Proposal calls for no new taxes – and no transit, rail, bicycle, pedestrian or climate-friendly projects

A dozen Oregon House Republicans released a counter proposal Wednesday to Democratic lawmakers’ plan to increase or create nearly a dozen transportation taxes and fees to repair and upgrade a full spectrum of road, transit, rail and pedestrian infrastructure.

In announcing the plan, Republicans said that the Oregon Department of Transportation’s focus has grown overly broad and must narrow to prioritize basic operations and maintenance. They said they would heavily oppose nearly any proposed tax hikes that Democrats have said are necessary to modernize transportation funding in the state.
The belt tightening would also squeeze out funding for transit operations and for repairs and upgrades to bike, pedestrian and rail infrastructure and efforts to make projects socially equitable and climate friendly, they said.
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“I can tell you that Republicans across the building share this value of ensuring that Oregonians don’t pay more at the pump and that we call on this agency to tighten its belt,” House Republican Leader Christine Drazan of Canby said at a press conference announcing the proposal.

The proposal identifies $730 million in “refocused spending” and spending cuts they’d like to see at the transportation agency. The largest shift would be a redirection of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund, which is mostly funded by a 0.1% payroll tax and pays for public transit programs statewide. Republicans said that shift would allow the state to spend $306.7 million per biennium on other transportation needs instead of public transit.

The plan also suggests that the state transportation agency lease out 70,000 square feet of office space in its Salem headquarters, which Republicans say would bring in $55.9 million every two years for the state to spend on transportation maintenance.

They also suggested eliminating the state’s bicycle and pedestrian program to save $47 million, reducing vacant positions to save $68 million and redirecting a proposed $38 million allocation intended for passenger rail to instead fund road operations and maintenance.

The Republicans also proposed cutting funding for the transportation agency’s social equity and civil rights division, eliminating programs intended to improve road safety and pedestrian infrastructure and removing funding for an office that is intended to make transportation infrastructure climate-friendly, among other cuts.

“We want ODOT to get back to repairing and maintaining safe and reliable roads and bridges, and stop using Oregonians as a bank when they run out of money,” said Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, a Republican from Albany.
The proposal is unlikely to significantly sway Democrats’ plan to raise transportation taxes in Oregon as soon as next year. Top Democrats released their initial funding proposal in early April, which they said would eventually raise nearly $1.9 billion per biennium.

Although Drazan, Boshart Davis and several other Republicans have expressed strong opposition to any tax proposal, some members of their caucus have quietly indicated some willingness to compromise with Democrats. Only about half of the House Republican caucus, and no Senate Republicans, attended the Wednesday press conference.

But it remains to be seen whether the proposal, and its associated tax increases, will receive any Republican support. Democrats, who have a supermajority in both chambers, could theoretically pass any number of tax increases with no Republican votes.

“In all the conversations I’ve had with both Democratic and Republican members of the Legislature, there’s always room for compromise,” Rep. Susan McLain, a Democrat from Forest Grove and co-chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation, said Tuesday. “There’s always room to make sure that we’re understanding and hearing each other. So of course, we are working together right now to make sure we have the very best possible package.”