by Mia Maldonado, Oregon Capital Chronicle
January 15, 2026
Repealing the 2025 transportation law she championed in the upcoming short session could raise legal questions for Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek.
On Jan. 7, Kotek called on lawmakers to repeal the law she championed and Democratic lawmakers passed in a September special session to raise $4.3 billion in transportation maintenance funding over the next 10 years. Her remarks came after petitioners submitted enough signatures to refer portions of the bill to a statewide vote in November, pausing most of the scheduled tax and fee increases meant to raise revenue. Repealing the law could have saved Kotek and Democrats from running for reelection on the same ballot as an unpopular tax hike.
Lawmakers returned to the Capitol this week for a series of meetings before the legislative session begins in February and are expected to find a short-term fix to transportation funding during that month-long session.
But, a 1935 Oregon Attorney General opinion could throw a wrench in Kotek’s plans. The nearly century-old opinion first reported Thursday by the Oregon Journalism Project states the Oregon Legislature can’t repeal a law once it has been referred to the ballot.
The governor’s office was not specifically aware of the 1935 opinion, Kotek spokesperson Elisabeth Shepard said.
“The Legislature will certainly be doing its due diligence on how best to proceed on this issue,” she said.
The Oregon Department of Justice is aware of the 1935 opinion and it has not yet analyzed whether the opinion’s conclusion remains valid under current legal standards, said Jenny Hansson, a spokesperson for Attorney General Dan Rayfield.
Petition against Oregon transportation law pauses gas tax and fee hikes
But Senate Republican Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, said the opinion is unmistakably clear. Starr is one of the chief petitioners listed in the referendum.
“The Constitution requires an election,” he said. “There is no statutory workaround, no procedural loophole, and no legal basis to keep this measure off the ballot. Governor Kotek’s sudden call for repeal is an attempt to censor the people’s vote, plain and simple, and it doesn’t change the law. Oregonians demanded a vote, and the law guarantees they will get one.”
House Republican Leader Lucette Elmer, R-McMinnville, echoed his concerns.
“The Oregon Constitution is clear that the power of referendum is reserved to the people, and once a measure qualifies through signature verification, the Secretary of State has a duty to place it before voters,” she said.
Oregon’s roads are still deteriorating
Kotek also called for lawmakers to address ODOT’s funding gap in the upcoming session, which has a gap of about $242 million for the current 2025-27 budget cycle.
Starting next year, the Oregon Department of Transportation will only be able to afford paving its interstates, according to the department’s chief engineer Tova Peltz. That means Oregon drivers can expect more potholes, rutted roads, faded pavement markings and higher vehicle repair costs.
Peltz and local transportation managers briefed Oregon lawmakers on the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee on Wednesday evening.
The condition of Oregon’s transportation infrastructure reflects years of deferred maintenance, and in some cases doubling construction costs over the past six years, Peltz said.
About 25% of state roads with creeks and streams underneath them need replacement. Along U.S. Highway 101 on the Oregon coast, 16% of bridges need replacement and 20% of the state-owned traffic signals are in very poor condition, Peltz said. ODOT’s maintenance teams are also operating with significant staffing shortages after hundreds of workers resigned amid potential layoffs tied to uncertainty whether lawmakers would pass a revenue package in 2025.
Without new revenue in the current budget cycle that ends June 30, 2027, the agency would need to reduce its workforce by eliminating 570 vacant positions and laying off 470 employees in the spring, according to the department.
A key Democrat on the committee signaled a potential shift in Oregon’s long-running transportation funding debate.
Sen. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland, said she agreed with Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, who in the meeting said that the state should spend closer to 70% of its transportation budget on operations and maintenance, rather than funding transportation projects.Rep. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland, at the Oregon Legislature on Feb. 12, 2024. (Photo byJordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
In 2017, lawmakers approved a $5.3 billion transportation package that directed the legislature to use $1.2 billion worth in state and local road projects. But cost estimates have since soared from original estimates under the bill, leaving many projects unfinished, the Statesman Journal reported.
“I think that is the direction that we need to go,” Phạm said. “I agree it is not ODOT’s fault, it is the Legislature that directed ODOT to spend all this money on capital projects that has now sucked up all the money and pulled it away from operations and maintenance.”
Republicans consistently pushed back on Democratic transportation proposals, arguing that money set aside for projects should instead be redirected toward maintenance. Doing so, however, would require lawmakers to change the 2017 law.
Phạm said she hopes Oregon lawmakers will do better for the next generation of Oregon lawmakers to make sure they have more accurate cost estimates to maintain the state’s roads.
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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].