Hilda Perez lives with her family in Forest Grove, where she relies on the bus to get around. While Perez said “public transportation has been a lifeline,” it’s not always easy or safe for her to use. After moving to a neighborhood with minimal public transit service, Perez said she now is forced to walk 40 minutes to the nearest bus stop, making it much harder to get around town. 

“I've had to rely more and more on my young children and my husband just to get where I need to go. That is not right,” Perez said to a crowd in front of the Oregon Capitol at a rally in April. (She spoke Spanish, which was translated to the crowd in English.) “I believe the Oregon transportation package needs to expand transportation options while keeping costs down for working families and people with low incomes.” 

Perez was referring to the long-anticipated, multibillion dollar transportation package the Oregon Legislature is expected to pass this session. The bill will fund the state’s transportation system and shore up new sources of revenue for roads, rail and transit, bike paths, and bridges. 

On April 17, Perez and roughly 100 other transportation safety and climate advocates from across Oregon met for a day of action in Salem. At a rally in front of the Capitol building, speakers emphasized the value of a transportation system in which all Oregonians can safely and conveniently get around by public transit, by bike, or on foot. 

“The transportation system of today has big gaps. We're all seeing it, that's why we're here. And [the gaps] limit some people more than others.” Indi Namkoong, transportation justice coordinator at environmental justice organization Verde, said at the rally. “People with disabilities, rural families, people of color, and folks who are struggling to make ends meet have the greatest need for affordable transportation… if we don’t put these communities first in our solutions this year and going forward, they’re going to fall even further behind.” 

In early April, Salem Democrats shared a draft framework for a roughly $2.2 billion, two-year transportation funding package. The proposal sets out to raise revenue by raising existing fees, including the statewide gas tax, and implementing a one-time, 1 percent fee on all car sales at the time of purchase, among other proposed revenue streams. Legislators plan to allocate funding toward services including transit, biking and walking paths, and statewide maintenance operations. 

Given the worsening climate and traffic violence crises, as well as Oregon’s transportation funding woes, many hoped the 2025 package would be a catalyst for transformative change. That’s not quite what they got from the Democrats’ draft framework. Many advocates say the proposal provides a good foundation to build on, but more needs to be done to secure an equitable transportation package that prioritizes safety and climate justice—especially with the federal government no longer a reliable source of funding. 

But there’s still time to push for more from the bill. Specifically, many Oregonians say they want to see the package provide more robust funding mechanisms for public transit, biking, and walking. They say while the proposal gives lip service to safety, equity, and climate stewardship, legislators need to make sure those goals can be financed, or they will never be realized. 

With costs rising for transit agencies across the state, many have called on Oregon lawmakers to increase the payroll tax dedicated to public transit. TriMet says the agency’s operating costs per vehicle have increased by more than 50 percent in the last five years, and the agency has also tripled its safety and security budget in recent years. All of these factors require deeper financial investment.

With Republicans in the Legislature—who recently unveiled their own, much smaller, proposal for the package—pushing to slash transportation programs, there’s even more work to do to ensure the final bill contains adequate funding for services many Oregonians say are lifelines. 

“We are grateful to share the vision for a better transit system for all Oregonians, but the money must match the mission,” Cassie Wilson, transportation policy manager at 1000 Friends of Oregon, said. “Now is the time to double down on popular but underfunded programs that benefit all Oregonians now and in the long term.” 

The proposed framework

The package framework released by Sen. Chris Gorsek of Troutdale and Rep. Susan McLain of Forest Grove, the Democrats who lead the Joint Committee on Transportation, includes several new sources of revenue. The proposal seeks to raise $1.9 billion every two years for the State Highway Fund, Oregon’s main source of transportation funding. The majority of this revenue would come from an increase to existing fees, including a 20-cent increase to the state gas tax, as well as increases to vehicle registration, title, and weight-mile fees. The framework also includes a one-time system use fee on all car sales at the time they’re purchased, at 1 percent of the price of the car. 

More than $1.7 billion of this biennial revenue would be devoted to the state, counties, and cities (each of which would receive 50 percent, 30 percent, and 20 percent, respectively, according to the regular distribution method). The framework proposes to send the first $250 million raised by the one-time system use fee toward projects that were already planned, such as the I-5 Rose Quarter and I-205 Abernethy Bridge projects. Both of which were named in House Bill 2017, the most recent transportation package to pass the Oregon Legislature. 

