Oregon Public Broadcasting

On Monday Governor Ted Kulongoski is scheduled to unveil his transportation package for the next legislature. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, political analysts expect it to contain a tax increase.

At the depth of Oregon’s last recession, the legislature passed a transportation package in 2003.

Lawmakers spent $2.5 billion on roads and bridges -- keeping about 4400 people employed until the year 2013.

The governor’s spokeswoman, Anna Richter Taylor, says he wants to pass a similar plan to further stimulate Oregon’s economy.

Anna Richter Taylor: “The governor believes that investing in our transportation system is the strongest stimulus tool available to us during this current economic downturn, because it creates jobs, it keeps products moving efficiently through the state, and it helps local businesses keep their doors open.”

Richter Taylor could not say where the money for such a plan would come from, only that the governor wants to provide adequate infrastructure revenues on a continued basis, rather than infusing a lump sum whenever there’s a recession.