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Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oregon transportation bill gets sign-off from committee after amendments, heads to House
(This story has been updated with new information.) Lawmakers advanced an amended version of the multibillion-dollar transportation bill to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation, cities and counties and major projects from a 2017 transportation package on an 8-4 vote on June 26. House Bill 2025 is scheduled to for a June 27 floor session in the House. If approved, the Senate would need to vote before the 2025 Legislature must adjourn by June 29. The amendment removes a proposed transfer tax on new and used vehicles and has a one-time 12-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax. A draft revenue estimate obtained by the Statesman Journal forecasts that the legislation would bring in $11.7 billion over the next 10 years, nearly $3 billion less than the original estimate. The bill needs a three-fifths majority to pass because it contains new taxes. Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem, broke from Republicans on the committee in voting in favor of moving the bill to the floor. 'I've prayed on this and I've chewed on this because where are we going to go if we don't pass this legislation?' Mannix said. Mannix highlighted the bill's accountability measures, transit funding and expansion of a road user charge for electric vehicles, as well as previous taxes and fees that were changed throughout the session, including a proposed tire tax, that are not in the bill. "This vote will change history," Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, said. Boshart Davis is a co-vice chair of the committee. "Transportation has always been bipartisan. And in this case, it certainly changes that," Boshart Davis said. Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, also a co-vice chair of the committee, said he believed the bill is "highly unlikely to become law," which he called "kind of a bummer." Rep. Nancy Nathanson, D-Eugene, supported the bill, but said lawmakers 'missed opportunities' to allow local entities to raise their own transportation funding. Nathanson also said information on how the money split between ODOT, counties and cities would be spent was unclear because some of ODOT's programs benefit those areas. Sen Suzanne Weber, R-Tillamook, said she believed legislators "need several more months to go over" the legislation. "I think this was done too quickly, and I don't think that we have a clear picture of the consequences of what we have produced here,' Weber said before voting no. Twenty-one of 61 people registered to testify spoke about the amended bill during a one-hour public hearing prior to the committee vote. Lawmakers did not vote on an amendment from Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, that proposed a "referendum clause" that would put the bill on the ballot during the next general election in November 2026. Two former Republican lawmakers have created a PAC, No Gas Hikes, to rally support for a potential referendum on the bill. The June 26 committee hearing was the first for Rep. John Lively, D-Eugene, and Sens. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, and James Manning Jr., D-Eugene. Lively replaced Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, who announced June 23 he was stepping down after being excluded from House negotiations brokered by House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, in an attempt to garner support for the bill after some Democrats expressed concerns. The Senate replacements were for Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, and Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, who was a co-chair of the committee. Meek was removed from the committee after speaking against the bill last week. Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, filled his seat for one meeting before stepping down. Gorsek resigned following an outburst during a June 20 committee meeting where he yelled at vice co-chair Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany. Boshart Davis filed a formal complaint against Gorsek, alleging he violated a respectful workplace policy and an anti-harassment rule. Nine House Republicans boycotted the June 23 floor session in response. Sen. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, already a member of the committee, replaced Gorsek as co-chair. Meek shared a post on Facebook June 26 that he would be a "no" on the bill because it included a line about tolling in Clackamas County. That section of the bill was unchanged from the last major transportation package in 2017. In a June 26 letter to lawmakers, Gov. Tina Kotek reaffirmed she had directed the Oregon Transportation Commission to pause tolling efforts on Interstate 205 on March 24, 2025. The letter also clarified that the section of the bill referenced by Meek in his post does not change her mandate to the Oregon Transportation Commission to indefinitely pause I-205 tolling efforts. "Before we begin the public hearing, I wanted to address some rumors going around," Pham said. "I want to be clear that House Bill 2025 does not raise any money from tolling or expand any tolling on the Abernethy Bridge or anywhere else across the state." Meek walked off the Senate floor on June 26, and it was unclear if he would return for the rest of the session, which must end by June 29. Oregon Senate Republicans said Meek was "chickening out" by walking away. He posted on Twitter that Republicans could stop the bill, but would not because they had "cut a deal." With the exception of Mannix, Republicans on the committee did not vote in favor of the bill. The amendment would increase the gas tax by 12 cents a gallon on Jan. 1, 2026, bringing the Oregon gas tax to 52 cents per gallon. The original bill raised the tax by 10 cents on Jan. 1, 2026, then again by