Post by Logan on Jul 8, 2016 9:29:34 GMT -6
Kate Brown to lawmakers: a repeal of Oregon's low-carbon fuels law is off limits in transportation talks
As a committee of Oregon lawmakers tours the state this summer in an effort to build support for a possible 2017 transportation-funding package, there's one topic Gov. Kate Brown asked them to avoid: a repeal of the state's low-carbon fuel law.
Brown made her expectation clear at a May 4 invitation-only meeting of lawmakers, lobbyists and business executives in Portland, where she said a repeal of the state's low-carbon fuel law was off the table, according to drafts of her prepared remarks released by the governor's office and people who attended the meeting.
Republicans in the Legislature had insisted during similar negotiations in 2015 on a repeal of the law — which they described as a second gas tax, because it could raise costs by up to 19 cents a gallon — in exchange for any transportation bill that raised the state's gas tax.
Brown's pronouncement hasn't stopped Republicans from talking about a repeal or modification of the fuel standard before any wider transportation deal can be worked out. But the political calculus on the Republican side of the aisle to reach a deal could be shifting, regardless.
Read more: www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/07/kate_brown_to_lawmakers_a_repe.html
As a committee of Oregon lawmakers tours the state this summer in an effort to build support for a possible 2017 transportation-funding package, there's one topic Gov. Kate Brown asked them to avoid: a repeal of the state's low-carbon fuel law.
Brown made her expectation clear at a May 4 invitation-only meeting of lawmakers, lobbyists and business executives in Portland, where she said a repeal of the state's low-carbon fuel law was off the table, according to drafts of her prepared remarks released by the governor's office and people who attended the meeting.
Republicans in the Legislature had insisted during similar negotiations in 2015 on a repeal of the law — which they described as a second gas tax, because it could raise costs by up to 19 cents a gallon — in exchange for any transportation bill that raised the state's gas tax.
Brown's pronouncement hasn't stopped Republicans from talking about a repeal or modification of the fuel standard before any wider transportation deal can be worked out. But the political calculus on the Republican side of the aisle to reach a deal could be shifting, regardless.
Read more: www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/07/kate_brown_to_lawmakers_a_repe.html