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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017
Sing loud, sing proud
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Oregon Army National Guard’s traditional military concert band performed a free concert sponsored by The Daily Astorian Friday night at the Liberty Theater.
Transportation package
survives in committee
Pamplin Media Group
More than half of House Democrats have signed a let-
ter that seems to threaten passage of a transportation
measure unless the Legislature raises more money for
services.
House Democrats
renew call for more
state tax revenue
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Sixteen state
House Democrats appeared
Saturday to threaten a major
transportation package with
a renewed call for tax reform
addressed to the House
speaker.
A group of 16 of 35
House Democrats have writ-
ten a letter to House Speaker
Tina Kotek, D-Portland, say-
ing that while they supported
the “well-crafted transporta-
tion package,” “the package
alone is not enough.”
“In the final days of the
2017 session, we believe that
the Legislature must focus
on the all-important task of
identifying additional reve-
nue to support education and
other essential state services,
ensure government transpar-
ency and reduce waste so
we can protect critical ser-
vices that the most vulnera-
ble Oregonians can rely on,”
the group wrote.
A legislative committee
had advanced the $5.3 billion
transportation package, the
result of a significant effort to
come to agreement between
Democrats and Republi-
cans, mere hours earlier. It’s
expected to go to the floor of
the House.
Since the beginning of the
session in February, Demo-
crats had been advocating for
structural revenue reform,
aiming to shift the basis of
business taxes from income
to sales in search of what
many argued would be more,
and more consistent, revenue
in future budgets.
But after months of debate
that followed a divisive bal-
lot measure campaign, the
issue had appeared to come
to a stalemate. Although a
last-ditch effort to drum up
nearly $200 million in addi-
tional revenue by restruc-
turing a tax break for small
business-owners passed the
House, it appears unlikely
to make it to the Senate for
a vote.
Kotek said in a state-
ment late Saturday regard-
ing the letter: “At this point,
I’m not sure what this will
mean for the final vote on
transportation.”
The transportation pack-
age raises $5.3 billion over
ten years through increases
in the gas tax, registration
fees and a new tax on pay-
roll, new vehicles and bicy-
cles priced more than $200.
Because it raises new reve-
nue, it requires a three-fifths
majority vote in both the
House and Senate.
Union groups had sug-
gested earlier in the session
that they would withdraw
support for a transportation
package without revenue
reform.
The letter was signed by
representatives Karin Power,
of Milwaukie; Julie Fahey, of
Eugene; Rob Nosse, of Port-
land; Pam Marsh, of Ash-
land; Diego Hernandez, of
Portland; Chris Gorsek, of
Troutdale; Sheri Malstrom,
of Beaverton; Janelle Bynum,
of Happy Valley; Tawna San-
chez, of Portland; Mark
Meek, of Clackamas County;
Carla Piluso, of Gresham;
Ken Helm, of Washington
County; Teresa Alonso Leon,
of Woodburn; Janeen Soll-
man, of Hillsboro; Mitch
Greenlick, of Portland; and
Brad Witt, of Clatskanie.
Compromise
$5.3 billion
plan advances
By DANA HAYNES
Capital Bureau
SALEM — State Rep.
Caddy McKeown, co-chair-
woman of the joint transporta-
tion committee, summed up 18
months of work, and a bill of
steep compromises, with this:
“We aimed for the sun and
landed on the moon.”
The Joint Committee on
Transportation Preservation
and Modernization on Satur-
day passed the state’s trans-
portation bill on a 12-2 vote,
sending House Bill 2017 to
the House floor. It’s expected
to pass there, head to the Sen-
ate for a successful run, before
going to the Governor’s Office.
All this, within days of the
end of a long and contentious
session.
The bill raises $5.3 billion
over a 10-year period through
increases in the gas tax, reg-
istration fees and new taxes
on payroll, new vehicle pur-
chases and bicycles priced
more than $200.
