There are sticky problems in fixing Oregon’s transportation funding. Some of the stickiest are that Oregonians are not going to like change, Oregonians are not going to like increases in taxes and fees, Oregonians are not going to like that the Oregon Department of Transportation recently made a $1 billion accounting error and Oregonians are not going to like that many ODOT projects are behind or over budget.

They are sticky because they aren’t going to go away easily. They are going to keep coming up no matter what the Legislature does.

But ODOT does face a future funding gap of some $1.8 billion annually. Unless Oregonians don’t want it to be able to keep up with the state’s transportation needs, where is that money going to come from?

The preliminary proposal from legislators was a mix of fee increases, new fees and a gradually increasing requirement that drivers pay by the number of miles driven.

The plan was the existing gas tax people pay at the pump would be indexed to inflation.

A new tax on tires would be 4% of their purchase price.

All new vehicles, under the proposal, would pay a new tax of 1% of the vehicle price.

The tax on new bicycles would go up from $15 to $24.50.

The biggest change would be a mandatory road user charge for driving. Existing electric vehicles might need to start paying in July 2026. Newly purchased EVs would start paying in July 2027. Plug-in hybrids would start paying in July 2028. And new vehicles rated at 30 miles per gallon or greater would start paying in July 2029, beginning with the July 2030 model year.

Corporate delivery fleets would also be phased in.

We don’t know what will happen to those proposals. It’s change. It’s increasing fees and adding new fees. It’s compelling some Oregonians to use a system that tracks their mileage. The tire tax already ran into stiff opposition. The package may look much different once it goes through the legislative process.

But Democrats do have strong majorities, so some of these things are what they want, it is what Oregonians will get.

Tell your legislators what you think.