In this file photo, then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek speaks to supporters after the results of Oregon’s primary election are announced in Portland, Ore., May 17, 2022.
Gov. Tina Kotek was urgent in late June, after Oregon lawmakers left the Capitol without finding new money for road upkeep.
“As governor, my job is to get the job done, and I have tools at my disposal to get that done,” Kotek told reporters at the time, foreshadowing a special session on transportation funding she’d call weeks later. “I just hope everyone’s going to show up for work when they need it.”
Now the job is done, and suddenly Kotek isn’t in much of a hurry.
A bill to raise billions for roadwork and public transit – and avert hundreds of state employee layoffs in the process – is sitting on the governor’s desk, unsigned. Kotek suggested Monday it might stay that way until Nov. 12, her deadline to sign or veto the bill.
“When I get the paperwork, I’m going to look at it,” she told OPB. “We’ll have it signed by the time I need to have it signed.”
Kotek has reason for this newfound laxity. Every day she delays signing her bill is one less day Republican opponents can spend trying to overturn it.
Under Oregon law, citizens can refer bills passed by the Legislature to the ballot for voter approval as long as they can collect enough valid signatures within 90 days of the Legislature adjourning.
But there’s a catch: Opponents can’t actually begin collecting signatures until the governor signs the bill. For the transportation tax bill, House Bill 3991, that doesn’t have to happen until 30 days after lawmakers’ Oct. 1 adjournment – not counting weekends.
“We’re figuring if she drags this thing out, we will have 54 days,” said state Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, one of three chief petitioners in a nascent effort to refer portions of HB 3991 to the November 2026 ballot. “It’s going to be a mad dash, but I’m taking it as a challenge. I want to show that the Oregon way is still alive here.”
Diehl is working with Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, and Jason Williams, executive director of the Taxpayers Association of Oregon, on the referendum campaign.
To date, a political action committee set up by the group, “Right to Vote on the Gas Tax PAC”, has not reported any contributions.
Diehl said recently the campaign will attempt to raise half a million dollars, though it’s not clear where all the money might come from. Many of the groups that were strongly opposed to former versions of the transportation bill – car dealers and freight haulers, for instance – didn’t object to the legislation that ultimately passed.
“Some of the more traditional groups are not going to be interested in this,” Diehl acknowledged. “The key here will be a grassroots movement. I’ve got people coming out of the woodwork to help.”
The campaign is aiming to collect 100,000 signatures, well over the 78,116 required by the Dec. 30 deadline.
Diehl said earlier this month that petitioners would look to refer only certain pieces of HB 3991 to voters, not the entire thing. A six-cent gas tax increase, a temporary doubling of a payroll tax that funds transit, and hikes to vehicle registration fees are likely.
Oregonians have not been keen in the past when gas tax increases are put before them. In 2000, a proposal that would have raised fuel taxes and registration fees was opposed by 87% of voters after being referred to the ballot.
In the case of HB 3991, just collecting enough signatures for a referral would create difficulties for Kotek.
Without money from the new taxes in the bill, the Oregon Department of Transportation warned it would lay off nearly 10% of its workforce and cut road maintenance services to the bone. If opponents are successful in referring those taxes, they would not go into place until voters have a say.
Kotek discouraged Oregonians from signing petitions on the matter when OPB asked last month.
“Frankly, I would urge Oregonians to think about signing onto a referral that will take away our basic ability as Oregonians to keep our roads operating,” she said.
Diehl says that framing is false. All year, Republicans have railed against Democrats for seeking to raise taxes, saying they should redirect money toward roads from other priorities, such as public transit.
If HB 3991 opponents succeed in referring the new taxes, he expects Kotek and legislative leaders to do just that,
“We’re not saying you can’t do anything,” he said. “We just want the governor to come back to the table and realistically go, ‘What are all the things we can do to eliminate the need for a tax increase?’”
For now, Diehl is in a holding pattern while Kotek leaves HB 3991 unsigned.
Some of the bill’s most fervent allies appear at peace with that approach. Service Employees International Union Local 503, which represents many ODOT workers who stood to be laid off without HB 3991, says its members don’t have heartburn over the governor’s strategy.
“Our members’ hearts have been burning for a while,” said Felisa Hagins, a lobbyist for the union. “I don’t think the governor is going to veto it, so she should protect the safety of our roads and our members’ jobs.”
