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Oregon News
POLITICS
Editorial: Get back in the car, legislators. We’re not there yet
The Oregonian Editorial Board
The big priority for this year’s legislative session was finding new funding to help state, local and public transit agencies patch the gaping holes in their roads and budgets. Legislators knew the stakes. They had spent months crisscrossing Oregon and hearing from residents about economic, safety and basic mobility concerns. With Democrats wielding a supermajority, it seemed a foregone conclusion that new revenue was on the way.
Except the Democrats leading the caravan drove right into a ditch.
Inexplicably, the transportation committee co-chairs didn’t release their funding plan until 20 days before the session’s required adjournment, squandering time to analyze, negotiate and amend the bill. Their proposals for tax and fee increases were so steep – nearly $15 billion in new revenue over the next decade – that even fellow Democrats balked, as The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Carlos Fuentes reported. And as the package collapsed, a barebones proposal to increase the gas tax just for the state’s transportation department didn’t get a vote, hung up by procedural requirements that Republicans, largely sidelined in the bill’s development, wouldn’t waive.
It was a haphazard and sloppy ending to a legislative process that lacked direction and signaled failure from the get-go.
But the work cannot stop. Legislators from both parties, along with Gov. Tina Kotek, need to prepare for a targeted special legislative session that provides crucial transportation revenue – not just for the state, but also for counties, cities and public transit. The failure to pass a bill is triggering hundreds of layoffs at the Oregon Department of Transportation and is forcing local governments to prepare cuts of their own. Meanwhile, tire-chewing potholes, crumbling roadways and dangerous crosswalks show Oregonians every day the cost of inaction.
Elected officials, however, cannot approach a special session with the same sprawling package ($15 billion? Really?) and undisciplined focus that lawmakers showed earlier this year. While they can build off House Bill 2025’s provisions to increase accountability at ODOT, a new package must be a truly bipartisan and negotiated agreement. That means securing more than just a single Republican’s support and responding to needs across geography, mode of transportation and fuel type. And finally, it must acknowledge the financial burdens Oregonians already bear in this high-cost-of-living state by limiting fee increases while showing that taxpayer dollars will be spent well.
This reset should start with Kotek.
Kotek has already made clear that ODOT cannot wait until the 2026 legislative session for a funding fix. The agency, which has withstood cuts for years, now faces such severe reductions that its ability to perform essential services, such as plowing roads in the winter and basic maintenance – are jeopardized. A spokeswoman said the governor is “highly engaged” on the issue – a welcome change from her lack of public involvement in the bill until the final days of the session.
But she must prove to Oregonians that new revenue from higher gas taxes, new road-user charges for electric vehicles, increased registration fees or other increases under consideration won’t be misspent. Her first step should be to rescind her controversial executive order that requires “project labor agreements” for major state-owned projects – a practice that many researchers have concluded dissuades competition and leads to higher costs.
These “PLAs” are agreements negotiated between construction contractors and unions that set the terms of employment for anyone – union or nonunion – working on the project. Such agreements may require workers regardless of affiliation to pay union dues or contribute to a union’s health or pension plans, even though they may never benefit from those programs. ODOT itself produced a report concluding that PLA requirements can increase costs 10% to 20% on a project.
That’s not a responsible way to use taxpayer dollars. As we’ve said previously, it’s unconscionable to burden Oregonians with billions more in taxes while adopting a practice that happens to benefit some of Kotek’s most loyal donors. Her executive order is already on hold due to an injunction issued in a lawsuit filed by the Oregon-Columbia chapter of Associated General Contractors of America. That’s all the more reason to rescind it now and avoid wasting more money on litigation.
By canceling the executive order, Kotek would not only make the right fiscal decision, but she would also send a message of partnership and genuine commitment to legislators of both parties. Showing that leadership would set an entirely new tone for transportation discussions.
Kotek is only one piece of the solution, of course. House Speaker Julie Fahey, Senate President Rob Wagner, and the transportation committee co-chairs, Rep. Susan McLain and newly-appointed Sen. Khanh Pham – all Democrats – need to recalibrate what success and compromise mean. That means questioning some of HB 2025’s assumptions. Do legislators have to restructure Oregon’s transportation funding plan in one fell swoop? Do they have to earmark funds for state-run community safety programs or should they leave such granular decisions to local governments to fund? Can the remaining major projects from the 2017 bill be revised? And instead of thinking about how much new revenue can be raised, can they instead focus on the minimum needed to achieve the most critical goals?
HB 2025 studiously focused on broad maintenance needs instead of specific projects, an understandable reaction to the 2017 transportation package whose list of projects have wildly exceeded estimates – and still aren’t finished. But legislators should also consider that naming some significant, discrete maintenance projects around the state – repairing portions of crumbling highways in Eastern Oregon or seismic resiliency for bridges in Salem, for example – builds political support, goodwill and tells Oregonians where they can see the concrete results of their investment.
