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On the Senate Floor this morning, Mid-Multnomah County’s Senator Frank Shields introduced Senate Joint Resolution 32. If approved by voters, SJR 32 would allow the gas tax and other revenue dedicated to transportation to be partially used to fund K-12 education.
While the legislature cut approximately 20% from the K-12 education budget during five special sessions last year, spending on transportation actually increased by $56 million. This happened because Article IX of the Oregon Constitution requires that all funds raised by the state gas tax, the weight mile tax paid by trucks, vehicle registration fees, and certain other funds may only be spent on highways.
“It’s a question of fundamental fairness. How can we justify increasing funding for transportation when we’re making life and death cuts to other programs?” Shields said. “We can never fix the damage that we do to a child when that child is robbed of her education.”
Shields’ colleagues have suggested that gas tax revenue should also be available to fund Human Services, a concept that Senator Shields supports.
Shields acknowledged that cutting transportation funding would inconvenience many Oregonians. “There are many important projects that I’d like to see ODOT fund. I wish we had the money to pay for everything, but if we aren’t going to raise taxes, then we have to cut somewhere. I’m not willing to sit by while Education and Human Services take the whole hit.” Shields continued, “The governor may be right that to simply go back to voters and ask for approval of a tax increase would be a ‘fool’s errand.’ But if we aren’t going to do that, then we have to do something. Some highway maintenance can be deferred until the economy picks up. A child’s education cannot.”
“If it’s up to me, I’m willing to close a bridge before I close a school. I’m willing to drive over a lot of potholes on I-5, before I throw a single patient out of a nursing home,” Senator Shields told his colleagues in the Senate. For more information on SJR 32, contact Sen. Frank Shields’ office at 503-986-1724.
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