five cents on Jan. 1, 2028, before being indexed to inflation using the Consumer Price Index after 2029. The proposal would not include a transfer tax on the sales price of vehicles. The bill currently includes a 2% tax on the sales price of all new vehicles and a 1% tax on used vehicles sold for more than $10,000. A privilege and use tax, which are currently 0.5%, would increase to 2.25% beginning July 1, 2028, under the amendment. The privilege tax, paid by car dealers, would be expanded to also include used vehicles sold for more than $10,000. The use tax applies to vehicles purchased out of state and also would expand to used vehicles. The bill would currently increase both taxes to 1% beginning Jan. 1, 2026. Increases to the payroll tax that funds transit would not change from the proposed increase from 0.1% to 0.18% in 2026, before increasing to 0.25% in 2028, and 0.3% in 2030. The amendment would also change the distribution of some of the revenue. Revenue from the privilege tax would be distributed as follows: 38% to the Great Streets Fund. The original bill specified $125 million. 38% to an Anchor Projects Fund for major projects. Funds would first go toward the completion of the Rose Quarter project and Abernethy Bridge project before being distributed to the Interstate 205 widening, the Newberg-Dundee Bypass and the Center Street Bridge seismic retrofit projects. The original bill specified $125 million. 10% to the Zero Emission Incentive Fund for vehicle rebates. 8% to the Connect Oregon Fund for rail, aviation and marine projects. 6% to the Railroad Fund for public transportation by rail. Half of the funds from the privilege tax were previously going to the railroad fund, and the remaining 50% was split, with $12 million or 45%, whichever was larger, going to the Zero Emission Incentive Fund. Revenue from the use tax would be distributed into the State Highway Fund, which is where revenue from the gas and use taxes and fees go, as follows: Up to $5 million would first go to the Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Reduction Fund. The original bill put $5 million into this fund. Up to $25 million would then go to the Safe Routes to School Fund. The original bill put $25 million into this fund. Any remaining money would be allocated as follows: 50% to ODOT 30% to counties 1.37% or $3.5 million of that 30% to small counties 20% to cities Statesman Journal reporter Dianne Lugo contributed to this report. Anastasia Mason covers state government for the Statesman Journal. Reach her at acmason@ or 971-208-5615. This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon gas-tax increase advances as part of transportation package
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Environment, social justice groups withdraw support for governor's key groundwater protection bill
Gov. Tina Kotek on May 3, 2023 at the home of Ana Maria Rodriguez, a Boardman resident and Oregon Rural Action organizer, whose well water has nearly four times the safe drinking water limit for nitrate. Kotek was visiting with residents in Boardman, who are concerned that progress on the nitrate pollution in the Lower Umatilla Basin has been slow. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Groups that helped champion one of Gov. Tina Kotek's key groundwater protection bills this session are withdrawing their support and asking the Legislature to let it die for now, following a last-minute amendment they say effectively neutralizes the intent of the legislation. Senate Bill 1154 as first proposed in February would provide long overdue updates to the state's Groundwater Quality Protection Act first passed in 1989, giving state agencies more authority to coordinate and to intervene early in Oregon's contaminated groundwater areas. Since 1989, three critical groundwater management areas have been identified in Oregon. They are all still considered to be in critical condition due to nitrate contamination, almost entirely from agricultural fertilizers and animal manure, and none have seen vast improvement in the last two to three decades. Groups heavily involved in addressing water contamination issues in northeast Oregon — including the nonprofits Oregon Rural Action, Center for Food Safety, Food & Water Watch of Oregon, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Friends of Family Farmers — consulted with Kotek's environmental advisers on the bill and offered testimony supporting it in recent months. But in advance of a public hearing and vote on Monday in the Senate Committee on Rules, the groups released a statement saying they could no longer support it. They wrote that a proposed 39-page amendment posted late Friday at the request of state Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland and committee chair, 'revealed the extent to which the Governor's office had allowed powerful industrial lobbies to influence the bill late in the session.' Lawmakers have to wrap up voting on all bills by June 29. At a news conference Monday Kotek said she was not aware of the proposed amendment. 'I think the bill is in good shape, and I know some folks would like it to be stronger, but I think it significantly strengthens what we do in the state, and I support the bill in its current state,' she said. Several environmental and social justice groups that have supported the bill continue to do so with the amendment, according to Anca Matica, a Kotek spokesperson. They include the Portland-based nonprofit Verde, Oregon Environmental Council and Beyond Toxics. The amendment strikes earlier provisions in the bill that would have required state agencies to provide regular reports to the Environmental Quality Commission, the governor and the Legislature in order to receive funding to execute their local voluntary implementation plan. It also strikes part of the original bill that would have allowed the state to modify existing permits for wastewater reuse and confined animal feed operations if doing so could curb pollution. One big change the amendment brings to the original bill, according to Kaleb Lay, policy director at Oregon Rural Action, is eliminating the requirement that the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon Water Resources Department work together to figure out whether new requests for groundwater permits, or requests for new uses of groundwater, might contribute to pollution. Representatives from the Oregon Farm Bureau and Water for Eastern Oregon, a nonprofit industry group representing northeast Oregon food processors and agricultural industries, said the amendment makes improvements to the bill, specifically ones that require third-party analysis of state hydrogeology and well-testing data. 