26 Oregon Trucking Association, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch The 2025 Legislative Session: A Preview By Jordan Bice, Oxley & Associates THE OREGON TRUCKING Association takes great pride in advocating for its member companies in the Oregon State legislature. Particularly in our state, which is the most expensive state to operate a trucking company, our industry faces tremendous challenges both on the road and in the Capitol. While we spend every session defending against policies that could make it harder to get goods to market by truck in Oregon, we also foresee some opportunities in the 2025 legislative session to keep our economy moving. The last time Oregon passed a large transportation package was 2017. At that time, the transportation coalition consisting of OTA, the Associated General Contractors, and AAA, acquiesced to the cost increases in the bill because it directed the construction of several major projects to relieve congestion, including on Interstate 205 at the Abernethy Bridge, Interstate 217, and Interstate 5 at the Rose Quarter. The Rose Quarter project was and is a top priority, as it is still the most significant bottleneck in the state—and is regularly recognized as one of the worst bottlenecks in the country. Though construction is underway on the first two projects, the Rose Quarter project has yet to turn over a single shovel of dirt. OTA has made it very clear that the organization will not support any new transportation package without a guarantee that the Rose Quarter project will be completed. Though progress has been made, and both legislative leadership and the Oregon Department of Transportation anticipate construction to begin, OTA will stay vigilant on this priority for its members. Another key part of any deal on a transportation package in 2025 must include a remedy to the overpayments by the trucking industry. The Oregon Trucking Association, along with fleets A&M Transport, Sherman Bros. Trucking and Combined Transport, sued the state of Oregon and top Oregon officials earlier this year, alleging that truckers are paying disproportionately more highway taxes in the state. Oregon’s state constitution requires the state to impose taxes on vehicles to fund highway and road maintenance, which are required to be “fair and proportionate to the costs incurred for the highway system because of each class of vehicle.” In the 2019–2021 study, heavy vehicle users overpaid by approximately 3%, then 16% for 2021– 2023. The most recent allocation study, for years 2023–2025, had heavy vehicles overpaying by 32%. This overpayment equates to roughly $193 million per year, or more than $528,000 per day. Until and unless the legislature passes a bill to correct the overpayment methodology, the State will continue to collect payments from the trucking industry at this same rate. “For too long, Oregon trucking companies, the vast majority of which are small, family-owned businesses, have paid far more than their fair share “For too long, Oregon trucking companies, the vast majority of which are small, family-owned businesses, have paid far more than their fair share of transportation taxes,” said OTA President and CEO Jana Jarvis.
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