a day ago
Oregon legislative session ends as hundreds of transportation jobs face cuts
SALEM, Ore. () — The Oregon Legislative Session concluded for the year late Friday night, with sine die officially adopted. Now, the death of one bill on the House floor with an added amendment is expected to usher in hundreds of layoffs for state transportation workers.
House Bill 3402 passed out of committee with an amendment to help fund the Oregon Department of Transportation. It was headed to the House floor in the hopes that the bill can prevent the layoffs.
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This comes after a marathon committee meeting took place in Salem on Friday.
The House Rules Committee discussed the amendment to HB 3402, looking to bridge the ODOT's funding gap, after a .
ODOT has said if its $350 million shortfall is not addressed, several hundred jobs will be on the chopping block. The new amendment featured bumps to registration and titling fees, with a 3-cent increase to the gas tax, allowing for all that money to go to ODOT.
The bill and all of its amendments were supposed to go before the House floor at 6 p.m. However, the deadline got extended several times until the House finally met after 8 p.m.
Without the funding, ODOT could face 700-800 layoffs on Monday.
House Republicans said working Oregonians don't want more taxes. Governor Tina Kotek said during the amendment's public hearing that not passing it would be catastrophic for Oregonians.
Kotek said the possible ODOT job cuts include roles like incident response teams and maintenance crews, which would be 'unacceptable' for Oregonians.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Christine Drazan echoed the sentiments of her Republican colleagues.
'It's really, really simple for us. Oregonians themselves have said our number one issue is affordability, and this is tone-deaf. It flies in the face of what Oregonians are telling us as policymakers that they need right now,' Drazan said.
KOIN 6 News has reached out to ODOT for comment. We will update this story if we hear back.
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