I really doubt the Democratic (supermajority ) Oregon legislature is cribbing from ALEC (GOP’s organization targeting state legislation)
The ALEC sample bill you linked is attempting to get rid of EV tax credits. Oregon is not.
This change in registration fees is part of the Keep Oregon Moving transportation package passed in 2017. That bill:
- Increased the gas tax 31%
- ADDED a $2,500 Oregon EV rebate + another $2,500 EV rebate for low to moderate income households. The low income rebate even applies to used EVs. (Note this is a rebate not a tax credit so everyone that qualifies gets the full amount)
- Added congestion charging for Portland
- Increased spending on public transportation
- These are not Republican objectives.
This also has nothing to do with trucking. Commercial vehicles already have their own registration fees, flat fees, and weight / mile fees. A fully loaded Class 8 truck pays $0.215 per mile in Oregon on top of registration and fuel taxes.
I agree that registration fees should only include the cost to register the vehicle and adding flat fees to raise additional money is a poor way of collecting taxes. I also see no reason we should exclude people driving EVs from their obligation to help pay for the roads they drive one. Registration fees are a poor solution to the problem but the problem still exists. Personally, I believe a fee per mile road tax is not only fair but solves the problem of decreasing gasoline tax revenue while infrastructure costs continue to increase.
That said the transportation bill as a whole was a win. EV owners paying an extra $110 per year to register their cars isn’t the end of the world especially when the state is giving that owner $2,500 up front to buy the car. They also have the option to enroll in OReGO and pay $0.017 per mile instead of the extra $110 registration fee. Drive less than 6500 mile per year and it is cheaper to pay per mile.
Portland’s population increased by 1 million people in the past 35 years and is projected to add another million in the next 30. Our transportation infrastructure is woefully inadequate today. We will need massive investment in the coming decades (especially in public transportation) if we have in hope of even maintaining the status quo.