Republicans are the final part of the solution. Even with a Democratic supermajority – and the inexcusable hostility of former transportation co-chair Chris Gorsek to Republican vice-chair Shelly Boshart Davis – Republicans must stay engaged and advocate for their constituents. And their constituents need safe roads just as much as anyone else. That won’t come for free, and Republicans’ argument that the state does not need new taxes does not stand up to reality. We have years of deferred maintenance, a financing scheme that relies on a dwindling gas tax and our 21st century economy demands a transportation system supporting public transit as well as driving. Status quo isn’t an option, so they might as well get on board and help navigate.
There’s little time to waste. Oregon’s elected leaders should enjoy the break, and then buckle up for the ride. We still have miles to go.
Capital Chatter: Democracy is a messy business — even in Oregon
Oregon Capital Insider | Opinion by Dick Hughes
The 2025 Oregon Legislature exemplified the Founders’ warning. Democracy – even the representative democracy the Founders established – is a messy affair.
Oregon transportation funding package fails, ODOT layoffs loom. What do lawmakers say?
KATU
The Oregon Legislature concluded its five-month session without passing a significant transportation funding package, leaving the state's Department of Transportation (ODOT) facing potential layoffs.
On Your Voice, Your Vote, State Representative Susan McLain, co-chair of the Joint Transportation Committee discusses how the failure to pass the bill has raised concerns about the impact on transportation services and employment.
Despite holding a supermajority in both the House and Senate, Democrats were unable to secure enough votes to pass the package. The bill was introduced late in the session, on June 9, just three weeks before adjournment on June 27.
Republican House Leader Christine Drazan joined the discussion on YVYV, criticizing the bill and explaining how it failed to pass from the Republican perspective.
Christine Drazan unpacks major objections to controversial transportation bill
KOIN 6 | By Ken Boddie
As the minority in both houses, Republicans in the Oregon legislature spent much of the latest legislative session searching for victories.
They scored one in the waning hours by rallying to kill the transportation package.
House Republican Leader Christine Drazan led the charge from the opposition. The Republican from Canby is an experienced legislator who narrowly lost to Tina Kotek for Oregon governor in 2022.
Oregon State Sen. Wlnsvey Campos talks legislative session hits and misses
KOIN 6 | By Ken Boddie
Oregon lawmakers wrapped up the 83rd legislative session last week with some notable successes, especially in education funding. But there was also a significant disappointment in not passing a transportation bill.
So did last week’s “sine die” really signal the end of the legislature’s work? Or was it just a pause in the action?
Deputy Senate Majority Leader Wlnsvey Campos joined this week’s Eye on Northwest Politics to help unpack what happened in Salem.
Oregon lawmakers failed to find billions for roads. Now what?
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart, Bryce Dole
It’s been nearly a week since Oregon Democrats’ road-funding hopes imploded, but the fallout from that failure is still hitting home.
At the Oregon Department of Transportation, hundreds of workers were expected to begin learning this week that they might be laid off as soon as Monday.
Cash-strapped cities and counties are scrambling to figure out what projects — or in some cases, staffers — may have to be laid off. Transit agencies are planning for a future with fewer routes, or less frequent service.
And above it all — still — is a question.
A proposal to juice money flowing into the transportation system by nearly $2 billion a year may have died when the Legislature adjourned last week, but how dead is it?
HOUSING
Lawmakers passed slate of bills meant to address state’s ‘woefully short’ housing supply
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Speeding up housing development process
Senate Bill 974 speeds up the process of reviewing housing permits. It requires local governments to confirm completed applications within 30 days or request more materials and approve or deny permits for development within 120 days of completing the application.
ECONOMY
Oregon lawmakers send $100 million to Coos Bay channel dredging in preparation for shipping terminal
OPB | By Kyra Buckley
The Port of Coos Bay is a small step closer to building a major international shipping terminal, which supporters say will create 2,500 permanent jobs on the south coast.
Oregon lawmakers allocated $100 million to widen and deepen the channel so it’s accessible to cargo ships.
“That’s about 20% of the funding that’s needed altogether to make the dredging occur,” Melissa Cribbins, executive director of the project, told OPB. “But it was very much needed — and it shows a really important state investment in this project.”
Oregon construction jobs slip as homebuilding slides
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Oregon construction work rebounded rapidly after the pandemic recession, driven to an all-time high by major public projects, industrial expansion and housing developments that had been in the works for years.
Much of that work is now complete and the state’s construction industry has shifted into reverse.
While construction employment remains high by historical standards — it’s still above pre-pandemic levels — the number of jobs has dropped 4% in the past 12 months, according to the most recent data from the Oregon Employment Department. That is amplifying a broader decline in the state’s labor market.
Opinion: Growth is a public good. Oregon needs to a better job encouraging it
The Oregonian | By Guest Columnist Monique Claiborne, president and chief executive officer of Greater Portland Inc. She lives in Portland.
In the past several weeks, some of Oregon’s most recognizable employers – Intel, Nike and Providence – have laid off workers. Downtown office buildings are sitting vacant and dropping in value. At the same time, local governments, including Multnomah County and the city of Portland, are slashing programs amid budget shortfalls.
These aren’t isolated events. They reveal a deeper issue: Oregon’s ability to fund essential public services is increasingly vulnerable as the private sector faces mounting strain.
