was significant on the morale of the agency,” he said.
The agency and its director would also undergo more regular scrutiny from the Legislature and the governor under House Bill 2025, which would restore her power to hire and fire the head of the transportation department — a decision that has since 2017 been up to the Oregon Transportation Commission.
Transportation Committee votes to advance Oregon transportation package
KGW | By Anthony Macuk
A major transportation package under development in the Oregon Legislature cleared a key procedural hurdle Friday. The Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment voted 7-5 to advance the proposed Transportation Reinvestment Package (TRIP) bill during a work session late in the afternoon, sending it onward for floor votes.
The vote came about two days after the Legislative Revenue Office released its first Revenue Impact Statement for the package, which estimated that the bill would bring in about $14.6 billion in new revenue for transportation over the next 10 years.
The proposed package, House Bill 2025, was largely authored by Democrats and relies on a host of new or hiked taxes and fees to raise the revenue, including a gas tax hike, a new per-mile tax for electric vehicles and a new point-of-sale fee on car purchases, with the ultimate goal of solving the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT)'s chronic budget woes.
Most of the revenue would go to the State Highway Fund, which pays for basic operations and road maintenance at ODOT, as well as county and city transportation departments. It would also set aside $250 million per biennium for major projects like the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter expansion, as well as increased funding for priorities like passenger rail and public transit.
Republicans have been highly critical of the Democrats' TRIP proposal, arguing that the legislature should put a stronger focus on financial accountability at ODOT and plug the budget gap by reallocating existing funding rather than raising taxes and fees. Republicans introduced a bill for their own proposal earlier this month.
The committee work session on Friday mainly focused on an amendment titled -23, which makes a series of tweaks throughout the bill but keeps the broader structure intact. It was submitted by the committee co-chairs, Democrats Rep. Susan McLain and Sen. Chris Gorsek, who also led the drafting of the original bill.
The Revenue Office estimate — updated Friday to cover the -23 amendment — projects that the bill would bring in just over $1 billion in new revenue during the 2025-27 biennium, jumping to $2.5 billion in 2027-29. Revenue would rise to about $3.4 billion in 2029-31, then about $3.7 billion in 2031-33 and finally just under $4 billion in 2033-35.
Oregon Senate President’s Office told KGW that -23 is "in large part ... a technical amendment, plus some DMV fees were reduced and new studies were added."
Tax increases require a three-fifths majority to pass in the Oregon Legislature, and Democrats have the exact requisite number of seats in each chamber, meaning the bill won't make it to Gov. Tina Kotek's desk without securing either unanimous Democratic support or a few Republican votes.
Earlier this week, it began to look like the bill might be struggling to make it to the floor in the first place. OPB reported Wednesday that Democratic Sen. Mark Meek, D-Oregon City, said he wouldn't vote to advance the current version of the bill out of the committee. Democrats control the committee, but they only hold seven of the 12 seats, and the bill needs majority support to advance.
Another twist came Friday afternoon when the Oregon Capital Chronicle's Julia Shumway reported that Senate President Rob Wagner had ousted Meek from the committee and installed himself as a replacement. Meek was still present on the dais during Friday's work session, but so was Wagner, and as of Friday afternoon, the committee's webpage on the legislature's website had replaced Meek with Wagner on the committee's roster.
The Republican version also got a committee vote Friday, in sort of a roundabout way; co-vice chair Rep. Shelly Boshart-Davis at one point moved for a vote on a proposed amendment that would've rewritten nearly all of the bill, essentially substituting in the Republican plan. The motion failed 5-7.
Republican Rep. Kevin Mannix also proposed his own amendment that he presented as more of a compromise between the two approaches, with some of the tax hikes dropped and others maintained but at lower amounts, and with some of the transit funding from the Democratic version also maintained.
Democratic Sen. Khanh Pham replied that primary version of the bill was already a compromise, noting that Rep. Mark Gamba had put forth another amendment that would've provided greater support for electrification, transit and climate priorities. Mannix's amendment also failed.
The -23 amendment ultimately passed, and Gorsek immediately moved to advance the now-amended HB 2025 out of committee and onward to the floor.
Ahead of the vote, Meek stated that he had been removed from the committee due to his opposition to the bill, and that he planned to vote against it on the Senate floor. He added that he would've been willing to vote for a tax increase to help fix ODOT's budget crunch, but he couldn't support the full bill as written and objected to the rushed and last-minute way it had been drafted.
