Personal Choice: TriMet has the authority to impose an excise tax on certain employers' gross payrolls by ordinance. Another bill currently being considered by the Legislature, SB 1521, would extend that authority to include an excise tax on the employees of the same companies. In short, as amended, this bill, together with SB 1521, will give TriMet everything it needs to self-fund the Columbia River Crossing without the consent of taxpayers.
Limited Government: The original bill has been heavily modified by Amendment A, which removed all reference to Hwy 35 and the Hood River Bridge. Section 1 now changes maximum weight limitations of ORS 818 to allow a vehicle to exceed the limitation by up to 2,000 pounds if the vehicle uses natural gas as its fuel source. Section 2 of the bill now amends ORS 267.300 to allow new transit district revenue sources and new expenditures for those revenues.
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