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Oregon News
TRANSPORTATION
With a special session looming in Oregon, specifics remain hazy
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
“My caucus believes that, ultimately, this is a bad bill for the state of Oregon,” Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, said last week. “I don’t know anyone in my caucus that wants to facilitate the process and have it move expeditiously.”
Republicans, Bonham said, want to maximize publicity for a Democratic tax hike they believe will be unpopular with the public. He suspects the session’s timing, when many Oregonians will be savoring the summer’s end, is no coincidence.
“The governor did this intentionally because she thinks the timing will leave you guys no time to report and people will already be on vacation and won’t be paying attention,” Bonham said. “This whole thing is a scheme to do it on Labor Day weekend.”
Kotek’s office says that’s nonsense.
“That is a ludicrous accusation, and one that the Governor disputed when he raised it with her,” said Kotek’s spokeswoman, Roxy Mayer. “The date was selected in coordination with the Presiding Officers to accommodate legislators’ schedules. The Governor preferred an earlier date.”
Whatever the case, Bonham and Drazan insisted last week they want the session to extend longer than Democrats hope. But they might not have the final say.
If Democrats can convince enough rank-and-file Republicans to go against their leaders’ preference, they’ll be able to fast-track the bill. Doing so would require at least two Republicans to defect in the Senate and four in the House, assuming all Democrats are present.
Oregon lawmakers will convene next week to raise taxes, fees for transportation. Here’s what we know so far
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
After failing to pass a transportation funding package earlier this summer, Oregon Democrats are headed for a special session next week with a revised proposal that they hope to get across the finish line, though details of the plan have been scarce.
Despite the lack of details, Gov. Tina Kotek and some key Democrats say they are confident that enough lawmakers will both show up to Salem over Labor Day weekend and, in smaller numbers, vote in support of the proposal.
“I’ve been hearing very positive things about the vote count,” Rep. Susan McLain, a Democrat from Forest Grove and member of the legislative transportation committee, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “We have been continuously answering questions and asking questions and seeing where people are at. ... What I’ve been hearing has been very encouraging.”
Democrats could theoretically pass any revenue-raising measures along party lines with no Republican support, but getting the backing of every caucus member has proven difficult in the recent past. A comprehensive transportation funding proposal put forward by top Democrats earlier this year died after they failed to convince every member of their party to support it.
Under Oregon rules, it takes three-fifths of lawmakers in both chambers to pass a bill that raises revenue.
Multiple House Democrats in recent weeks have privately raised concerns about the updated proposal, according to three lawmakers who spoke to The Oregonian/OregonLive on background to discuss private conversations.
But no Democrat has publicly said they will not support the package, which is essentially a slimmer version of the proposal that narrowly died earlier this year.
Top Republicans have continued to criticize Democrats for wanting to raise taxes and fees. Democrats’ willingness to support such a proposal without more public input is “reflective of the fact that these folks don’t have their act together,” House Republican Leader Christine Drazan of Canby told The Oregonian/OregonLive last week.
Republicans have few realistic options to fight the proposal if every Democrat agrees to support it. Although Republicans could potentially delay votes by declining to waive procedural hurdles, many lawmakers in the minority party said they don’t expect their caucus to take the extreme measure of boycotting the session en masse to prevent Democrats a quorum. Oregon requires two-thirds of lawmakers, not a simple majority, to be present to allow votes to take place.
Also, not every Republican has expressed vocal opposition to the proposal. Rep. Kevin Mannix, a Salem Republican who voted with Democrats in favor of a pared-down transportation funding package in the waning days of this year’s regular session, said last week he is “reserving judgment” on the funding plan.
Rep. Cyrus Javadi, a Republican from Tillamook, has acknowledged in recent blog posts that Oregon’s main sources of transportation funding — the state’s gas tax, DMV fees and fees on trucking companies — have not kept pace with inflation or costs for the state or local governments.
“Let’s be clear: the gas tax increase won’t fix everything,” Javadi wrote in an Aug. 16 post. “But it will help prevent layoffs. It will keep plows on the road. It will qualify us for matching (federal) funds. And it will buy us time. Time to finally deal with the structural problems we’ve ignored for too long.”
Oregon Cries Poverty, but Its Transportation Spending Is Typical of Western States
Willamette Week | By James Neff
When Oregon lawmakers convene in a special session Aug. 29 to decide whether to raise the gas tax and bail out the Oregon Department of Transportation, most will likely be operating on the reasoning of a well-honed ODOT sales pitch:
The agency is broke and Oregon underfunds its roadways compared to six nearby Western states, so it needs more money.