In addition to those sources of revenue, the package framework sets out to modernize Oregon’s transportation funding by indexing the fuels tax to inflation, which is something advocates have long been calling for, especially as high rates of inflation have reduced the purchasing power of current gas tax revenue over the last few years. Lawmakers also want to implement mandatory road usage charges for electric cars and corporate delivery fleets, phasing out the higher rates of registration both of these groups currently pay. 

Outside the State Highway Fund, the funding package aims to raise money for rail, aviation, and marine projects by increasing the vehicle privilege tax, and sets out to pay for rail operations, wildlife crossings, and salmon restoration projects through a new, 3 percent tire pollution tax. In total, lawmakers expect those two funding sources to raise about $100 million every two years. The framework also suggests increasing Oregon’s $15 Bicycle Excise Tax to $24.50 to fund bike and pedestrian paths. The bike tax, which is required on the purchase of new bikes over $200, was passed through HB 2017. While some viewed it as a good way to balance out the taxes on car owners included in the bill, many bike advocates have seen it as regressive, and oppose increasing it. 

Finally, the proposal seeks to raise the payroll tax that funds the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF) from .10 percent to .18 percent, resulting in an expected $268.6 million per biennium. 

Mixed reactions 

Within the mixed reactions to the proposed framework, critics on all sides have focused on the funding. To House Republicans—who released their own, $750 million proposal that seeks to make draconian cuts to the STIF, as well as cutting money for safe streets and passenger rail —the Democrats’ plan is an example of liberal overreach in an overtaxed state. 

“For years, ODOT has funded ideas instead of infrastructure,” Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (Albany), a Republican on the transportation committee, said in a statement. “When an agency is focusing on an agenda of one-party rule, pavement priorities get sidetracked. Oregonians see it and deserve better.”

With a Democratic supermajority in both the House and Senate, it’s unclear how much sway the Republicans will have in the final transportation package. But the scale of their proposed cuts is concerning to those who think the Democrats’ proposal doesn’t go nearly far enough to adequately fund the state’s transportation system. As Democratic Rep. Mark Gamba (Milwaukie), a member of the transportation committee, said at a recent transit town hall in Portland, “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, because the Overton window is now in a really crappy place.” 

Gamba pointed out that while the Republicans’ proposal is to “cut all the things you care about,” the Democrats’ framework is also disappointing. 

“Frankly, [the proposed tax increases] are not enough to get us back up to what ODOT needs to function,” he said. 

Gamba’s sentiment is shared by many, including some of his colleagues. Lawmakers have written letters to legislative and transportation committee leadership, seeking more investment in safety programs and public transit. Oregon transit agencies, too, are seeking tweaks to the Democrats’ framework. 

 

According to the Oregon Transit Association (OTA)—and repeated by local transit agencies including TriMet—a 0.08 percent increase to the STIF payroll tax is not nearly enough to pay for the state’s public transit needs. The OTA has proposed a 0.4 percent increase to the tax, phased over eight years, which the organization says will “avert a disaster scenario for public transportation in Oregon.” 

TriMet says with the STIF increases currently proposed, the agency will need to start cutting service starting in 2027, with additional cuts every two years. 

“Like other public transit agencies in Oregon and across the nation, TriMet has seen operating costs skyrocket, mainly due to inflation,” the agency said in a statement.

Investing in public transportation and safety—especially for people walking and biking—is also popular among many people who have spoken out about the bill. Last summer, lawmakers on the transportation committee traveled across the state—from Portland to Coos Bay to Hermiston, among other cities—to hear from Oregonians about their transportation priorities and needs. 

According to an analysis by advocacy coalition Move Oregon Forward, the committee heard from 1,117 people across the state in oral and written testimony. The majority of people who testified advocated for investing in public and active transportation (like biking and walking). Other common themes from the testimony included support for maintenance operations and seismic resilience efforts, and opposition to freeway expansions. 

A letter to legislative leadership, led by the Move Oregon Forward coalition and signed by dozens of Oregon advocacy groups and several local policymakers, underscored the value of reliable transit service many people testified about. 

“These cuts will harm Oregon’s economy, raise the cost of living for those who can least afford it, perpetuate traffic fatalities and serious injuries, increase congestion and pollution while worsening air quality, and strand thousands of Oregonians without access to the transportation they depend on to get to work, school, medical appointments and other essential services,” Move Oregon Forward’s letter says. “At a time when Oregon's working families are already struggling just to make ends meet, we cannot deprive them of this critical lifeline they need to survive.” 

Lawmakers will continue to deliberate on the transportation package in the coming weeks, and a more detailed draft bill is expected later this month, with public hearings to follow.