Championing the People’s Voice on Tax Policy: Oregon Representative Ed Diehl
"What I get from ALEC is just great policy ideas."
At the recent ALEC States and Nation Policy Summit, Oregon Representative Ed Diehl sat down with host Jay Hamilton to discuss the campaign to stop a $4.3 billion transportation tax increase.
“During our regular session, the governor tried to push through a massive transportation tax and fee package,” Rep. Diehl explained. “She struggled with it, and ended up calling an emergency session later this year and basically rammed this thing through…[against] overwhelming public opposition where 95% of the testimony was opposed to this thing.”
This sparked the call to stop the increase through the referendum process. Diehl explained how an all-volunteer team collected double the number of signatures needed to refer the issue to voters.
“In the span of 7 days, we hit our target goal of signatures,” Diehl emphasized. “In the span of about 11 days, we exceeded over 150,000 signatures. At this point, we have double the number of signatures that we need. It’s unprecedented for an all-volunteer team.”
The referendum will now head to the ballot to be voted on in the 2026 elections.
The conversation later turned to Diehl’s experiences with ALEC.
“What I get from ALEC is just great policy ideas,” he noted. “It’s frustrating to even get a hearing on good ALEC policy in the Oregon Legislature, but we have and we continue to bring it.”