State Sen. Bruce Starr (R-Dundee) returns to the Oregon Legislature this session after about a decade away.
He lost his reelection bid in a close race in 2014. He replaces former Republican Sen. Brian Boquist who was unable to return to the legislature after the 2023 GOP walkout.
Funding a transportation package is a key issue for lawmakers this year. Starr worked on a bipartisan transportation effort in 2009 and serves as a co-vice chair of the joint committee on transportation during the current session. He joins us to share more on his priorities.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. Bruce Starr has a unique vantage point on Oregon politics. The Republican served in the state legislature from 1999 through 2014, with two terms in the House and three in the Senate. Then came a kind of exile from Salem after he lost his reelection bid in 2014. Now he’s back. He was elected once again to the state Senate. He represents rural Polk and Yamhill counties. Bruce Starr, welcome back to Think Out Loud.
Bruce Starr: Hey, glad to be here.
Miller: What’s it like to be back in Salem?
Starr: In some ways it’s like I never left, and other ways it’s like, wow, this place has changed a lot.
Miller: I’m most interested in the changes. What have you noticed?
Starr: Well, there’s, there’s very little paper. That’s a big difference and probably on the positive side. But the things that haven’t changed – relationships matter. And the relationships, I think in this process are really, really important. That hasn’t changed.
Miller: How are relationships right now, and I’m thinking in particular, with the other side of the aisle? Maybe this is more about D.C., but I’ve heard it in Salem as well, that people talk about the “good old days,” when lawmakers would meet for drinks or meals and hang out. And for years, I’ve heard that this happened in the past and doesn’t happen now. It seems like the time period is always shifting when the “good old days” were, but how much does that happen now?
Starr: Well, one of the challenges that we face at the current time and space is the fact that the Capitol building is under construction, and there isn’t really a location where Republicans and Democrats in the building, House members and Senate members in the building, can join together like we used to.
We would have lunches, breakfast together in the building. That space doesn’t exist, so you have to be way more intentional about reaching across the aisle and meeting with people. I will tell you that, historically, the opportunity to go out to dinner because a member of the lobby invited you, and you might invite a Democrat and a Republican for an opportunity to spend some time informally … it’s a lot more difficult for that to occur than it has historically. But having said all of that, as we bridge that partisan divide, I think you just have to be way more intentional about it now.
Miller: What are your priorities for this session?
Starr: Well, honestly, I’m right back in the middle of a big transportation conversation. Historically, in my previous service, I focused on transportation policy from 1999, when I started, through the end of my time in the legislature, having my hand in transportation policy. And we’re right back in the middle of that, now.
The last major transportation funding package that came through the process was in 2017 and we’ve got some challenges as it relates to the implementation of that particular piece of legislation. Then, we’ve got a department that is challenged on the funding side. So, what’s my goal? My goal is to help to provide some leadership as it relates to unraveling some of those questions, and hopefully finding a path through that really gets a department that’s back to basics, that focuses on core mission and provides some transparency, not only to legislators but to the public.
Miller: You are the co-vice chair of the Joint Transportation Committee, if I’m not mistaken. If you really break this down simply, it’s what the money should be spent on and where the money, the revenue, will actually come from. Let’s do that second part first, because as you know well, and as our listeners have heard over the years, ODOT is not alone in having a pretty serious structural problem with revenue right now with a whole bunch of things … but chief among them, inflation. Meaning, it just costs more to lay down a new road or to fix a bridge, and flattening revenue from gas taxes because, nationwide, fuel efficiency has gone up. What do you see as the best way going forward to pay for transportation projects?
Starr: Well, I’ve told folks that everything’s on the table. We’re not getting away from gasoline-powered vehicles anytime soon. I think the most recent number I’ve seen is about 100,000 vehicles in the state right now are all-electric, out of, I think, 3 million or 2.5 million total. So, the all-electric, it’s a small component. So we’re not gonna go away from the fuel tax, the gas tax that Oregonians pay.
