The 2025 legislative session has come to an end and lawmakers have failed to pass any transportation legislation.
After years of work, a statewide listening tour, dozens of committee meetings and public hearings, Democrats who led the process failed to bring a bill over the finish line. It’s a massive political defeat of historic proportions that comes with consequences likely to be felt in every corner of the state.
After the main transportation bill died, a last ditch effort to pass a plan-B bill, House Bill 3402-3 (the “-3” refers to the amendment that was adopted by committee) was slated for a vote on the House floor late Friday night, but Democrats needed help from Republicans to clear time-sensitive procedural hurdles and they didn’t get it.
Democrats — despite having a supermajority in the House, Senate and holding the Governor’s office — were unable to keep all their Senators in line and ultimately lost the game to the minority party.
House Bill 2025-28; an $11.6 billion package that would have saved transit systems, given the Oregon Department of Transportation a boost to maintenance and operations, funded highway expansion megaprojects, and invested in major safety projects, died earlier in the day on Friday because Democratic Senator Mark Meek wouldn’t vote for it. Meek had shared frustration about the rushed timeline of the bill for weeks and — while he was open to some tax increases — wasn’t comfortable with the size of the bill. Before the final committee vote he shared disinformation on social media, telling his followers that the bill included tolling when in fact that is blatantly false.
The bill passed committee 8-4 and there were smiles as it had some bipartisan momentum (thanks to a “yes” vote from Republican House Rep. Kevin Mannix) heading to the House floor. It was likely going to pass the House, but it was the Senate that doomed Democrats.
Democrats hold 18 of the 30 seats in the Senate and they needed every one of those votes to hold onto the three-fifths majority required to pass a tax bill. Senator Meek, a Democrat, remained a very stubborn “no” and Senate President Rob Wagner failed to persuade a single Republican to take Meek’s place in the “aye” column.
With HB 2025-28 dead, lawmakers scrambled to fill a placeholder bill, HB 3402-3, with bare bones legislation that would be an interim measure to keep ODOT afloat and prevent massive layoffs at the agency. The bill was heard in the House Rules Committee Friday evening where lawmakers heard massive, diverse, nearly unanimous opposition — from city and county leaders, unions, advocacy groups, and individual Oregonians.
The only two voices in support of the bill came from Governor Tina Kotek — who said in her committee testimony she would lay off 600-700 ODOT workers on Monday morning if the bill didn’t pass (about 14% of their total workforce) — and from ODOT leadership, who said it was vital to keep the lights on and perform a basic level of service until more money could be found.
“I know it is disappointing when you get to this point in session and such a big bill with so much work is not going to move forward,” Kotek said in her testimony. “The path forward today is to ensure that ODOT-provided essential services continue… It will solve an immediate need, but it’s not going to solve all our problems… But nonetheless, we have to move forward.”
HB 3402-3 would have raised around $2 billion over 10 years (less than half the amount of the 2017 transportation bill and $10 billion less than HB 2025) via a three-cent gas tax increase and increases to vehicle title and registration fees. Beyond this relatively tiny revenue bump, opposition to the bill was fierce because the bill stipulated that all new revenue would go to ODOT. That provision was a huge slap in the face to counties and cities who have traditionally received 30% and 20% of State Highway Fund revenue respectively (with ODOT keeping 50%).
HB 3402-3 had no funding for transit, and no funding for key programs Oregonians are clamoring for like the Great Streets program, Safe Routes to School, Community Paths, and so on. It also had no set-aside funding for key highway expansion megaprojects that many lawmakers voted for in 2017 like the I-5 Rose Quarter, I-205 widening, and Abernethy Bridge widening.
Despite this opposition, HB 3402-3 passed the Rules Committee 4-3 on a party-line vote.
It headed to the House floor and was in the queue for a vote late last night, but time ran out because Republicans refused to help the Democrats suspend some procedural rules to get it over the finish line. (For an excellent breakdown of how this process played out, check this Bluesky thread from Oregon Capitol Chronicle reporter Julia Shumway.)
With nothing to show for years of work and negotiations, it remains to be seen what the fallout will be from this immense debacle. Governor Kotek threatened to layoff 600-700 ODOT workers on Monday morning. That would be a catastrophic blow to those families, to the agency and to Oregonians who rely on the state to keep the transportation system in good shape. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, representing a City of Portland budget that was counting on $11 million from the transportation bill, said he would be forced to lay off up to 60 Portland Bureau of Transportation staffers.
Republicans and their allies in the online punditry ecosystem are gleeful to see these bills die. The House Republican Caucus released a statement saying the tax increases would have, “funded a progressive left agenda that would harm Oregonians.” “Forcing families to pay one of the largest tax hikes in history when they can barely get by was a cruel policy from the start,” added House Republican Leader Christine Drazan.
From here, I’m not sure what the likelihood is of lawmakers saving transportation funding in an interim or emergency session. If they do make an attempt, Democrats will need to to get their own party fully in line. One thing made clear Friday is that Republicans would rather see ODOT burn to the ground than give them any new funding.
While some lawmakers map out next steps (and others sit back and start vacation), advocates and city leaders now find themselves in a distressing moment of uncertainty. Transit advocates and agency leaders might be the ones feeling most left out in the cold. Without an increase in transportation funding, TriMet has said they would cut 27% of transit service — which could be up to 45 of their 79 bus lines — starting in 2027.
There’s a lot more I want to share about all this, but that’s the basics of what happened yesterday and where we stand this morning. Stay tuned for more coverage.