In June testimony, ODOT even provided lawmakers with a chart of taxes collected per car in the seven states. The graphic is eyecatching: It shows Oregon ranked at the bottom, at $294 per vehicle. Washington and California ranked at the top, at more than $1,000.
Scary stuff, until you understand that ODOT’s calculation included sales taxes on cars—Oregon, of course, does not charge a sales tax (although ODOT does collect a 0.5% privilege tax on some vehicle sales). The absence of a sales tax dropped Oregon to the bottom of the bunch. But Joe Cortright, an economist who tracks ODOT’s budget carefully—and the subject of an extensive interview this week with the Oregon Journalism Project—says the agency’s chart is misleading.
“State sales taxes on cars warp the comparison,” Cortright says. “Other states do charge sales taxes on car sales, but this money goes to general funds, not to road construction and repair.”
After seeing the chart, which circulated widely, Cortright sent a letter to each lawmaker making this point.
“ODOT’s numbers are a bogus and deceptive sales technique,” Cortright insists.
U.S. Census Bureau data supports his contention. An OJP analysis of five recent years’ spending figures show that Oregon falls roughly in the middle of the other six states cited by ODOT: California, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Montana (see graph below).
Whether this alternative picture of reality plays a role in the upcoming transportation debate in Salem remains to be seen.
ODOT, which had a $6.9 billion budget for biennial 2023–25, says it faces a “funding crisis” because it isn’t allowed to shift allocated funds from projects to maintenance and needed repairs and because fuel tax revenues and fees have failed to keep pace with inflation.
After lawmakers failed to pass a funding bill before the regular session concluded in June, the agency and Gov. Tina Kotek said they would have to lay off hundreds of workers and close 12 ODOT maintenance centers.
In order to prevent those layoffs, the governor has released a funding proposal that would increase gas taxes and other fees in 2025–27 by $620 million, which would be split among ODOT and Oregon counties and cities.
Meanwhile, some influential Democrats have staked out positions that conflate ODOT tax revenue collection (money in) with its actual spending on roads (money out).
House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-Eugene), in a July 13 interview with KATU-TV, said: “We are the lowest of the seven Western states in what we spend on roads and bridges, [and] that has real world consequences for the safety of Oregonians, for how we maintain our roads and bridges.”
OJP shared its analysis Monday with Fahey that showed Oregon was about average among the seven Western states for spending on highways and roads. She didn’t respond by press deadline Tuesday afternoon.
ODOT’s Most Persistent Critic Says the State Could Solve Its Road-Funding Crunch—by Scuttling Some Projects
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
As the Legislature prepares for an Aug. 29 special session to bail out the Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon economist Joe Cortright says the state agency is misleading lawmakers and the public about its budget.
Cortright, 71, has pored over ODOT budget and planning documents for years with the practiced eye of a veteran number-cruncher. From 1983 to 1995, he staffed the Oregon Legislature’s Trade and Economic Development Committee.
Since leaving Salem, Cortright has run an economic consulting practice. He is also a leader of the environmental group No More Freeways, writes about economic issues for the nonprofit City Observatory website, and serves as chair of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors.
In recent months, Cortright has been scrutinizing ODOT’s budget, which was $6.9 billion for the 2023–25 cycle. The agency’s money comes from state and federal fuel taxes, taxes on heavy trucks, and various fees.
He’s long truth-tested the agency’s claims. Cortright and his allies have challenged the budgets for two versions of a replacement bridge across the Columbia River to Vancouver. He has also led opposition to the proposed expansion of Interstate 5 at the Rose Quarter in Portland, arguing that most new highway capacity is both contrary to the state’s carbon-reduction goals and unlikely to reduce congestion.
His contention, in the past and now: Rather than a revenue shortage, ODOT’s real problem is overspending on big projects.
“They are the kitchen remodeler from hell,” Cortright said in a wide-ranging conversation about the agency’s finances.
Opinion: ODOT’s crisis is a spending problem, not a revenue problem
The Oregonian | Guest Column by Joe Cortright
The Oregon Department of Transportation is a financial mess, but not because of electric vehicles or fuel-efficient cars cutting into gas tax revenues, as the agency and legislators are claiming.
In fact, motor fuel tax revenues, which support both ODOT and local agencies, are $73 million higher than five years ago. The tax increases that Gov. Tina Kotek is seeking in an upcoming special session won’t resolve the underlying issue. ODOT doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.
The real financial crisis is ODOT’s excessive spending and dramatic cost overruns on a handful of billion-dollar-a-mile highway expansion projects. The cost of widening Interstate 5 at the Rose Quarter in Portland has more than quadrupled to $2.1 billion from the $450 million estimate in 2017. The I-205 Abernethy Bridge in Clackamas County has more than tripled from $250 million to $815 million and the price tag could still increase, ODOT warns.
