Senate passes gas tax swap, House GOP boycotts

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

There have been several developments in the State Capitol.

First, the Oregon Senate has approved SB 1599 which moves the gas tax referendum vote from the November General election to the May primary.  This is happening even though the referendum petition clearly sets the November election.

State Senator Bruce Starr said of the gas tax swap vote SB 1599,“The only prophylactic to a referendum is a bipartisan bill. We could have done it. We could have done it in 2025 in one session. That was my hope. My hope coming back to this process was that we would work across the aisle and get a bill that we could all support, then we wouldn’t be in a situation that we’re in.”

In order for this bill to meet the deadline for the May Primary and give the Secretary of State enough time, the bill must be signed by Governor Kotek by Wednesday Feb 25th — which is tomorrow.

Making the Wednesday deadline is more difficult because SB 1599 just landed in the House chamber.

In the House chamber, Republican lawmakers boycotted floor session votes to protest (1) this unconstitutional gas tax election day swap bill SB 1159 and (2) the investigation controversy where Democrat State Representative Jason Kropf has been accused of a hostile work environment by pressuring a fellow Representative on her vote.  House GOP demand a proper investigation, but House Democrat leadership is ignoring it.

House Republican Leader Lucetta Elmer said of the investigation censorship, “The allegation that a lawmaker created a hostile working environment by intimidating another lawmaker into changing their vote is a serious allegation that creates distrust in the democratic process. It must be properly addressed and thoroughly investigated through a transparent process that respects the victim and remedies the wrong committed against them. Instead, Democrats attempted to sweep this under the rug and move on.”

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