Oregon

Oregon’s weight-per-mile system for trucks will increase under a $5.3 billion, 10-year bill Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed into law on Aug. 28.

Oregon’s most ambitious highway upgrades in a generation won final approval from the Legislature on July 6.

Oregon’s budget deficit is approaching $2 billion at the same time that its Department of Transportation says it needs another $545 million a year just to maintain the state’s roads and bridges.

The City Council in Portland, Oregon, will consider a four-year, heavy-vehicle use tax when it meets May 4, with a vote likely to come the following week. The tax would add 2.8% to the tax bills of trucking firms that have a Portland business license. Trucks already pay a weight-mile tax in Oregon, which doesn’t have a diesel fuel tax.