Governor Tina Kotek signed a new state transportation funding package into law on Monday, more than a month after the Oregon Legislature passed the bill during a dramatic, extended special session. Later that day, two state legislators and an anti-tax advocate filed a petition with the state in hopes of sending a referendum on the bill’s tax increases to Oregon voters.

The transportation funding bill, House Bill 3991, is expected to raise about $4.3 billion over the next decade to fund statewide transportation maintenance and operations. Without the funding, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) says it would have to lay off hundreds of employees, and cut crucial services including winter snowplowing on state highways. City and county governments would also lose out on transporta

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