Vote expected to take place Sept.17

By Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle

With a key Democratic senator recovering from surgery, the Oregon Senate will delay a planned vote on a transportation tax package for two weeks.

The House narrowly passed the 10-year, $4.3 billion package Monday, and a Senate vote was scheduled for Wednesday. But on Tuesday evening, Senate Democrats announced that they would delay the vote until Sept. 17, when they expect Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, to be available. 

Raising taxes requires support from 18 of 30 senators, and Democrats hold 18 seats. That means all Democrats need to be present if Republicans remain united against the transportation bill. Gorsek underwent back surgery in August and is recovering from complications of that surgery, Democratic leaders said. 

“We have been in constant communication with Sen. Gorsek and his team as he works to recover from complications relating to a planned back surgery,” Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, said in a statement Tuesday. “My understanding is that it would be unsafe for Sen. Gorsek to be away from medical care at this time.”

A Sept. 17 vote means the bill cannot pass until after Sept. 15,  when hundreds of Oregon Department of Transportation workers were slated to be laid off pending legislative intervention. Kotek on Tuesday ordered layoffs be delayed until Oct. 15 again only if the transportation tax package fails final passage in the Senate. 

“This date will make sure there are no interruptions for the hundreds of workers whose jobs hang in the balance and the basic services that Oregonians rely on,” Kotek said in a statement. 

Melissa Unger, executive director of the Service Employees International Union Local 503 that represents many of the affected employees, said workers appreciate the security of knowing no one will lose their jobs for another month, but that lawmakers need to do better.

“When one of our workers calls out sick, someone will step up and do their job,” she said. “And I think right now, we really believe that we need to give workers security. They have been facing unknown timelines, unknown votes for the past two months about whether they get to save their jobs.”

The Oregon Department of Transportation faces an immediate $300 million shortfall in the two-year budget cycle that began July 1, because lawmakers failed to pass a transportation funding plan during the recent six-month legislative session. Kotek in July announced that the department would lay off 483 workers and close a dozen maintenance stations, but she postponed the effective date of layoffs after calling lawmakers back in a special session. 

Wren Gilson, an ODOT senior application developer who received a layoff notice in July, held back tears while talking to reporters about an hour after learning of the delay. About half of Gilson’s team, who work on software for the Motor Vehicles Division and compile data, received layoff notices, and at least one person on the team left state employment because of the uncertainty over department funding.

“I definitely feel like my job is being held hostage for some political game, and I just wish that there was something that I could do or say, or anything that would help get people to just make this happen,” Gilson said.

The House on Labor Day passed an amended version of Kotek’s proposed plan, including a 6-cent gas tax increase, hikes to vehicle title and registration fees and temporarily doubling a statewide payroll tax for transit from one-tenth of 1% to two-tenths of 1%.

Under that plan, the payroll tax increase would cost a worker who earns the statewide average salary of $68,283 about $68 per year, and drivers of passenger vehicles would pay $84 more on their two-year car registration. The gas tax impact would vary depending on how many miles people drive and how fuel-efficient their cars are. 

Julia Shumway has reported on government and politics in Iowa and Nebraska, spent time at the Bend Bulletin and most recently was a legislative reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times in Phoenix, Arizona. This story first appeared in the Oregon Capital Chronicle.