"I was removed from this committee because of my opposition to this bill and my opposition to the process in which we have been rushing, I would say, this bill through," Meek said, adding that he supports local highway repairs — just not with this bill.
"I'm ready to vote on a tax increase at this year to make ODOT whole, to do the work ODOT needs, and Oregonians want to see filling potholes and fixing bridges, all the rest, but this is not the solution at this time," he declared.
Republicans also weighed in, calling it the largest tax hike in state history, with Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Polk and Yamhill counties, saying, "The idea that we will forever let gas taxes and diesel taxes go up according to inflation — it's absolutely the reverse; it's the flip side of accountability."
Supporters said the package may not be perfect, but it's crucial.
"At this moment, I just think the stakes are really high, and I don't think Oregonians can afford to take the damage and hurt that we'll cause if we just kick the can down the road," Pham said.
Oregon lawmakers divided on $14 billion transportation bill
KATU | By Victor Park
We're now into the last week of the Oregon State legislature session, and Democrats are divided on a consequential bill that aims to fix roads and infrastructure across the state.
“I have to admit; just fully state that this package is fundamentally flawed for many reasons,” Oregon Senator Mark Meek said as he crossed party lines, slamming the Democratic-led transportation bill. “One of the reasons is that it's not affordable to Oregonians. We are facing dire, and I do have to say, dire economic times."
Republican lawmakers also voiced opposition to the bill.
"What I think is grossly irresponsible is not allowing the public to weigh into a $15 billion package. That's grossly irresponsible," said Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany), Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment.
However, Democrat Senator Knanh Pham of Portland said it's plain and simple; the bill would maintain and upgrade Oregon’s dying roads and bridges.
"I just think the stakes are really high. I don't think Oregonians can afford to take the damage and the hurt we'll cause if we kick the can down the road,” Pham said.
The bill is expected to draw more than $14.6 billion over the next decade. The latest version of the legislation would:
- Increase the gas tax by $.15 per gallon
- Raise DMV fees, along with the cost of operating trucks
- Triple the state’s .01% payroll tax for transit
- Enact a per-mile charge on electric vehicle users
“Salem Democrats schemed their transportation tax wish list in the basement of the Capitol and then rigged the democratic process to ram through the largest tax hike in Oregon history, ignoring 61% of Oregonians who submitted public testimony strongly opposing the bill,” said Rep. Boshart Davis.
“I recognize that many of us are concerned about the cost of living in Oregon. It is not easy to vote for higher taxes, but I am skeptical that Oregonians' pocketbooks are really better off if we continue to let our roads crumble,” Pham added.
On Friday, lawmakers voted along party lines and passed it 7-5.
The bill now heads to the House floor as Senator Meek vows to vote against this bill.
The last day of this legislative session is Sunday, June 29.
“Oregonians don’t want to pay more in taxes and fees for a government they should already be getting. They want potholes filled, snow plowed, and roads and bridges maintained. We know Oregonians' top concern is the cost of living. Our proposal served as a bridge that sought to rebuild Oregonians’ trust in ODOT before asking them to pay more,” said Rep. Boshart Davis, regarding the Republicans’ amendment.
Republicans argue, if it passes, it would be the largest tax increase in Oregon history.
Oregon's Political Battleground, Democrats Propose Historic $15.5 Billion Tax Increase, Republicans Push Back Hard
Hoodline | By Lucas Wright
In a move that's rippling through the state's political landscape, Oregon Democrats have put forward a proposal to enact what would be the largest tax increase in the state's history. According to a recent analysis by the State of Oregon, the proposed HB 2025 and its -13 amendment are slated to increase taxes and fees to the tune of $15.5 billion over the next decade. This surpasses any previous measures, outstripping the 2017 transportation package estimated at raising $5.3 billion and the 2021 Corporate Activity Tax projected to raise over $12 billion.
Republican leaders, fielding a stance of staunch opposition, did not mince words when condemning the proposal. "Democrat politicians have truly lost their way," said House Republican Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby). "Asking Oregonians to pay the largest tax hike in history when they can barely get by is unconscionable." Despite the ongoing debate, the Democrats have cancelled two work sessions on HB 2025 as reported by the State of Oregon official press release.
The controversial HB 2025 includes around 35 new taxes, tax hikes, and fee increases. The backlash against it suggests a significant disconnect between the ruling party and the electorate. "By taxing and raising costs on literally everything, Salem Democrats have extended their disdain for businesses to everyday Oregonians and their families," vented Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany), who serves as Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment, as stated by the State of Oregon.
