Oregon Democrats have spent much of this week shopping around their massive plan to fund state road and bridge upkeep in the years to come.

And while opinions in the Capitol vary wildly over whether that package – a mix of tax increases and oversight measures – has a chance of passing, opponents are already preparing to send it to voters.

Last week, former state Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, filed a new political action committee called “No Gas Hikes.” If Democrats pass taxes he and others object to, Boquist says he’ll be ready to collect the roughly 78,000 signatures to refer the law to the 2026 ballot.

“If they’re not going to have a real bipartisan plan — and I don’t mean just Democrat and Republican, I mean all the road users involved — then they need to go back to the drawing board,” Boquist said in an interview Thursday. “And if we have to put it on the ballot and send it back to the drawing board … then that’s what we’ll do.”

Boquist already has support. As of Thursday afternoon, No Gas Hikes had reported $186,000 in the bank — nearly all of it from auto dealers who oppose Democrats’ plan to raise taxes on car sales.

“Expect much more,” said Boquist, who was barred from running for reelection last year after walking away from the Capitol in 2023, and instead mounted an unsuccessful campaign for state treasurer.

The former lawmaker isn’t working alone. John Swanson, a Republican campaign consultant who also works as a legislative staffer for Sen. Bruce Starr, is the co-director of the No Gas Hikes PAC.

Starr, R-Dundee, has been among the most-engaged GOP members negotiating this year’s transportation bill, but said earlier this week he cannot support the plan Democrats put forward.

In an interview Wednesday, Swanson stressed that his involvement with the No Gas Hikes committee is separate from his legislative work.

“This is the prelude,” he said. “It’s a miscellaneous committee to just get a little infrastructure going so you can hit it on a stride if need be.”

The Democratic transportation proposal, House Bill 2025, is wide ranging. As currently written, it would: raise the state’s 40-cent-per-gallon gas tax by 15 cents; hike a broad array of vehicle registration and licensing fees; create a new 2% tax on sales of new cars and a 1% tax on sales of used cars worth more than $10,000; create a new per-mile fee paid by electric vehicle and hybrid owners; simplify taxation on heavy vehicles and diesel fuel; set aside money for a pair of uncompleted highway megaprojects in the Portland metro area; mandate increased audits of the Oregon Department of Transportation; and more.

As of Thursday afternoon, Democrats had not released an analysis for how much revenue their plan is expected to raise — a fact that opponents have seized on. Sen. Chris Gorsek, a Gresham Democrat and key author of the plan, said earlier this week he expected the number would be more than $1 billion a year.

Bills passed by Oregon lawmakers can be referred to voters if organizers collect enough valid signatures within 90 days of the Legislature adjourning. This year, a referral would require at least 78,115 signatures, equal to 4% of the people who cast a ballot in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

Oregonians have not been kind in the past when proposed gas tax increases are put before them. In 2000, a proposal that would have raised fuel taxes and registration fees was opposed by 87% of voters after being referred to the ballot.

Proponents of HB 2025 worry the same fate lies in wait if HB 2025 is referred. Local gas taxes have passed recently in Portland and other cities. But they’ve been shot down elsewhere, and a statewide measure could be hard to sell.

“If it’s referred, it won’t pass,” state Rep. John Lively, D-Springfield, told OPB. “There’s no question. You’ll never convince enough people.”

Boquist knows something about passing big transportation bills. He was a key Republican architect of the $5.3 billion package lawmakers passed in 2017 — a bill that many now fault for dedicating too much money to specific projects, and not enough money to everyday road maintenance. Boquist said Thursday a lot could change about House Bill 2025 between now and session’s adjournment later this month.

“It’s the waning days when everything happens,” he said. “That’s when the real pressure comes up and [you learn] whether there’s a deal or not a deal to be made.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/13/transportation-funding-oregon-ballot-boquist/