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Oregon News
TRANSPORTATION
Oregon special session to fund transportation, prevent ODOT layoffs, delayed again
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason, Dianne Lugo
Wagner said he received a letter from Gorsek's medical team on Sep. 15, which said, in part, that it would be "medically unsafe and unwise for Sen. Gorsek to leave the hospital at this time," a release said.
The delay indicates Senate Democrats have not been able to find a path forward with Republicans. Without Gorsek, Democrats would have only 17 votes in favor of the bill – one short of the 18 needed to pass House Bill 3991, the bill raising the state gas tax, registration and title fees and implementing a road usage charge.
Former Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, said Senate Republicans were unanimously against the bill.
Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, replaced Bonham as Senate Minority Leader on Sept. 15.
In a statement Sept. 16, Starr repeated that the caucus "remains united in rejecting this tax hike."
He said Republicans continued to support redirecting existing funding to road maintenance and operations and criticized Gov. Tina Kotek for ignoring opposition from Oregonians.
"Senate Republicans offered a serious alternative that would have saved jobs and avoided raising taxes on already overburdened families, but Democrats dismissed it without consideration," Starr said. "Now, we find ourselves stuck in a never-ending special session because the Governor refused to build consensus and insisted on ramming through a tax hike that working Oregonians are pleading for us to stop."
Oregon Senate transportation vote postponed once again in special session
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Senate Republican Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, in a statement wished Gorsek a full recovery, but said Kotek could have prevented the situation if she had worked with Republicans on a bipartisan transportation package.
“Now, we find ourselves stuck in a never-ending special session because the Governor refused to build consensus and insisted on ramming through a tax hike that working Oregonians are pleading for us to stop,” Starr said. “Whenever this vote takes place, our caucus remains united in rejecting this tax hike, leaving no doubt about who is advocating for Oregon families — and who is not.”
Republicans during the regular legislative session proposed an alternative package that avoided tax hikes and instead would have redirected funding from climate initiatives, public transit and passenger rail services, bicycle programs and payroll tax allocations. It had no way of generating new revenue for ODOT aside from using money from the state’s Emergency Board, a legislative group that allocates money in emergencies.
Vote on a transportation funding bill is delayed again, extending Oregon’s special session
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
Sen. Chris Gorsek of Gresham suffered complications following a recent surgery, and has been hospitalized for weeks. But Democrats are relying on his presence in the Capitol to muster the 18 votes necessary to pass the tax and fee increases Gov. Tina Kotek has urged them to send to her desk.
Democrats had said repeatedly they expected Gorsek to be ready and able to appear at the Capitol on Wednesday, though Kotek sounded less than certain when speaking to reporters Monday.
“The signs are good that everyone will be able to be there on Wednesday,” she said. “Hopefully that will be the close of the special session. But, you know, life can intervene. If something comes up we’ll continue to extend until we get it done.”
The delay would marks just the latest hurdle for a special legislative session Kotek and other top Democrats hoped would be a breezy Labor Day weekend affair. Instead the session has been marred by repeated delays since it convened Aug. 29.
First, Democrats in the House could not gavel in, when not enough Republicans showed up to grant the chamber a quorum. Then, Gorsek’s ongoing health struggles ensured a vote planned for Sept. 3 was pushed back.
Early Tuesday afternoon, Kotek’s office and Senate leaders were planning to convene Wednesday. It was not clear what about Gorsek’s condition had changed to alter that plan. Neither Gorsek nor one of his staff members responded to an inquiry about his availability Monday.
“The stop-gap transportation bill before the Senate is important for all Oregonians who rely on our roads and the maintenance workers whose jobs are at risk,” Senate President Rob Wagner said in a statement Tuesday. “At the same time, we are not going to do anything that would put the health of our colleague at risk.”
Bruce Starr, the newly named Senate Republican leader, wished Gorsek a speedy recovery in a statement — but said the delay would not have been necessary if Democrats put forward a package his party could support.
“Governor Kotek could have worked with Republicans from the beginning to craft a transportation package with true bipartisan support,” Starr said. “Instead, she ignored the voices of thousands of Oregonians who oppose her $4.3 billion tax hike and pushed forward a partisan plan destined to pass only on a slim, party-line margin.”
The additional delay will come at a cost to taxpayers.
Oregon House speaker bungled start of special session. But she still has broad support
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
Oregon House Speaker Julie Fahey had no room for error when the short session to prevent calamities across Oregon’s transportation system dawned last month. But on Aug. 29, the session’s first day, her plans immediately went awry.
The stakes were apparent: Gov. Tina Kotek prompted the session after lawmakers failed to pass several versions of a transportation package during the regular session that ended in June. Without a fix, Kotek said, hundreds of workers at the state transportation agency would be laid off.
But it quickly became clear that August morning that fewer House members than needed had shown up, prompting Fahey to delay while she scrambled to assemble enough lawmakers to secure a quorum. For much of the day, she holed up in her office to negotiate with her Republican counterpart and did not fully clue in fellow House Democrats, let alone other interested parties, to what was happening.
House Democrats are split on whether Fahey handled the special session appropriately and if she adequately communicated with her caucus. Some have privately expressed concerns about her leadership, especially because the miscalculation was not unprecedented — the earlier transportation plans put forth in this year’s regular session died partially because top Democrats failed to rally enough lawmakers to support them.
According to interviews with 11 House Democrats, most of whom spoke on background to discuss private conversations, at least a handful of the chamber’s 36 Democrats have lost some trust in Fahey and would support a leadership change. Some estimate that number to be significantly higher.
