"The transportation funding bill, House Bill 3991, is expected to raise about $4.3 billion over the next decade to fund statewide transportation maintenance and operations. Without the funding, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) says it would have to lay off hundreds of employees, and cut crucial services including winter snowplowing on state highways. City and county governments would also lose out on transportation funding, as would transit agencies."
""This bill helps us to keep state highways and local roads safe and open to traffic while preserving transit service and halting the pending layoffs of essential transportation staff," Kotek wrote in her signing letter for the bill. "The people who came together to solve this crisis do not always agree, but they all recognized the urgency of the situation. Oregon families were counting on us. Our economy was counting on us. Our communities were counting on us.""
Governor Tina Kotek signed House Bill 3991 into law, authorizing roughly $4.3 billion in new revenue over the next decade for statewide transportation maintenance and operations. The Oregon Department of Transportation warned that without the funding it would face hundreds of layoffs and cuts to services including winter snowplowing; city, county, and transit funding would also be reduced. Kotek stated the law preserves highways, local roads, transit service, and transportation jobs. The package won support from public sector unions, transit agencies, and some local leaders but drew sharp opposition from Republican legislators. Opponents filed a petition seeking a referendum on the bill.
Read at Portland Mercury
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