by Mia Maldonado, Oregon Capital Chronicle
March 20, 2026
May’s vote on a controversial 2025 transportation law will mark the 67th time in state history that Oregonians opposed a law strongly enough to petition for its placement on the ballot.
A majority of voters approved just more than one-third of those laws, including measures that gave sheriffs control of county prisons and closed the Willamette River to commercial fishing south of Oswego. Most recently, in 2018, voters approved higher taxes on hospitals and health insurers to cover funding gaps in the Oregon Health Plan after the first Trump administration cut Medicaid funding.
The remaining 42 times, Oregonians voted against laws that were referred to the ballot, often forcing lawmakers to find alternative solutions to budget constraints. That could very likely be the case for Measure 120, which voters will see on their May ballots.
A “yes” vote on the measure would raise most vehicle title and registration fees, increase the gas tax from 40 cents to 46 cents and double the payroll tax used for public transit from 0.1% to 0.2% of a worker’s paycheck until 2028.
This process, known as a referendum, has roots in distrust in the political class, according to Rep. Ed Diehl, a Scio Republican who helped lead the state’s most recent referendum alongside Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee and Taxpayer Association of Oregon founder Jason Williams. In late 2025, the petitioners submitted to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office more than 200,000 signatures — more than double the 78,000 signatures they needed — to secure a spot on the ballot.
While they’ve sued to keep the vote in November rather than May, those legal attempts have so far been unsuccessful, and a Marion County judge said the law would likely survive other legal challenges.
It’s not unusual for a referendum to take place outside of the November general election. The Legislature moved five out of seven referendums since 2000 to special elections in January or February or to the date of the May primary.
While a May vote means there will likely be less voter turnout, it is also true that delays on the implementation of the law will delay much needed maintenance on Oregon’s roads, according to Reed College political science professor Chris Koski.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE. SUPPORT
History of Oregon’s referendum process traces back to populist roots
Oregon was a pioneer in the West when it came to establishing the initiative process, Koski told the Capital Chronicle.
While South Dakota was the first state to adopt a process giving citizens a chance to veto a law, Oregon followed shortly after when early Oregon lawmaker and populist William U’Ren pushed for ways regular Oregonians could propose laws or amendments to the state constitution, or reject a bill passed by the Legislature.
“There was this feeling that parties were not being responsive to populist demands,” Koski said. “There was this idea that if the Legislature wouldn’t respond to what the will of the people were, and that was often happening in machine politics, that the people ought to have a say in a number of different ways.”
In 1902, Oregon voters approved a legislatively referred ballot measure creating Oregon’s initiative, referendum and legislative referral process. This trinity of tools became known as the Oregon System, which Republicans recently warned they would use if Democrats don’t take their concerns seriously.
“They’re really influential,” Koski said. “The threat of an initiative is enough to motivate the Legislature to do something.”
Initiatives are widely used in Oregon in comparison to other states because Oregon doesn’t just allow citizens to pass laws, but to change the state’s constitution.
“As a result, the Oregon Constitution looks less like a hallowed document like the American Constitution, and more like a document with a bunch of sticky notes all over it associated with different kinds of changes that have been from this initiative process,” Koski said.
Oregon voters hate to see a gas tax hike
Through a mix of ballot initiatives, referendums and legislative referrals, Oregon voters have shot down several attempts to increase the gas tax.
In November 1928, 73% of Oregon voters voted against a ballot initiative aimed at raising the gas tax from 3 to 5 cents per gallon.Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, shakes hands with supporters attending his campaign launch event for Oregon governor at Snow Peak Brewing in Stayton on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Photo by Mia Maldonado/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
In the May 1978 primary, the Legislature asked voters if it would support requiring highway revenue to be used first for maintenance and infrastructure rehabilitation before any new highway construction. That referral also proposed increasing the gas tax from 7 cents to 9 cents. It failed, with 66% of people voting no.
The Legislature tried asking voters again in November 1980 if they would support increasing the gas tax to 9 cents per gallon. Nearly 850,000 Oregonians — 74% of voters at the time — voted no.
And in May 2000, Oregonians voted on a referendum petition opposing a Republican-led law establishing a diesel fuel tax and increasing the gas tax by 5 cents to the same 29-cent rate as the diesel tax. Oregonians defeated the law with 87% of the vote.
Gas tax increases are so unpopular because they disproportionately impact people living in rural parts of Oregon who have to commute to work, Diehl said.
“As I go around the state, everybody feels like they’re taxed enough,” Diehl, who is campaigning for governor, told the Capital Chronicle over the phone. “They’re taxed to death and they do not feel like they’re getting their money’s worth for the taxes they’re paying.”
Oregon Capital Chronicle editor Julia Shumway contributed to this story.
Independent Journalism For All
As a nonprofit newsroom, our articles are free for everyone to access. Readers like you make that possible. Can you help sustain our watchdog reporting today?
SUPPORT
Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: [email protected].