I think the key, really, is to ensure that Oregonians are getting the most bang for their current dollar, and making sure that those dollars are being spent effectively and efficiently. For instance, ODOT doesn’t control, the leadership at the department don’t control the negotiations as it relates to the public employee contracts. The governor recently renegotiated those contracts with state employees and it cost Oregon taxpayers, through their state highway fund, $91 million. So that’s $91 million in raises and benefit increases to state employees; $91 million is not going to projects. That’s just one example of the challenge that we’re faced with.
So, my sense is that, as we look at how we solve this problem, our gas tax is going to be part of it, most likely. Are we going to increase fees for electric vehicles? I believe that’s gonna be the case. At this point, individuals that are driving those expensive Teslas out there are not paying their fair share of highway chart costs, so fairness is something that we have to keep an eye on.
Miller: How much faith do you have in ODOT itself right now? I asked this in the context of recent reporting from the Statesman Journal that looked into a report and audit of that agency; an audit that came later than we had initially been told it would. There’s a lot of data there, but the short version, as I understand it, is the agency hasn’t even always known where the money was going. And now the question is, how much more money will you give them? I’m curious what you would want to see in terms of accountability?
Starr: You’ve really hit the nail on the head. All of us read the reporting and it is unfortunate that we are in a place where we’re having to question the credibility of the Department of Transportation. As I look at it going forward, I believe we really need to do – and it’s difficult and time-consuming – a line-by-line justification for how ODOT is spending existing resources.
And before I go to my constituents in Yamhill and Polk County, and say, “oh yeah, I want you to pay more at the pump through a gas tax,” or, “your fees are gonna go up because you’re driving an electric car,” I want to make sure that every dollar that the department is spending is being spent efficiently and effectively, and it’s on core mission.
And for me, the core mission is making sure that bridges and roads in our state are safe for people to drive on, and that the pavement’s in good order. Those are our mission, making sure that our transportation system efficiently and effectively moves people and freight. If it’s not related to core mission … in a perfect world when there’s lots of money, maybe some of those things are nice to have. But it is a real challenge right now as we look at how we navigate this conversation going forward, based on the performance or lack of performance coming out of the passage of House Bill 2017, in 2017.
Miller: Democrats now have narrow, but real, supermajorities in both chambers, meaning they don’t need Republican votes to pass tax increases. What leverage do you feel like you have right now, as a Republican member of the state Senate?
Starr: That’s a really good point. In theory, you’re correct, the Democrats could, with 18 votes in the Senate that they have, if they could get all 18 members and all 36 Democrat members in the House, they could pass a 20-cent gas tax, and Republicans have virtually nothing to say about it. That typically is not how transportation policy has been made, historically. Historically, it’s been a very bipartisan, almost non-partisan conversation.
I’ve been assured by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, co-chair Gorsek and co-chair Rep. McLain in the House, that they are committed to a bipartisan process. So, taking those members and my colleagues at their word, that we have a seat at the table. I think accountability is the watchword of the day, but accountability by whom and for what?
It’s a Democrat governor who runs the executive branch, it’s Democrat legislators, majority, who run the legislative branch. Can the legislative branch flex its independence in our three branches of government, and really hold the executive branch and the Department of Transportation and their leadership to account? That remains to be seen, to be quite honest. I would love to see the legislative branch, basically say, “Hey, we’re legislators, we’re here representing the people. We’re going to make sure that every tax dollar that Oregonians generously send to Salem is spent to the best and most effective use possible.” I’m hopeful that it will occur.
As it relates to having a seat at the table, I’m only granted that seat at the table because the majority has given that seat. I’m gonna use the position that I have as effectively as I possibly can, to help to navigate and direct some of this accountability stuff at the department.
Miller: Bruce Starr, thanks very much.
Starr: I appreciate the opportunity.
Miller: Bruce Starr is a Republican state Senator from Dundee. He represents rural Polk and Yamhill counties – that’s District 12.
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