It has been a long and winding road, but the year-long effort by the Governor and Democratic Legislature to pass a transportation plan is now nearing the finish line. This week, Gov. Kotek announced she has signed the bill passed recently by an Emergency Session of the Oregon Legislature.
Opponents of the tax and fee increases included in the bill have vowed to refer the bill to the ballot but face significant obstacles — money and time. At least 100,000 signatures of Oregon voters would be required to be collected to ensure the valid number of 78,116 are turned in to trigger an election.
Petition circulators can cost between $1 million and $2 million. As of November 5, the committee formed to oppose the bill had raised only $8,000.
Time is the other barrier, and those opposing the legislation will have precious little of it to acquire those signatures, even if the financial obstacle was overcome. While the Oregon Constitution allows 90 days to gather signatures to refer a legislative act after the Legislature has adjourned, the process cannot start until the Governor signs the bill. It is not “an act” until that process is complete, and Gov. Kotek has 30 business days, not calendar days, to apply her signature.
She had until Wednesday, Nov. 12, to meet that requirement and signed just before that deadline. The Secretary of State then had a couple of business days to evaluate and approve the paperwork and signature-gathering materials. The end result is that signature gatherers will have about 48 of those 90 days to meet the legal threshold. It is possible, but generally highly unlikely, without a substantial infusion of significant cash to put paper and pens out onto the street.
State Senator Bruce Starr, one of the lead petitioners of the referendum, says the delay in signing the bill has actually been a benefit to the cause, not a detriment.
“It has given us time to organize and be ready to maximize our efforts,” he said.
“We have enlisted over 3,000 volunteers across the state and have 39 captains organizing them,” Starr added.
He also believes that money will start to appear on the Secretary of State’s campaign finance website soon to help boost the effort.
The referendum also has an interesting twist not often seen in the history of these efforts in Oregon. The Governor must either sign a bill and pass into law all the components of the bill therein or reject the bill in its entirety. Those rules do not apply to those wishing to oppose the measure. Petitioners can choose to refer only certain parts of a bill and let other parts pass into law. That appears to be the case with HB 3991, the Transportation Package.
Starr says the referendum will be limited to the title and registration fees included in the bill, as well as the six-cent increase in the gas tax and the doubling of the state employee wage tax for mass transit districts.
Kept intact will be the ODOT accountability measures, the Road User Charge for electric vehicles, changes to the weight-mile system for trucks, as well as removing the requirement that ODOT must place tolls on I-5 and I-205 in Portland.
If the requisite number of valid signatures is obtained, then the measure would appear on the ballot in November of 2026, an entire year from now. During this period, ODOT would be unable to collect the higher fees and taxes — a situation that ODOT and supporters of the legislation say would create an immediate crisis in terms of layoffs and reduced services.
The 90-day deadline after adjournment for returning signatures is, ironically, New Year’s Eve. That night, only one side will be celebrating.