Critics within the Republican Party argue there are alternative ways to support state infrastructure without hefting more financial burdens onto Oregonians. "Raising a record amount of taxes on Oregon’s families is completely unacceptable," Rep. E. Werner Reschke (R-Klamath Falls) told the press. The GOP representatives posit that it is possible to stabilize the Transportation Department and regain public trust in the Oregon Department of Transportation, without the need to further tax residents at gas stations, DMVs, or car dealerships. As the debate over HB 2025 continues to unfold, the divide between Democrat and Republican lawmakers appears to be widening, as per the State of Oregon.
Editorial: Oregon’s uninspiring response to a decades-old crisis
The Oregonian Editorial Board
Even for Oregon, where crises commonly linger for years, the state’s “aid-and-assist” emergency stands out.
Since 2002, Oregon has been in and out of compliance with a federal order aimed at protecting the constitutional rights of criminal defendants who need mental health treatment to face prosecution. The order requires the state psychiatric hospital to admit jailed defendants within seven days of a judge’s determination that they are unable to aid and assist in their defense. But the state has repeatedly failed to meet that deadline, prompting renewed court challenges and orders designed to force the state back into compliance.
Now, that failure carries a price tag. U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson earlier this month found Oregon State Hospital in contempt of court for not doing all it can to fix the delays and ordered fines of $500 per person for each day spent in jail beyond the seven-day deadline. The hospital is appealing the order and challenging the judge’s findings, pointing out that it is nearly in compliance. But if affirmed, the penalty could cost Oregon more than $7 million a year, The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Lillian Mongeau Hughes reported.
The fines and legal challenge only highlight the need for the state to step up and show it can meet the seven-day-deadline without the restrictive recommendations that a court-appointed expert is pushing. Unfortunately, the current plan built into an omnibus bill in the Legislature reflects neither the urgency nor problem-solving creativity that this crisis calls for. Instead, House Bill 2005 adopts controversial time limits for how long a defendant can stay in a hospital or lower-level treatment facility before they are likely to be released and have their charges dismissed. Such deadlines may help the state satisfy the seven-day deadline, but they don’t adequately consider the individual’s needs for care nor public safety.
Yet, legislators cannily packaged the time limits proposal with a badly needed revision of the state’s vague law for civil commitment – the process through which Oregonians with severe mental illness can be ordered into care without their consent. Those long overdue fixes will make it easier for families to overcome the extremely high barriers they have faced in ensuring loved ones will receive help before causing serious harm to themselves or someone else. For too long, the state’s innate resistance to making anyone do anything they don’t want to do has kept reforms at bay.
With time running short and the need to pass the civil commitment change, legislators and the governor should pledge now to reviewing the time limits and making any needed fixes – including other proposals that failed to gain traction this year – in the 2026 session.
In solidarity with just-returned colleague with cancer, most Oregon House members wear masks to protect her health
The Oregonian | By Aimee Green
In a show of support, most members of the Oregon House of Representatives and floor staff donned masks Friday as they welcomed back a representative who is battling cancer and has been absent from floor votes for 4 ½ months.
Colleagues showered Rep. Hòa Nguyễn with applause as she made a brief return to vote for several measures, the first time she was able to do so since early February when she announced she’d been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.
Under Pressure, Travel Oregon Reveals CEO’s New Salary
Willamette Week | By James Neff
After a week of secrecy, Travel Oregon and its commissioners have revealed what they are paying CEO Todd Davidson to stay on in the top job for one more year after he retires this month.
Davidson, who made a $365,000 base salary in 2024 and is one of highest-paid agency heads in state government, will make $342,000 in addition to his pension.
2026 ELECTION
GOP Candidate for Governor Gets First Big Check
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
The first big check in the 2026 Republican primary for governor arrived this week—and it didn’t go to House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, the 2022 GOP nominee and next year’s likely frontrunner, if she chooses to run.
Instead, filings with the Oregon Secretary of State’s office show that Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell recorded a $25,000 contribution from Rob Freres, the president of Freres Lumber Co.
Freres and his family company are among the biggest Republican donors in Oregon. In 2022 Freres gave former Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) $250,000 when she ran for governor as an unaffiliated candidate. Freres is also the president of Freres Timber, which also gave Johnson $250,000.
On her campaign website, Bethell outlines a fairly standard platform, saying as governor she would focus on “safer communities, a stronger economy, and a government that actually works for the people it serves [and] tackling the housing crisis, supporting small businesses, and ensuring our schools prepare the next generation for success.”
