OR: Key Oregon Democrats pledge to push through a transportation plan by end of June

Top Democratic lawmakers say they remain confident they can push through a major transportation funding package with some bipartisan support by the end of June.

Their pledge comes amid growing speculation in the Capitol that lawmakers won’t be able to finalize a bill in the next six weeks to secure more funding for road maintenance and major transportation programs across Oregon.

“There is no plan for a special session or to push it to next year,” Sen. Chris Gorsek, a Gresham Democrat and co-chair of the Joint Transportation Committee, told The Oregonian/OregonLive Tuesday. “I would say that we are making great progress in the negotiations that we’ve been holding.”

A small group of lawmakers from both parties have been privately negotiating the package for weeks. Specific details of those meetings have mostly remained within the group, although several sources monitoring the package said they expect the contents of the package to be made public by Friday.

The package gained some new momentum Wednesday, as the Legislature’s presiding officers created a special transportation committee that will be able to sidestep usual bill deadlines and negotiate up until the final days of the session.

The package will likely include new taxes and reflect lawmakers’ commitment to funding services including rail transport, public transit and climate-friendly programs. In early April, top Democrats released a framework that outlined nearly a dozen new or increased taxes and fees that would raise money for a wide array of transportation services.

With two-thirds majorities in both chambers, Democratic legislators could theoretically approve any new or increased tax with no Republican support. But Democrats have said for months they hope to secure bipartisan support for any transportation package that passes this session, even if it includes some tax increases.

Republicans have been at the negotiating table, but it’s unclear how much say they will have on the final package. While some House Republicans have loudly denounced the Democrats’ framework and its array of tax increases, other members of their party in both chambers have quietly shown some willingness to negotiate with Democrats.

Five sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the Republicans at the table include Reps. Kevin Mannix of Salem and Jeff Helfrich of Hood River and Sens. Bruce Starr of Dundee and Suzanne Weber of Tillamook.

There has been significant speculation in the building as to whether Democrats will be able to amass the votes necessary to pass tax increases. While some Democrats are willing to push through hefty tax hikes along party line votes, others have indicated that their support hinges on the package gaining bipartisan support.

And every lawmaker has their own opinion as to which tax increases should be put forward or cut back. Some Democrats are pushing to raise the state’s payroll tax fivefold to 0.5% to help fund public transit programs statewide, while some Republicans say the payroll tax should be diverted to support basic road maintenance and operations.

But top Democrats say the transportation committee remains on schedule.

“We’ve gotten some real specific and actionable feedback that we’re incorporating,” House Speaker Julie Fahey, a Eugene Democrat, told reporters Monday. “I’m feeling like ( Senate President Rob Wagner and I) are very involved and also on track to get something done this session.”

When lawmakers last passed a major transportation funding package in 2017, the bill came together in the final weeks of the session and received bipartisan support. But lawmakers that year included a bevy of major projects that were included in part to gain some of those votes.

Lawmakers this year have said they intend for the vast majority of the new revenue generated by the package to fund basic operations and maintenance, not shiny new projects. Leaders of the state transportation agency and city officials have implored legislators to stick to that pledge, warning that delaying action could mean less money to plow snow-covered roads, maintain bridges and meet other essential transportation needs.

But there’s no guarantee that lawmakers will pass a transportation funding package this year, Gorsek acknowledged. And his co-chair on the transportation committee, Rep. Susan McLain, a Forest Grove Democrat, declined to say if she thinks lawmakers might have to defer action until later this year or next year.

“We are working on a bipartisan bill that fulfills the framework,” she said in a text Tuesday.

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