'The bill has come a long way. And again, the problem is identified,' Oregon Farm Bureau Executive Director Greg Addington told lawmakers on the Senate Rules Committee. 'We want to avoid groundwater contamination. We can all understand that, and we can all get behind it.' Kristin Anderson Ostrom, executive director of Oregon Rural Action, said in the multi-group statement it would be better to abstain from voting on the bill now and to work on it for the next Legislative short session in 2026. 'Governor Kotek showed great initiative in putting this bill forward to learn the lessons of the LUBGWMA (Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area) in eastern Oregon, but this legislation doesn't go far enough to put those lessons into practice,' she wrote. 'Polluters continue to get whatever they want, while the communities directly impacted by pollution are denied what they need and have been asking for – to enforce the law and stop the Pollution.' The Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area, designated as critically impaired in 1990, has gotten worse under state supervision. A volunteer committee established in 1997 to tackle problems has had little to no impact. Thousands of residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties — mostly Latino and low-income — have been drinking from contaminated wells, which is dangerous because nitrates consumed over long periods can increase risks for cancer and birth defects. In September, Kotek and state agency officials released a comprehensive plan for curbing nitrate pollution in northeast Oregon that 'will take decades' to achieve. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oregon Sen. Lisa Reynolds mulls conflict of interest declaration after ethics report
Sen. Lisa Reynolds sought clarity from the state's top ethics watchdog over whether a health care bill she authored would pose a substantial conflict of interest. (Rian Dundon/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Oregon's statewide ethics watchdog on Thursday referred a Portland-area lawmaker to the Legislature for clarity over whether a bill she authored that could benefit her medical practice raises a substantial conflict of interest. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission said Sen. Lisa Reynolds' decisions regarding votes and bill introductions were within the purview of the Legislature and its legal counsel, according to a Thursday letter written by Susan Myers, the commission's executive director. Introduced in January, Senate Bill 28 would mandate commercial insurers reimburse independent primary care clinics at rates equal to those of clinics owned by hospital systems. In the letter, Myers said that Reynolds, D-Portland, 'would be met with a conflict of interest' unless she is able to receive a class exception. The rule is traditionally adjudicated by the commission, determining whether an official action by a public official would impact all members of a 'class,' such as business owners or members of a particular industry, equally. But it's up to the Legislature, not the Commission, to decide whether the exception applies because the matter 'relates to the performance of legislative functions,' Myers wrote. Lawmakers are allowed to cast votes and perform legislative tasks under Oregon's 'speech and debate' rules for public officials even when they do declare conflicts of interest. Reynolds told the Capital Chronicle she hasn't decided whether she will seek further advice. She said that she will consult with her staff and tends 'to err on the side of caution.' 'I'll see going forward,' she said. 'It would be interesting to note the votes I've taken. For example, the provider tax which funds Medicaid — do I have to say that's a conflict of interest because my clinic takes Medicaid? I don't think so.' The advice follows a request from the commission in a May 6 letter written by her chief of staff, Christopher McMorran, a day before the Oregon Journalism Project ran a story in which Reynolds said she was open to seeking the ethics' commissions advice and declaring a conflict of interest. McMorran sought information about potential conflicts of interest because of Reynolds' job as a primary care provider at The Children's Clinic, an independent clinic in the Portland region. 'SB 28 would likely result in a financial gain for her clinic, along with all other independent primary care clinics in the state,' he wrote to the commission. 'We are curious if her introducing, sponsoring and supporting this bill qualifies as a conflict of interest or if she would be considered a member of a class and be exempt from conflict of interest laws.' Reynolds said the advice was 'reassuring' and that she believes she would likely qualify for a class exemption. 'I'm a citizen legislator. My day job is that of a pediatrician. In fact, I was in the clinic all last weekend,' she said. 'I still see patients and I actually ran as Dr. Lisa Reynolds. I ran for office leaning into the fact that I am a physician and it informs all that I do in the Legislature.' Her legislation is currently sitting in the Joint Ways and Means Committee. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