However, the new plan
excludes several conges-
tion-busting projects in the
Portland area that would have
been funded through a state-lo-
cal match, including projects
to widen Interstate 205 from
Stafford Road to Oregon City
and to replace the Abernathy
Bridge on I-205 between Ore-
gon City and West Linn.
The original bill also would
have raised the gas tax even
more in the Portland area to
raise funds for the metro con-
gestion projects.
Instead, the proposal directs
the Oregon Transportation
Commission to establish a toll-
ing program on I-205 and I-5.
The program would be used to
fund projects on Interstate 205
and Interstate 5 from the Wash-
ington state line to where the
two interstates cross south of
Portland.
The bill survived a stress-
ful four-hour meeting on a rare
Saturday session, with Sen.
Betsy Johnson of Scappoose
getting into heated disputes in
the corridor at least twice.
Rep. Richard Vial of Scholls
— not a member of the com-
mittee but a longtime advo-
cate for transportation funding
on the county level — praised
the bill.
“As painful as it is, the pro-
Freshman lawmaker
seeks inquiry into rumor
in any ranking of lobby-
ists based on physical attri-
butes,” Hernandez said in a
statement posted to his Face-
SALEM — In response to book page Saturday evening.
“In my entire time as a
rumors that he created
legislator, I have never
an attractiveness rank-
talked to or about a
ing of female lobby-
female lobbyist, legis-
ists, a freshman law-
lator, legislative staff,
maker says he has
or other individual in a
requested an inquiry.
way that could be char-
State Rep. Diego
acterized as demean-
Hernandez, D-Port-
Diego
land, denied the alle- Hernandez ing, disrespectful, or
inappropriate.”
gations Saturday.
Legislative employee ser-
“Let me be as perfectly
clear as I can be: I categori- vices and legislative counsel
cally and emphatically state are conducting a fact-finding
that I have never engaged inquiry into the rumors.
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
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cess works,” he said.
Legislative leaders and
Gov. Kate Brown negotiated an
agreement between Democrats
and Republicans to trim the size
of the package and to place a
cost cap on the state’s low-car-
bon fuels standard. Republican
opposition to the fuels standard
is what scotched another trans-
portation deal in 2016.
This year’s deal was
intended to win enough GOP
votes to reach the constitution-
ally required three-fifths major-
ity in each chamber for raising
taxes.
The deal includes:
• Reducing the gas tax
increase and an excise tax on
the sale of new vehicles, from
1 percent to 0.5 percent. About
$12 million of the revenue
from the proceeds of the vehi-
cle excise tax would be used for
rebates on the purchase of elec-
tric vehicles.
• A $15 flat fee would be
charged on the purchase of new
adult bicycles with a price tag
of more than $200. The pro-
ceeds would go toward pay-
ing for commuter bicycle and
pedestrian paths.
• A 4-cent gas tax increase
that would be triggered in
2018, with subsequent 2-cent
hikes every other year.
• A payroll tax of less than
0.1 percent, to raise money to
fund public transit.
A sticking point in negotia-
tions was Republicans’ request
for changes to state’s low-car-
bon fuels standard, which
calls for greenhouse gas emis-
sion reductions by 2025. In the
agreement, the GOP won a cost
cap of $200 per subsidy for
efforts such as alternative fuel
production and electric vehi-
cles, a concession Republicans
wanted to control the cost of the
program. The deal also allows
temporary suspension of parts
of the program when there are
fuel shortages.
The bill also will see
improvements of outer Pow-
ell Boulevard — roughly
from Interstate 205 east. The
street, now owned and main-
tained by the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation, will
be handed over to Portland for
subsequent maintenance and
improvements.
Conversely, Cornelius Pass
Road will revert to ODOT con-
trol under this bill.
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group. Dana Haynes is a
reporter for Pamplin Media
Group.
In Memory
Lenny Myers
1957-2017
We Miss You
A Celebration of Life will be held
at the Astoria Moose Lodge.
Th e date will be announced at a later time.