Sep 30, 2025 | AOC Advocacy, OACES, Transportation
Following the Legislature’s failure to pass a transportation package during the 2025 regular legislative session, Governor Kotek called a special legislative session, which started Aug. 29. House Bill 3991, the special session transportation bill, passed out of the Senate on Monday, Sept. 29, and is expected to move to the governor’s desk for signature.
The Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) was in regular conversations with the governor’s office as this special session proposal was developed to ensure that it met our adopted principles and longstanding priority to stabilize the State Highway Fund (SHF), maintain the counties’ 30% share, and included a continuation of the Small County Allotment, which supports the lowest population counties with large road miles to maintain.
HB 3991 would generate approximately $700 million a biennium in the SHF revenue (split 50/30/20), primarily through a $0.06 per gallon increase to the gas tax; a $42 increase to all registration fees, an additional $30 for electric vehicles and 40+ mpg vehicles; and a $139 increase to title fees. The proposal also includes a phased-in mandatory road user charge program for electric and hybrid vehicles beginning July 2027, updates to heavy truck and diesel taxes, and accountability measures at the Oregon Department of Transportation. A comprehensive overview of HB 3991 is available here.
Initial revenue projections show that counties will benefit from a 30% increase in state funding over four years from HB 3991. The increased SHF revenue comes with no off-the-top allocations and is the largest relative allocation share of SHF to county funding in a modern transportation package. This will allow most counties to maintain current services and operations and keep roads and bridges open and safe.
One of AOC’s top policy priorities this year was the passage of a comprehensive transportation funding package prioritizing investments in operations, maintenance, and safety; incorporating diverse and modern funding mechanisms to ensure the growth and stabilization of the SHF; maintaining the 30% county share of SHF revenues; and reducing barriers to local revenue sources. Throughout the 18+ months of legislative discussions about a 2025 transportation package, AOC, the Oregon Association of County Engineers and Surveyors (OACES), and counties have shown up strong at every turn and consistently communicated the message that counties are the state’s partner in maintaining a safe and seamless transportation system, and shared SHF revenues support this partnership.
AOC supported HB 3991 in consideration of the critical new funding it will provide to counties and the inclusion of both the 50/30/20 funding distribution and the Small County Allotment.
Contributed by: Mallorie Roberts | Legislative Affairs Director
Mar 25, 2025 | OACES, Transportation
The Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) and the Oregon Association of County Engineers and Surveyors (OACES) worked with the Legislature to pass House Bill 2154, making the County Safety Corridor Program permanent.
The top priority of every county road department is ensuring Oregonians can get to where they are going safely on our roads. Rural county roadways face significant safety challenges from limited cell phone reception, longer emergency response times, simpler roadway infrastructure, and risky driver behaviors. County roads suffered 719 fatal and serious injury crashes in 2022. While small-scale crashes are concentrated in urban areas, rural county roads see 74% of county road fatalities, and when vehicle crashes occur there, the risk of fatalities is significantly higher than on urban roadways.
In 2019, House Bill 3213 established the County Safety Corridor Advisory Group and launched the Safety Corridor Pilot Program to design and test safety corridors aimed at improving rural traffic safety. Safety corridors are short stretches of road that pair doubled fines, engineered safety improvements, education and outreach strategies, and increased enforcement on a county road with a history of fatal or serious crashes.
County road officials, county sheriffs, emergency response officials, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and AOC came together to develop the pilot program and recruit counties to put this idea into practice.
Two safety corridors were launched by the pilot program, with Lane County and Marion County taking the lead on this traffic safety intervention. With Marion County’s emphasis on engineering improvements and Lane County’s emphasis on public education campaigns, both models proved to be highly successful.
Fatal and serious injury crashes were severely reduced along both county safety corridors. These successes are all the more impressive when compared to state wide crash data, which showed increases in fatal and serious injury crashes across the transportation system during the same timeframe.
The pilot program demonstrated that doubled traffic fines, in conjunction with road signs, outreach, and enforcement, led to short-term successes on two stretches of county roadway that had a high incidence of fatal and serious injury crashes.
We are excited that this lifesaving and practical tool will now be available to all Oregon counties as a standing fixture in state law.
Contributed by: Jordan Cole | Policy Analyst
Photo credit: New safety corridor in place by ODOT/ CC by 2.0.
Feb 28, 2024 | OACES
In early February, the Joint Committee on Transportation (JCT) released a 2024-25 Beginning Conversation Draft Action Plan for the development of the expected 2025 State Transportation Funding Package. The document included the following tentative dates* for a statewide listening tour in the 2024 interim. AOC encourages you to save-the-date for your area meeting and be prepared to testify on behalf of your county’s local road, bridge, and transportation needs and priorities.
*Please Note: the schedule is tentative, and the committee has yet to schedule any official listening tour dates.
County road project tour suggestions: If your county has a project or particular facility that would convey county road needs to the legislature, please click here to fill out a short survey and help AOC compile a list of tour options.
As the listening tour dates approach, the AOC County Road Program and Oregon Association of County Engineers and Surveyors (OACES) will be providing additional suggested talking points, statewide county road needs data, and individual county road priorities one-pagers, to help your county share its needs effectively with the legislature.
JCT Listening Tour – Tentative Dates and Locations:
- Wednesday, April 17: Tillamook or Astoria (Tillamook County Fairgrounds)
- Thursday, May 2: Klamath Falls
- Wednesday, May 15: Coos Bay (SW Oregon Community College, Coos Bay City Hall)
- Wednesday, May 29: Woodburn or Albany (Woodburn H.S., Linn Benton C.C.)
- Wednesday, June 12: Burns or Ontario (Malheur County Commission Chambers)
- Thursday, June 13: Baker City or Pendleton (Baker City Armory, Blue Mountain C.C.)
- Friday, June 28: Eugene (University of Oregon)
- Tuesday, July 16: Medford or Grants Pass (Medford City Hall, Medford Public Library)
- Thursday, July 25: Bend or Redmond (Bend Senior Center, OSU Cascades, Fair & Expo Center)
- Thursday, August 15: Beaverton or Hillsboro (Washington County Commission)
- Other possible cities to visit as alternative / additions include: The Dalles / Hood River, Roseburg
County Roads Resources:
Legislative and ODOT Resources:
