Local leaders map out a future after transportation bill dies 

For Lane County communities, the 2025 legislative session ended with a mix of successes and disappointments.

Like their counterparts throughout Oregon, local transportation officials are regrouping after the Legislature failed to get enough votes to pass a massive transportation bill. That proposal, which died, would have raised the fuel tax and other fees to update and maintain roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure.

In other areas, though, bills crossed the finish line before Friday’s final day of the session. Lawmakers passed a bill to fund behavioral health residential projects that could benefit the region. The planned Lane Stabilization Center is also slated to get state funding. And bills to make zoning and siting easier for psychiatric hospitals and housing also passed. They still await Gov. Tina Kotek’s signature.

Here’s a look at some of the local impacts of the legislative session:

Transportation 

Lawmakers failed to pass a $14.6 billion transportation package – as well as a pared-down one with an $11.7 billion price tag.

Supporters said the measure was needed so the state could continue to maintain roads and aging infrastructure amid rising inflation and inadequate fuel-tax revenues. Opponents said the proposed fuel tax increase — up 10 cents initially in 2026 — was too much. The state’s current gasoline tax is 40 cents a gallon and some cities – including Eugene, Springfield and Cottage Grove — have local gasoline taxes on top of that.

Eugene’s is 5 cents a gallon. For Springfield and Cottage Grove, it’s 3 cents a gallon.

In Eugene, the state gasoline tax provides the city with nearly $14 million a year for transportation needs. That pays for maintaining roads, streetlights, traffic signals, signs and striping. It also covers capital projects like replacing old traffic signals and provides matching funds for grants.

The needs remain high. The city has an annual operating deficit for those activities of $750,000, and it’s expected to grow to $4.5 million a year by 2031 if no additional revenue comes in, Rob Inerfeld, Eugene’s transportation planning manager, said in a statement. 

“The greatest need for the city of Eugene is to fund operations and maintenance,” he said. “If the transportation package had passed, beyond funding the city’s basic operations and maintenance needs, there would be a process to determine how any additional funds would be programmed.”

The additional money could have gone to pay for transportation needs such as bridges, ramps to provide access for people with disabilities and sidewalk repairs, he said. For the next few years, the city projects it can use reserves and underspend in the transportation fund to maintain its current level of services, he said.

The transportation bill did not include any specific projects for Eugene.

Transit needs remain 

The failure of the transportation package means that state revenue for transit services will not increase.

The payroll tax for transit services also would have gone up from its rate of 0.1 percent, or one-tenth of 1 percent. Currently, it’s $4.17 a month for a person who earns $50,000 annually.

The bill would have increased the rate to 0.18 percent, bringing the total to $7.50 a month for a person with the $50,000 salary.

Transit officials, including those at the Lane Transit District, lobbied lawmakers for the increase as a way to gain sufficient stable funding amid inflation and uncertain federal funding during the Trump administration.

“For LTD, what it means is it’s continuing on business as normal, and really trying to operate and optimize what we have and keeping that going,” said Sam Kelly-Quattrocchi, the transit agency’s government relations manager.

The revenue freeze prevents the agency from expanding to reach more people.

“We’re also sort of in a holding pattern looking at what our funding options are going to look like,” Kelly-Quattrocchi said. “We don’t want to overspend and commit to things we can’t maintain.”

Behavioral health options grow

House Bill 2005 makes changes to the state’s civil commitment process — and cuts away some of the municipal zoning regulations around siting and developing psychiatric hospitals.

Specifically, the bill reduces the permitting and zoning requirements for psychiatric hospitals that are adjacent to stabilization centers. It aids in the work ahead for PeaceHealth, which is planning a psychiatric hospital adjacent to the Lane Stabilization Center in Springfield planned by Lane County.

“The state of Oregon as a whole, and Lane County in particular, desperately needs increased access to behavioral health care,” said Alicia Beymer, chief administrative officer at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. “We are excited to bring a proposed 96-bed inpatient behavioral health hospital to Springfield and co-locate it with the Lane Stabilization Center. The passage of this bill clears some of the hurdles needed to make this project a reality, a project that will fill a major gap in the way our community can care for those needing behavioral health treatment and support.”

The Lane Stabilization Center, which will serve as an emergency room for people in mental and addiction crises, also benefits from the session. Lawmakers included $14.6 million in the end-of-session funding bill for the project.

Other behavioral health

Other providers hope to reap benefits from other bills that passed.

Lawmakers passed House Bill 2059, which allocates $65 million statewide to increase behavioral health residential services.

Willamette Family Inc. has a “shovel-ready project” to develop in Lane County with 72 treatment beds, Willamette Family Executive Director Eva Williams wrote in a letter to lawmakers prior to passage.

The bill doesn’t identify specific projects, but the Willamette Family effort is an example of a project the money could help. The Oregon Health Authority would allocate the money.