Oregon’s transportation bill will hit drivers’ wallets. How much more will you pay?
The Oregonian | By Aimee Green
If you happen to own the No. 1 selling car in Oregon — a Toyota RAV4, which averages 30 miles per gallon — you could pay $66 more per year in registration fees and state taxes under a transportation bill headed for final passage in the Legislature on Sept. 29, according to an Oregonian/OregonLive analysis.
If you own another popular model — a Ford F-150 truck, which gets 20 miles per gallon — you could pay $78 more than you do now.
The owner of a Honda Accord hybrid, which averages 48 miles per gallon, could shell out $183 more per year.
And finally, if you drive an all-electric vehicle, like the most common EV in the state, a Tesla, you could fork over $203 more per year.
These numbers reflect House Bill 3991’s higher proposed registration fees and gas taxes, as well as a mandatory “road usage charge” for hybrids and EV owners that will be phased in beginning in July 2027.
If House Bill 3991 passes, it also will increase another tax that has nothing to do with car ownership or the number of miles you drive. Employee payroll taxes will increase from 0.1% to 0.2%. A full-time worker making $59,000 annually — the state’s median — pays $59 per year now and will pay $118 per year under the bill. The money would support public transportation.
Replacement Interstate 5 bridge inches towards construction
The Oregonian | By Matthew Kish
A replacement for the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River could get its final environmental and federal approvals early next year and move into construction shortly thereafter, planners told a joint committee of Oregon and Washington lawmakers on Monday.
But questions remain about the overall cost of the project, toll rates, whether it will be a single span or a lift bridge, and whether the project will receive a final $1 billion in federal funding.
POLITICS
Trump administration sues Oregon to force it to turn over full information about every state voter
The Oregonian | By Betsy Hammond
The Trump administration sued Oregon and Secretary of State Tobias Read on Tuesday to force them to turn over detailed information about each of the state’s voters.
Kotek directs Oregon state agencies to cut costs due to budget shortfall
KPTV
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek says the state is facing a big budget shortfall for the next two years, and she’s telling all state agencies to cut back on spending.
The state legislature just passed a budget bill for 2025-27 in June, and already Gov. Kotek says the state is set to be about $327 million short of the money budgeted.
In a letter to state agencies, Kotek places the blame on the Trump administration and its economic policies for a projected downturn in tax revenue.
Oregon Democratic lawmakers form work group to brainstorm abortion access policy
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Oregon’s legislative Democrats are once again looking for ways to strengthen abortion access in the wake of federal funding cuts to abortion providers.
Oregon already has some of the strongest abortion protections in the country. The state has no restrictions on how far along a person must be in their pregnancy to get an abortion, and the state requires that most health insurance providers cover an abortion at no cost to a patient.
But after President Donald Trump signed a federal budget law that defunds Planned Parenthood by cutting access to Medicaid reimbursements, Democrats in the Oregon House of Representatives are forming a work group focused on brainstorming ways to reimburse Oregon’s Planned Parenthood affiliates for the services they provide.
Oregon member of Congress missed deadlines to disclose more than 200 stock transactions
The Oregonian / Open Secrets
U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, a second term member of Congress from Oregon who wants to ban lawmakers and their families from buying and selling individual stocks, is the latest member of Congress to violate a conflicts-of-interest and financial transparency law.
ECONOMY
Oregon mass layoffs approach Great Recession levels
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Oregon employers have reported more than 11,000 layoffs since the start of last year, a torrid pace of job cuts amid the steady deterioration of the state’s labor market.
Employers are averaging more than 600 Oregon layoffs a month so far this year after averaging about 550 a month in 2024, according to layoff notices filed with the state. That’s comparable to rampant job cuts in 2008 and 2009 during the Great Recession, when the state’s jobless rate topped 11%.
Oregon chip industry supplier will lay off 140
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Semiconductor industry supplier Edwards Vacuum notified workers Tuesday that it plans to shut down production at its Hillsboro site and lay off 140 workers, the latest in a historic spate of Oregon job cuts.
Why are Oregon gas prices so high? Confluence of factors sends prices skyrocketing
The Oregonian | By Aimee Green
A stroke of bad luck has sent gas prices in Oregon rocketing 15 cents upward in the past week — to $4.28 per gallon, the second largest price increase in the nation over the last week, according to AAA.
The only state where gas prices increased more was Washington, where the cost of a gallon leapt 16.5 cents in the past week, to $4.66 per gallon. That’s the highest price among all 50 states, which on Tuesday averaged $3.18 per gallon.
HEALTH CARE
Anxiety Grows at Knight Cancer Institute as Leaders Float Big Budget Cuts
Willamette Week | By Andrew Schwartz
A recent $2 billion pledge from Phil and Penny Knight was earmarked for new programs, Dr. Brian Druker says, and can only do so much to shore up budget holes that already exist.
In Oregon, Providence Lost a Quarter-Billion Dollars in Three Months. That’s Not Even the Bad News.
Willamette Week | By Andrew Schwartz
As hospitals spend more and more, everyday people foot the bill.
EDUCATION
Portland School Board Leaders Want To Try A New Style of Governance
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
Eddie Wang and Michelle DePass want a new School Board to prioritize the bigger picture. But accountability means different things to different members.
From science labs to scholarships, Pacific Northwest college programs at risk after Trump administration cuts
OPB | By Tiffany Camhi
The U.S. Department of Education has stripped away grants from colleges and universities that serve large populations of Latino, Asian, Native American and other underrepresented students. Advocates of these grants say the funding benefits all students.
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