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To contact me, please click here: Rep.MarkGamba@oregonlegislature.gov
Hi folks,
I hope you are all set for a restive and joyful holiday season. Quite a bit has happened since my last newsletter but I will try to keep this as concise as possible. Some of you may know that I was recently in a bad bicycle wreck. I was on my way to one of the protests against our fascist federal government and I came away with a broken hip. For a brief period I had some difficulty getting around but the recovery has gone even better than expected. I am glad to be back in the full swing of things and to resume my regular Constituent Conversation events.
I endeavour to do two of these per month while the legislature is out of session. I also try to rotate them around the district. If you haven’t seen one near your neighborhood, feel free to reach out and we can look for a suitable venue in your area.
To put it lightly, we are in for a nightmarishly bad few years. On top of the deep flaws we already had in the state revenue system, we now have the Trump administration ripping away the funding we use to help low-income people access healthcare, housing, and nutrition while also imposing illegal tariffs that destabilize our economy, kill jobs, and push us towards a depression.
Our state economist has the highly unenviable task of incorporating all of these events and uncertainties into a revenue forecast that predicts the future two years out. It is this revenue forecast that we use to build our state budget and which triggers the kickers we have seen every single budget cycle for more than the last decade, even in years like this one where we are having to cut many millions of dollars from vital services.
Yes, you read that right. At the same time we are having to slash things like Medicaid and funding for affordable housing, we are also forced to send $1.4 billion of our tax dollars largely to the richest Oregonians in the form of the kicker. Our system is screwed up beyond belief. I will be championing a bill in the 2026 legislative session that will help. More on that and other legislation is below.
The Speaker has appointed me as House Chair of the new Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight. The Chair on the Senate side is Senator Khanh Pham. We are a great team and work well together. The first meeting of our committee was during November legislative days and we used it for a deep-dive on the math and facts surrounding Oregon’s highway megaprojects.
Just like 49 other states, Oregon’s transportation department has less than efficient spending. However, it is also responsible for the absolutely critical pieces of our civilized society and our economy that are our roads, bridges, and railways. In spite of that, it has been underfunded for decades. The primary purpose of our new Transportation Oversight Committee is to hold ODOT accountable for its budget and to monitor the mega projects, and in addition I hope to use it to highlight the real world needs we have within our transportation system.
As you know,the legislature was finally able to pass a “bandaid budget” bill for transportation in our most recent special session that simply raised enough revenue to avoid massive layoffs. A couple of Republican legislators are now pushing a ballot initiative to repeal it, which works great for them because they don’t have to govern. If they break the system by starving it they get to blame that on those of us who are responsible for governing.
The reality is that we will still be underfunding our transportation system until we pass further revenue measures. Transit agencies all over the state will have to cut services, bridges will not be replaced in a responsible timespan, critical roads all over the state will continue to degrade which over time will cost us even more. My hope is that we can utilize the discussions of ODOT’s budget to help Oregonians understand our real world needs and what it takes to provide for them.
Pictured: I was privileged to tour one of Timberlab's facilities where they produce cross-laminated timber for housing and other construction projects.
The short session starts in February and is only just over one month long. Each legislator is only allowed two bills. I went through extensive deliberations and conversations with colleagues and allies on what my two should be. Here is how they landed:
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Road User Charge Calculation: Part of the bandaid transportation bill we passed in the special session will solidify how we fund the maintenance of our roads and bridges going forward (assuming the Republicans’ repeal is unsuccessful). Right now we use the gas tax, which is already woefully inadequate for our true maintenance needs and is a declining revenue source due to inflation and the transition to electric vehicles. My bill will set up an empirical process for the state to have actual data on how much is needed for maintenance in order to meet certain standards. What the state does with that data and how we pay for it is the next step I plan to take in the following session, in 2027.
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Revenue Forecast Modernization Act: Our revenue system is the most broken of any of the 50 states. The most ridiculous part of that is the concept where the State’s Economist is meant to guess what our income will be two years hence, and if he is off by more than 2%, everything above that number goes back to tax payers whether or not the state desperately needs it like we do this year. In a year when we will have to cut $64 million dollars from critical services like keeping people in their homes, we are simultaneously sending back $1.4 billion dollars mostly to the wealthiest Oregonians. Our bill will make the forecast more accurate while protecting the budgeting process. Most years it will result in a pot of money that will be used for emergencies, buying down debt like PERS, and avoiding new debt like the billion dollars we committed to bonding for the interstate bridge and which will cost the state at least $1.5 billion over time.
Thanks for reading. If you have thoughts or questions, please send them directly to my office as we do not receive responses to this newsletter address. You can reach me at Rep.MarkGamba@oregonlegislature.gov. Hope to see you at one of my upcoming Constituent Conversation events.
All my best,
Mark Gamba
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1441
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-477, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.MarkGamba@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/gamba
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