Governor Kotek Calls for Special Session to Address Transportation System Emergency

Salem, OR — Governor Tina Kotek announced today that she is using her constitutional authority to call a special session of the Oregon Legislature to begin on Friday, August 29, 2025, for lawmakers to take up legislation to pay for basic road maintenance and operations at the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), as well as address funding needs for local governments and transit districts.

Governor Kotek stated:

“In the weeks since the adjournment of the legislative session, my team and I have worked every day with legislators, local partners, and key stakeholders to zero in on a solution and a timeline for the legislature to come back together and address the state’s most immediate transportation needs. Oregonians rely on these basic services, from brush clearing to prevent wildfires to snow plowing in winter weather, and they are counting on their elected representatives to deliver adequate and stable funding.

“At the same time, ODOT acted prudently in the absence of this funding, initiating a first wave of layoffs on July 7 while also working to reduce the impact to basic services as much as possible. Subsequently, with the agreement of legislative leadership and with a plan for a special session now in place, I have directed ODOT to postpone the start date of layoffs for an additional 45 days, allowing impacted staff more time to make contingency plans for their livelihoods and their families.

“I am confident that lawmakers will step up next month to avert these layoffs by approving the necessary funding for the state’s transportation needs. I appreciate their partnership and am eager to be on the other side of this crisis.”

The Governor’s priority is to deliver needed funding for the state highway trust fund for the 2025-27 biennium and continue the state’s commitment to revenue sharing with local governments. A funded ODOT budget will halt pending layoffs and maintain operations at maintenance facilities scheduled for closure. In addition, her goal is to forestall immediate impacts to transit service through increasing the amount of funding available to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund.

The Governor also believes that key provisions related to ratepayer fairness, funding reliability, and agency accountability must be included in the solution.

“The special session will be focused on critical near-term solutions to stabilize basic functions at ODOT and local governments,” Governor Kotek continued. “This is just the first step of many that must be taken to meet our state’s long-term transportation needs.”

Following the adjournment of the 2025 legislative session, which concluded without sufficient resources to fund ODOT’s budget, the agency initiated 483 of an estimated 600 to 700 total layoffs. Absent legislative action to preserve Oregon’s transportation services, a second wave of layoffs, pending any unpredictable winter weather, is planned for early 2026.

This article appears in Source Weekly July 17, 2025.