She will compete for the nomination to challenge the Democratic nominee, who is likely to be incumbent Gov. Tina Kotek. Kotek reeled in a $25,000 check of her own last week, from Felicity Davis, a Silverton health care business owner. Kotek has now raised $321,000 this year and has $915,000 in her campaign account.
Drazan (R-Canby) says she’s not ready to talk about her plans for next year. She raised $22.6 million in 2022 and lost to Kotek, 47% to 43.5%. (Johnson got 8.6%.)
As House minority leader, Drazen has spent the session playing defense against the Democratic supermajority, which hopes to bring House Bill 2025, the controversial transportation funding package, for a House vote early this week.
“I am focused on protecting the kicker, stopping the largest tax increase in Oregon’s history [HB 2025] and trying to get Oregon back on track,” Drazan says in response to a question about 2026. “That’s it right now.”
ECONOMY
Jordan Schnitzer on how Trump tariffs are impacting Oregon’s businesses
KOIN 6 | By Ken Boddie
Real estate developer, arts patron, philanthropist. These are just three of the many hats worn by Jordan Schnitzer.
Schnitzer returned to Eye on Northwest Politics this week, sharing his thoughts on big pieces of real estate up for sale in downtown Portland, the loss of a major Oregon headquarters, concern over the tax and regulatory climate in Oregon, as well as the impact of President Trump’s trade war.
The Oregonian’s Therese Bottomly talks the future of the paper in changing times
KOIN 6 | By Ken Boddie
It’s a challenging time for newspapers across the country. For our newspaper of record, The Oregonian, it’s no different.
Mass timber company picks Portland for manufacturing facility
OPB | By Kyra Buckley
The Port of Portland has granted a lease to Zaugg Timber Solutions. The company makes wood products, sometimes called mass timber.
HOMELESSNESS
Grants Pass won legal fight on camps — but continues to lose control of its homelessness crisis
Jefferson Public Radio | By Jane Vaughan
It’s been one year since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Grants Pass’ ban against homeless people camping in public. The ruling reverberated across the U.S., freeing cities to crack down on homeless encampments.
But in this Southern Oregon city, local officials still can’t clear all its homeless camps.
Walking through downtown Grants Pass, there are four homeless camps on city property within two blocks. The city has fenced them in, providing port-a-potties and dumpsters. Dozens of people live in tents, just steps away from City Hall.
Kate Huckert lives across the street with her boyfriend and children and said they call the police multiple times a day for things like fighting and drug use.
“We’re right there,” she said. “So it’s really scary and disturbing, what we’re having to deal with.”
This is not where Grants Pass thought it would be, one year after its big win at the U.S. Supreme Court.
That ruling struck down lower courts that barred cities from enforcing anti-camping laws unless there was enough capacity in shelters for homeless people.
So, the city began clearing tents from parks again. Residents were hopeful their homelessness crisis would finally be solved.
But in January, the city was sued again — this time for violating state laws, including disability protections and House Bill 3115, which requires cities’ public camping rules to be “objectively reasonable,” though the law doesn’t define what that means.
Now, the judge hearing the lawsuit has mostly blocked camping bans in Grants Pass until the lawsuit is resolved. The judge also ordered Grants Pass to create more camping spaces.
What Oregon’s hospital discharge data shows about treating homeless people
The Oregonian | By Lillian Mongeau Hughes
Only about 0.5% of Oregon’s overall population was homeless in 2023, according to the most recently available federal data.
But homeless people have accounted for just over 1% of emergency department visits in Oregon since 2019, according to the Oregon Health Authority’s statewide discharge data. And in 2024, the last year with complete data available, 3% of people who stayed for inpatient care were homeless.
Homeless people also tend to stay in hospitals longer. The average emergency room stay for homeless patients in Oregon in 2024 was 9.4 hours, compared to an overall average of 5.3 hours. The average length of inpatient stays for homeless patients were nearly three days longer – 7.8 days – than the overall average, according to discharge data.
Lisa Wilson, a research analyst at the Oregon Health Authority, said many factors contribute to the longer stays. Homeless patients tend to have higher rates of mental health conditions and substance use disorders, often have more acute symptoms for conditions that have gone untreated and are sometimes hard to discharge safely as they have nowhere to go to recover.
The issue isn’t just an Oregon problem.
National News
Gunman wounds 1 in Detroit church service before being killed by a security guard
Associated Press
A gunman opened fire during a service at a suburban Detroit church on Sunday, wounding one person before he was shot and killed by a security guard, police said.
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