Here’s the political reality: elected officials get reelected for the results voters can see — safer streets, fewer tents, faster 911 response times. But those outcomes depend on something less visible – a strong, growing economy that helps pay for it all. And yet, economic development, which drives that growth, remains consistently underfunded in public budgets and is often misunderstood.
By economic development, I mean creating quality jobs, attracting private investment and expanding the tax base — the work that drives growth and funds the services we all rely on. Ignoring that work to preserve the public services it ultimately sustains is a short-term fix that guarantees long-term failure.
Portland Parking Fees Rise 20%, and Meters Must Soon Be Fed Until 10 pm
Willamette Week | By Asa Gartrell
When you next drive downtown, parking will be 20% more expensive.
Across the city’s five parking districts, an hour on the street will cost 60 cents more, with downtown parking increasing to $3 an hour.
And the city is extending paid street parking hours from 7 to 10 pm. That three-hour expansion will debut one parking district at a time, but the Portland Bureau of Transportation has not released a calendar for the rollout.
The result of the fee hikes? About $4.1 million a year in additional revenue for PBOT, according to recent budget advisory committee documents.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Oregon exonerees face ‘broken system’ of compensation for another year
OPB | By Ryan Haas
Oregon Senate Bill 1007 would have made it easier for wrongfully convicted people in the state to seek compensation for their years incarcerated, but failed to pass this year.
SB 1007 was co-sponsored by Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, and Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and sought to clarify a 2022 bill around compensating people convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.
Oregon lawmakers tighten firearm rules. Where can gun owners still carry?
The Oregonian | By Aimee Green
After a long drawn-out battle in the Oregon Legislature that drew thousands of public comments, lawmakers last week beefed up restrictions on who and where people can carry guns in the state.
Members of the general public already were banned from carrying guns at Portland International Airport, courthouses, city halls, county offices, the Oregon Capitol Building, federal facilities, hospitals, public and private K-12 schools and colleges and universities. But not all of these institutions have been allowed to restrict concealed handgun license holders.
What happened?
Senate Bill 243, which was approved by the Legislature and as of Wednesday was awaiting the governor’s signature, will increase the locations where members of the public can’t carry a gun, even if they have a concealed handgun license.
Portland International Airport and courthouses already banned all guns — regardless of whether the holder had a concealed handgun license. Individual schools, colleges and universities had the option of doing that, too. Senate Bill 243 will allow city councils and county commissions; transit agencies, such as TriMet; and myriad other governmental agencies like utility boards the option of forbidding all guns — including concealed weapons — in the buildings they meet in.
What were the arguments for and against more gun restrictions?
Gun rights advocates and many Republican lawmakers, who all voted against the bill, see it as an infringement on Second Amendment rights. They say law-abiding residents who heed the new rules won’t bring guns into newly restricted locations, while people intent on committing mass shootings will. They argue the law-abiding gun owners won’t be able to protect themselves or others.
ICE arrested him in Oregon. His 24-year-old fiancée wonders what will happen to their toddler
The Oregonian | By Yesenia Amaro
Nelson Pablo-Morales woke before dawn on a cold and windy winter morning to prepare for his job at a construction site in Beaverton.
His fiancée was about to get out of bed to make his lunch. No, he told her. Visit me at work around 11 a.m. and let’s eat warm chicken broth together in the car.
“I want you to take my food,” he told her in Spanish that morning. “Take la nena (little girl) with you.”
His fiancée was preparing the food around 8 a.m. on Feb. 11 when Pablo-Morales’ uncle called. Pablo-Morales, 32, had been detained by immigration authorities. The undocumented immigrant hasn’t seen his fiancée or their now-22-month-old daughter in person since his arrest, and he could soon be deported to Mexico.
NATURAL RESOURCES & WILDFIRE
As Oregon’s wildfire risk map dies, Washington creates its own
OPB | By Erik Neumann
Fire officials with the Washington Department of Natural Resources recently held their first public meeting about a project to map wildfire risk in the state in Klickitat County.
The June 26 meeting marks the early stages of a process directed by the state legislature to gauge the risks and hazards wildfire poses in communities around Washington and to guide new codes for fire-resistant construction.
It came one day after a controversial wildfire mapping program in Oregon was unanimously repealed by lawmakers.
That state’s wildfire mapping program was rolled out in 2022 but became the target of intense criticism from residents and lawmakers in rural communities who said its hazard levels were inaccurate. They also said the map caused insurance premiums to spike and, in some cases, for homeowners to be dropped from their policies all together.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
New Oregon law ups boating fee, requires all boats to get permit to fight invasive species
Statesman Journal | By Zach Urness
The cost of boating Oregon’s waterways will rise in 2026 in an effort to stop invasive mussels from taking over the state’s lakes and rivers.
House Bill 2982 passed the Oregon Legislature and was signed by Gov. Tina Kotek on June 24.
The bill increases the cost of invasive species boating permits for motorized and non-motorized boats by $3 per year.
More strikingly, it expands the types of boats that need a permit.
All small boats, including kayaks, packrafts, stand-up paddleboards and even two inner tubes tied together, will need a Waterway Access Permit beginning Jan. 1, 2026. Previously, boats 10 feet and shorter were exempt.
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