And this problem is getting worse, not better, in spite of claims about more “accountability”: ODOT acknowledged a year and a half ago that the cost of the I-5 Interstate Bridge Replacement previously figured at $7.5 billion, was going up—probably to $9 billion or more—but has repeatedly missed its own deadlines to release a new estimate.
ODOT pushes these bloated mega-projects with low-balled cost estimates and wildly optimistic revenue assumptions. When these don’t pan out – or tolling plans are canceled – they’ve piled on debt; ODOT has added $270 million in short term debt—to be repaid from future gas tax revenues -- and diverted $100 million meant for bridge preservation to cover overruns.
As a result, with a complicit Legislature, the agency has persistently neglected basic preservation of infrastructure, contributing to the massive backlog of needed maintenance. Gas tax money that could go to snowplowing, road repair and other needs is carved out for high-profile projects and debt service. And together, ODOT and elected leaders are now effectively holding ODOT employees and the traveling public hostage for more money.
Case in point: even though the agency has sent layoff notices to hundreds of employees, it is still blundering ahead with the largely unfunded Rose Quarter project, which just lost more than $400 million in federal funding and now has a $1.5 billion funding gap. If you’re laid off from your job, you don’t go out and buy a new $85,000 pickup; unless, apparently, you are ODOT.
ODOT claims its hands are tied by the Legislature in how it may use dollars and cannot use money set aside for construction projects on regular maintenance. But it has repeatedly used flexible funds, savings and discretionary money in addition to reallocating operating and maintenance money to pay for construction projects. Even though the Legislature didn’t allocate a dime to the Abernethy Bridge project in 2017, ODOT found $50 million to get it started.
Regardless, the upcoming legislative session could fix this problem with a stroke of the pen, by giving ODOT flexibility to use state dollars that have been earmarked for construction of these projects.
It’s time to press pause on highway megaprojects – to insist that they be “right-sized” instead of bloated. We should demand that all of the money for such a project be in hand, and a defensible cost estimate, before construction is started. And the Legislature should establish in law that ODOT is required to preserve and maintain our existing roads before spending money widening them. If the Legislature increases transportation taxes and fees, the revenue ought to be shared with cities, counties and transit agencies and strictly dedicated to restoring basic services – fixing potholes, plowing roads and running buses.
Public hearing scheduled for special session transportation package. What to know
Statesman Journal | By Dianne Lugo, Anastasia Mason
Lawmakers will convene the Friday before the Labor Day holiday weekend to consider a third proposal to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation and stop pending layoffs and service cuts across the state.
Expert warns Interstate 5 bridge toll could reach $20
KATU | By Victor Park
A civil engineering and business expert is warning drivers could be paying $20 during peak travel times to cross the Interstate Bridge between Portland and Vancouver.
Bob Ortblad, a retired civil engineer and University of Washington master's graduate, cites "escalating project expenses and funding shortfalls."
POLL: How much would you be willing to pay for a toll on the I-5 bridge?
$1: 10%
$2: 11%
$5: 11%
$10: 2%
$20: 2%
I’ll take a detour: 48%
I won’t travel: 16%
Keizer Council Formally Opposes Cherriots Payroll Tax After Heated Testimony
Salem Business Journal | By Keona Peone
The Keizer City Council has formally opposed the proposed Cherriots payroll tax, marking a pivotal moment in the debate over how Salem-Keizer’s transit system should be funded. The decision, made on Aug. 18, follows weeks of growing concern among business leaders and elected officials about the financial strain the tax could impose.
The plan, introduced by Cherriots, would levy a 0.7% employer-paid payroll tax expected to generate roughly $39 million annually for expanded bus service, new transit centers, and updated facilities. Supporters argue the region needs stronger transit to keep pace with growth. Opponents counter that the agency already holds more than $40 million in reserves and has not demonstrated an urgent need for new revenue.
Cherriots officials were notified of the council’s agenda item last Friday and invited to participate. No board members attended the meeting to testify. Instead, Allan Pollock, director of Cherriots, submitted written public comment urging the council to delay action. “I am requesting you defer action on Agenda Item 8c in order to provide Cherriots representatives the opportunity to present the funding proposal and service plan prior to taking a position,” Pollock wrote. “The employer payroll tax would fund a robust service plan that has been developed with extensive planning, community and rider input. The service plan will benefit all residents of the Salem-Keizer community including the business community and the 59% of Cherriots riders who use the bus to go to and from work.”
