Oregon Gov. Says Road Deal Unlikely in 2016

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said she knows the state’s infrastructure needs serious repairs, but she does not think anything will get done about it until 2017.

In a Nov. 4 speech to the Association of Oregon Industries, Brown declared, “Oregon needs a transportation package. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach an agreement by the end of the 2015 [legislative] session. And now, rumors of a 2016 ballot measure targeting the new clean fuels law have implications for transportation funding. I am counting on business leaders . . . to work together with me and my legislative colleagues to address Oregon’s very pressing transportation needs in the 2017 session. We simply cannot afford to delay any longer.”

State Rep. Cliff Bentz, a member of the House Transportation and Economic Development Committee, agreed with the governor that Oregon’s infrastructure needs won’t be remedied during the 2016 legislative session which lasts just 35 days.

“It was a bad deal that we didn’t get a transportation package put together this year,” said Bentz, one of eight legislators on a task force formed late in the session to try to hammer out a package. “We worked really hard for two or three weeks, but it was too little, too late. A substantial number of our bridges are falling into disrepair, and we are not keeping up with the maintenance.”

That feeling is bipartisan.

“They have a short session, a crowded agenda, and there are lots of moving pieces for infrastructure,” U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) told Transport Topics. “Even if [Gov. Brown] pushed for it, there’s not yet the consensus and there’s very little time.”

In her speech, Brown, a Democrat, noted that, according to the state’s Department of Transportation, more than half of Oregon’s bridges are at least 55 years old and will reach the end of their planned usage by 2020.

Raising the fuel tax by 4 cents to pay for transportation bonds worth almost $400 million seemed that it might pass the Democratic-controlled Legislature this summer. However, Republican opposition to the low-carbon fuel standard that was part of the overall package in part derailed any possible agreement.

“The downtown Portland folk were supportive of the low carbon fuel tax because they have public transportation available,” said Bentz, a Republican from rural eastern Oregon. “In the rest of the state, the cost of a fuel is a great big deal because you don’t have an alternative [to driving]. Are we going to have stick a 4 cents-per-gallon increase on top of the [estimated 19 cents-per-gallon] increase from the low-carbon fuels standard?”

Jana Jarvis, president of the Oregon Trucking Associations, was disappointed the Legislature didn’t pass a bill this year.

“The need for additional funding for transportation is long overdue,” Jarvis said. “Our board of directors was unanimously supportive of the package that the ‘gang of eight’ developed during the 2015 legislative session since they were willing to not only identify key projects but were also willing to put meaningful carbon reduction strategies on the table and amend the [low-carbon fuels standard] that had been passed earlier in the session.”

As far as predicting what happens in 2017, Bentz isn’t holding his breath.

“I think if we can find a politically acceptable alternative to a low-carbon fuel standard, we’ll have a transportation package in 2017,” he said. “If we don’t find that alternative, then I’m afraid we won’t.”

Staff reporter Eugene Mulero contributed to this report.