Dems: No gas tax democracy

Democratic leaders appointed the chief sponsor of bill to remove right to vote on local gas tax hikes to steward troubled bill that hikes state gas tax forever without a vote

State Rep. Mark Gamba (D-Milwaukie) said Oregonians who oppose tax increases act like “petulant children”

Welcome to The Petulant Child, a limited series of updates on the Oregon legislature’s action-packed consideration of the largest tax hike in state history. The name of the series is homage to Rep. Mark Gamba (D) telling tax-weary Oregonians who oppose more tax hikes they act like “petulant children.”

In this edition of The Child, we cover Democrats sending the bill back to committee; co-chair Sen. Gorsek’s (D) resignation from committee after he interrupted and yelled at Rep. Shelly Boshart-Davis (R) during a tense meeting on the bill; the new committee co-chair, who doesn’t want Oregonians to be able to vote on city gas tax hikes; polling shows Oregonians aren’t very worried about roads and hate a gas tax hike; and tolling buried in the bill.

Dems send HB 2025 back to committee

Democratic legislative leaders sent the tax hike bill, HB 2025, back to the same committee that passed it, just barely, last week. As we covered here, moderate Democrats appeared to be concerned about the size of the tax increase (“insane tax increases” - State Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone), and Democrats cannot afford to lose any votes in either House, with Republicans so far in lockstep opposition.

The oddly named Joint Transportation Reinvestment* Committee is expected to consider an major amendment, likely lowering the tax haul and perhaps making other changes to placate Democratic moderates. As of publication, neither the amendment nor a committee meeting has been posted.

Gorsek resigns as co-chair

Senator Chris Gorsek (D-Gresham) resigned as co-chair of the committee after he scolded Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis in a committee hearing on the bill last Friday.

According to the Salem Statesman Journal, committee co-chair Sen. Chris Gorsek (D-Gresham) “yelled” at committee member Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany) after she said the tax bill was “grossly irresponsible.”

According to the Statesman Journal, Gorsek interrupted Boshart Davis to shout, “You are impugning all of us who have worked on that bill, so stop with that.”

Video of the exchange shows Boshart Davis continued to speak, while Gorsek loudly reprimanded her, “You’ve made your point, Representative.” Gorsek’s then co-chair, Rep. Susan McLain (D-Forest Grove) intervened to stop the exchange.

Oregon Public Broadcasting called Gorsek’s behavior an “outburst.”

Legislative Republicans demanded censure of Gorsek, and some House Republicans boycotted yesterday’s floor session to protest his outburst, and the lack of action by Senate leadership. Boshart-Davis says she will file a workplace complaint against Gorsek.

New Democratic co-chair hates gas tax democracy

Taking Gorsek’s place as Senate co-chair of the committee is Khanh Pham (D-Portland), who is the chief sponsor of a bill to allow cities and counties to increase local gas taxes without a vote of the people. Oregon law currently requires referral of local gas tax hikes to the voters.

Pham’s appointment as co-chair is a curious choice. The current version of HB 2025 would hike gas taxes by 15 cents per gallon in the coming years, and then tie the tax to inflation, meaning the gas tax would automatically increase, up to 4% per year, without a (clearly unpleasant) vote by legislators or the Oregonians who pay the tax.

I suppose one solution to moderate Democrats’ concerns about “insane tax increases” is to have those increases happen without a vote of the legislature or, as Pham would have had it, a vote of the people.

Pham’s local gas tax bill has not received a hearing and is not going anywhere. However, in a humorous (to me) twist, her bill led to the airing of Sen. Gamba’s aforementioned belief about the emotional immaturity of Oregon voters. Gamba is the only other sponsor of Pham’s local gas tax bill, and it was in an OPB article about that bill in which Gamba was quoted uttering the “petulant children” line.

Bad polling for bill

The Oregon Journalism Project/Willamette Week yesterday reported on a poll conducted by DHM, a respected Portland pollster, on Oregonians’ view of roads and whether they want to pay more gas taxes to fix them. WW’s review of the poll results show big problems for Democrats’ main argument for HB 2025: that, at present, $15 billion over 10 years is needed via increased gas tax and a slew of other taxes and fees to fix Oregon’s bad or unsafe roads and highways.

The problem? According to Willamette Week, Oregon voters (1) believe the state’s roads and highways are in decent shape; (2) don’t prioritize spending more money to fix them; and (3) oppose raising the gas tax to do it. A healthy 66% oppose tying future gas tax hikes to inflation.

The Tolling Bill

As identified by former Republican lawmaker Julie Parrish, squirreled away on page 50 of the 99-page HB 2025 is a provision that requires the Oregon Department of Transportation to use a portion of $30 million per year to establish a toll program on Interstates 5 and 205 from their junction point south of Portland northward to the Columbia.

Tolling Oregon’s two north-south interstates is something of a political buzzsaw. ODOT wanted to do it to raise money, but voter blowback caused a number of Democratic legislators, including the aforementioned Rep. Hartman, whose vote will be key in the House, and Sen. Mark Meek, whom leadership threw off the transportation committee last week for voicing opposition to HB 2025, have expressed concern about tolling.

Last year, Governor Tina Kotek directed ODOT to halt work on a tolling program for for Interstates 5 and 205 under intense voter pressure. In its current form, HB 2025 would direct funds at reinvigorating a tolling program for those freeways, a move that may spike the petulance of voters in the Portland area, of which there are many.

What’s next?

Keep an eye out for the expected amendment to HB 2025. Democrats’ strategy is to mollify moderates by scaling back certain provisions of the bill. So long as Republicans remain in lockstep opposition to the bill, Democrats need each and every of their members, including Hartman, Meek and others who have expressed concern, to vote for the bill.

Ultimately, the decision about whether to force Oregonians to pay more for roads they generally think are fine will be in the hands of moderate Democrats, who also happen to face the greatest electoral risk if they vote for the bill and it remains unpopular.

Or, to put it another way, in the five days before the legislature must adjourn, will Democratic leadership make their moderate members walk the political plank to secure another huge infusion of cash into Salem?

*To reinvest in something, you had to have disinvested in it. Oregon, as it is wont, has thrown more and more money at transportation.