Oregon joint committee hears wide agreement on need for HB 2025 funding, sharp disagreement on costs and specifics

Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment members held a public hearing on Thursday, June 12, on House Bill 2025, the state's proposed transportation reinvestment package. Speakers ranged from county engineers and city mayors to Oregon Department of Transportation employees, labor unions, business groups and individual residents. Testimony emphasized two recurring themes: (1) local governments and ODOT say new, stable revenue is needed to maintain roads, bridges and safety programs, and (2) some business groups and many residents oppose the bill's scale and the package of new taxes and fees.

The lead-off testimony came from Mallory Roberts of the Association of Oregon Counties and the Oregon Association of County Engineers and Surveyors, who urged passage to "grow and stabilize the State Highway Fund" and to "maintain the county 30% share of state highway fund revenues." John Henriksen, director of the Multnomah County Transportation Division, said decades of underinvestment have left local systems run down: "You can only fill potholes so many times before the road needs to be completely rebuilt." Portland Mayor Keith Wilson told the committee Portland faces a roughly $6 billion maintenance backlog and that without state action "even deeper cuts are coming." Lacey Beatty, mayor of Beaverton and chair of the Metropolitan Mayors' Consortium, likewise said the package's preservation of the 50-30-20 split is essential for cities across the Portland region.

Supporters from smaller jurisdictions said the…