Joint committee adopts HB 20‑25 dash 28 amendment, advances transportation funding bill to floor

The Joint Committee on Transportation on June 26 adopted the dash‑28 amendment to House Bill 20‑25 and advanced the bill to the legislative floor with a due‑pass recommendation.

The amendment changes motor fuel and vehicle taxes, removes consumer price indexing for fees and taxes in the bill, raises a privilege (sales) tax on new vehicles and a higher rate on used vehicles over $10,000, and reallocates those revenues among an anchor projects account, a Great Streets program, an electric‑vehicle (EV) rebate fund, Connect Oregon, and a rail fund. It also directs specific one‑time and ongoing distributions — including $5,000,000 to a wildlife‑vehicle collision reduction fund and $25,000,000 for Safe Routes to School — and requires an LPRO‑contracted study on governance reform for passenger rail and transit.

The nut graph: supporters told the committee the package is necessary to preserve roads, transit service and public safety; opponents said the tax and fee changes are too large, risk regressivity, and fail to fix longstanding project‑cost and accountability problems at the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).

Key provisions

- Motor fuel taxes: the amendment replaces two scheduled motor‑fuel tax increases set for 2026 and 2028 with a single 12‑cent per gallon increase effective Jan. 1, 2026, and removes the scheduled inflation adjustments planned to resume in 2029.

- Indexing: the amendment eliminates the bill’s consumer‑price indexing language for fees and taxes.

- Privilege tax and sales tax on vehicles:…