In the end, the council voted to adopt a public position opposing the tax. Council President Star recused herself due to a potential conflict of interest, but the motion carried. The City Manager was directed to draft a letter of opposition to Cherriots, the City of Salem, the Governor, state legislators, and local chambers of commerce. The letter will emphasize three points repeated throughout the meeting: that the tax is an unnecessary burden on employers, that Cherriots has not made a clear case for immediate funding, and that a levy of this scale should go before voters. For Keizer leaders, the message was clear: while the region may need stronger transit, they believe this is not the way to get there.
HOUSING
Editorial: Portland’s missing rental units
The Oregonian Editorial Board
In 2021, the city of Portland counted 139,397 apartments and homes for rent within its jurisdiction, according to filings with Portland’s mandatory rental registry.
The next year, that number grew by just six units. And in 2023, the city reported a total of 139,666 units in the registry – only 269 more rental units than two years prior.
At the very least, such slow growth should prompt questions in a city with a severe shortage of housing. But it’s particularly baffling considering the construction that’s taken place in recent years. Roughly 3,000 new apartments or other multifamily units have come online each year in Portland during that three-year stretch, based on the number of building permits issued prior to 2020, according to economist Mike Wilkerson.
Unfortunately, city housing officials are not only unable to explain the meager increase in the rental registry, but they’re also apparently uninterested. Portland Housing Director Helmi Hisserich, whose bureau operates the city’s Rental Services Office, declined requests for an interview about possible causes. While Housing Bureau spokesman Gabriel Mathews defended the registry as accurate, he sidestepped the underlying question by noting that the bureau is more focused on affordable units than market-rate housing.
That approach is too narrow. The city will not solve our housing crisis by focusing solely on publicly subsidized, affordable housing. Increasing the construction and availability of market-rate units is a critical component of whether Portland ever climbs out of its housing hole. More housing means landlords have to compete for renters and can lead to actual declines in rent as Austin, Minneapolis and other pro-building cities have seen.
But of greater concern is the shoulder shrug that city officials offer to the question of what’s behind the flat registry numbers. If Portland leaders are serious about getting out of our housing “emergency” – declared nearly 10 years ago – they should show some curiosity about what the data is saying.
POLITICS
Oregon, Washington governors reject federal calls to scrap sanctuary laws
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
The governors of Oregon and Washington told federal officials Tuesday that their states will not abandon sanctuary laws in the face of threats by the Trump administration to pull funding or prosecute local officials.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek wrote that nothing about the state’s nearly 40-year-old sanctuary policies “thwarts” federal immigration enforcement — an allegation Bondi made in letters to Oregon and other sanctuary jurisdictions last week.
“On behalf of the State of Oregon and its citizens, I respectfully disagree with your assertions,” Kotek wrote. “Since Oregon enacted its state law regarding federal immigration enforcement nearly 40 years ago, Oregon public officials and law enforcement officers have not violated federal immigration enforcement law.”
Oregon education programs for migrant workers, families could close without federal funds
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt
Federal officials are withholding funding meant to help migrant farmworkers and their families earn diplomas and degrees.
Feds direct states to check immigration status of their Medicaid enrollees
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Anna Claire Vollers
This week, the Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced an effort to check the immigration status of people who get their health insurance through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Sig Sauer sues Oregon police training academy for banning popular handgun
Statesman Journal | By Isabella Funk
The maker of a popular handgun that was banned by the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training is suing the agency and seeking for DPSST's decision to be overturned.
DPSST Director Phil Castle wrote in a June 13 letter to Oregon police chiefs, sheriffs and agency executives that after reviewing a report from the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, he decided to bar the Sig Sauer P320 and all of its variants from training courses and campus.
Oregon parole and probation departments may soon face cuts to staff and support services
KATU | By Vasili Varlamos
Parole and probation departments across Oregon will be forced to make tough decisions after a less-than-expected investment from the state legislature.
Portland city councilors accused of breaking public meetings law won’t face investigation due to technicality
The Oregonian | By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
State and local officials said Tuesday they will not investigate allegations that a group of seven Portland city councilors broke transparency rules, citing a state law that provides only a narrow window in which grievances can be filed.
The decision drew sharp criticism from experts, who warned the provision undermines accountability.
ECONOMY
Task force warns Portland must reform taxes to restore public trust
KPTV | By Makenna Marks
A state task force convened by Gov. Tina Kotek and The Standard CEO Dan McMillan is recommending wide-ranging reforms to Portland’s tax system and public services, warning the city’s current path is eroding economic competitiveness and public trust.
The Portland Central City Task Force’s Tax Advisory Group (TAG), chaired by Charles Wilhoite of Willamette Management Associates, released its report Tuesday outlining options to change course and restore prosperity in Portland.
“We must ensure local taxes deliver the outcomes Portlanders expect,” Kotek said. “With more families struggling and economic uncertainty ahead, we can’t take our prosperity for granted.”
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