The Oregon Legislature‘s upcoming special session focusing on transportation funding may deal a major setback for tolling in the state — except for the Interstate Bridge replacement project.

Gov. Tina Kotek on Wednesday called for repealing a 2017 law that provides the framework for tolling on interstates 5 and 205.

Key state lawmakers, including Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, have urged the repeal of the law as part of anticipated legislation to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation.

“There will be language in the bill to repeal ORS 383.150,” Kotek said in remarks to reporters, in reference to the 2017 tolling law.

Kotek acknowledged that the idea of tolling Oregon drivers had not shifted out of park.

“We are in a pause across the system on tolling, outside of the Interstate Bridge,” she said.

Kotek’s comments were part of a broader outline of plans for the special session set to begin Aug. 29. On Tuesday, the governor said she would invoke her authority to reconvene the Legislature for the session.

The effort comes after the Legislature failed to pass a transportation funding bill in the regular session that ended June 27.

Kotek said Wednesday that she wants to keep the special session tightly focused on funding ODOT’s regular operations. Funding for the state’s infrastructure mega-projects is not expected to come out of the special session, Kotek said

The governor urged action, saying it’s needed to avoid layoffs at ODOT. The agency has already notified 483 workers of impending layoffs without forthcoming funding. Additional layoffs would follow early in 2026.

“These dollars will cover the ODOT budget to provide basic services for Oregonians and prevent layoffs of workers that provide basic services to Oregonians,” Kotek said.

Kotek gave the broad framework of a transportation funding bill but did not say how much it would cost. Among the bill’s elements:

• The state’s gas tax would rise 6 cents, from 40 cents to 46 cents per gallon.

• A $30 electric vehicle fee would be implemented.

• Vehicle registration and title fees would also rise.

• The payroll tax to pay for transit would double from 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent. Kotek said the increase is necessary to keep rural transit systems alive.

• The governor would have greater ability to fire the ODOT director. A 2017 transportation bill gave the Oregon Transportation Commission more authority over ODOT’s executive.

Kotek said she wouldn’t dwell on the transportation bill’s failure during this year’s regular session. She added that Oregon should consider funding transportation more often, on an annual or biennial basis, rather than in bigger cycles.

While Clackamas County lawmakers and others are likely to welcome a major setback for tolling, an industry official questioned how Oregon will pay for its major infrastructure projects without those revenues.

“It’s concerning to move away from any tolling, especially when tolling was how those projects were going to pencil out,” said Kirsten Adams, a lobbyist for the Associated General Contractors‘ Oregon-Columbia chapter.

Meek said it’s “great news” that Kotek will push to repeal the 2017 law. He added that he’d be open to tolling in the future to pay for the state’s mega-projects.

“I think there is room for tolling for the metro area to help pay for our mega-projects. I just want there to be a more open conversation about it,” he said.

Meek said he envisioned a London-style tolling area, where drivers would be tolled coming into the Portland-metro area from Hood River in the east, U.S. Route 26 from the Oregon Coast in the west, Interstate 5 near Aurora in the south and the Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge (Interstate 205) at the Washington state border in the north.

Adams praised Kotek’s bid to seek greater accountability from ODOT leaders, and added that Oregon needs a better way of paying for mega-projects.

“We’re looking for a long-term funding solution for those bigger projects, knowing that’s important for the infrastructure in our state, the mobility in our state, and knowing they’re really expensive,” she said.

Kotek told journalists she has the votes to pass a transportation package, and that she is not concerned that a potential walkout by Republicans would deprive the Legislature of a quorum. Meek agreed.

“She would not have called this if she did not have a quorum and the votes to pass,” he said.

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Oregon State Sen. Mark Meek said that he is open to Gov. Tina Kotek recalling the Legislature for a special session on transportation funding — if the governor agrees to repeal a tolling law.

“I’m open to that,” he said. “I told the governor, I committed that if the final package looks good, I’m happy to be there. But one of my requests is to repeal ORS 383.150.”

The tolling statute, on the books since 2017, directs the Oregon Transportation Commission to establish a toll program and assess potential tolls on interstates 5 and 205. Plans by the Oregon Department of Transportation to pay for roads and bridges with tolling has foundered amid political opposition and planning obstacles.

Meek’s comments, in a brief interview on Sunday, come amid speculation that Kotek will reconvene the Legislature in a special session to tackle transportation funding. The regular session ended June 27 in acrimony after a major transportation bill ran out of gas.

Kotek’s office did not specifically respond to Meek’s comments. “The governor is assessing next steps,” a spokesperson said Monday.

Meek said he’s been in discussions with Kotek and other state leaders since the session ended without a transportation funding package.

“I’ve had several communications with the governor and her staff, and we are working on a special session to try to keep our ODOT workers out in the field, maintain the roads for Oregonians and then also make sure that we can rebalance HCAS,” Meek said, referring to the state Highway Cost Allocation Study.

The biannual study, conducted most recently by ECONorthwest for the state Office of Economic Analysis, helps lawmakers determine how to spend transportation funds. It has played a role in the heated debate in Salem about who benefits from and who pays for transportation levies, including the gas tax, weight-mile tax and vehicle registration fees, and how that should be divided between the trucking industry and regular commuters.

Meek, D-Gladstone, has fought tolls in the Legislature. Meek’s Clackamas County constituents have been in an uproar over potential tolls on the Abernethy Bridge, the I-205 span connecting West Linn and Oregon City.

Meek said his constituents should not bear the brunt of Oregon’s tolling program. He said the tolling law is “so harmful and damaging to my community in Clackamas County.”

Meek called for “an honest discussion about what tolling looks like here in Oregon, or at least in my community.”

The bridge is undergoing a major project to strengthen it in case of an earthquake, and to widen the roadway to increase capacity. The project is expected to be complete next year.

The Legislature adjourned without passing House Bill 2025, a wide-ranging transportation funding bill. Meek was removed from the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee by Senate leaders after he said he would not support the bill.

Republicans and some Democrats were leery of the numerous revenue-raising provisions in the bill, including raising the 40-cent gas tax by 15 cents, indexing it to inflation, and hiking vehicle registration fees.

Supporters argued that the state must complete a series of major transportation projects, including the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter expansion, which would also create highway covers to repair the street grid in Portland’s Albina neighborhood, and fund regular road maintenance.

After lawmakers went home, ODOT laid off at least 483 workers and began canceling minor road projects around the state.

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