Oregon education professionals understand that our students depend on safe, reliable transportation to get to and from school every day, to ensure they arrive safely and ready to learn and grow. That’s why Oregon’s education unions are asking for a YES on Measure 120.
"Safe transportation is not a luxury for Oregon's students, it's the first step to getting an education." -Enrique Farrera, OEA President
For schools and education employees, reliable transportation is more than a convenience — it’s a foundation for success. School buses must operate on safe roads to ensure students arrive on time, especially in rural and underserved areas. Teachers, school staff, and support professionals rely on well-maintained roads and transit options to reach schools every day.
Measure 120 provides stable, long-term funding to maintain and improve Oregon’s transportation system. This includes safer streets around schools, better-maintained roads for buses, and stronger public transit that helps students, families, and educators get to school and work reliably.
Investing in transportation is an investment in education. Safe, reliable roads and transit help students get to school, teachers get to classrooms, and allow staff provide essential services that make learning possible. Tens of thousands of educators and educational support professionals encourage all Oregonians to vote YES on Measure 120 to protect students, support educators, and strengthen the communities where we live and learn.
Oregon Education Association
Oregon School Employees Association
American Federation of Teachers – Oregon
(This information furnished by Elvyss Argueta, Oregon Education Association.)
Measure 120 Means Investing in Oregon’s Workers, Infrastructure, and Climate Future
The Oregon Blue Green Alliance is a coalition of labor, environmental, and community organizations working towards creating good jobs, while protecting our environment. There is a clear nexus between worker and environmental justice in transportation. Oregon's transportation system can help reduce our carbon footprint while providing good, family wage jobs for a skilled workforce. This requires a sustainable funding source presented to voters in Measure 120. We urge you to vote yes to fund Oregon's transportation system.
Our member labor unions represent thousands of transportation, construction, and public sector workers. We know that strong infrastructure requires a strong workforce with the resources to do the job right. For years, we've seen the opposite, with hundreds of critical positions going vacant without the funding to fill them. This spiral is not sustainable, and road users see the results every day in the form of crumbling infrastructure and delayed response times to accidents.
Voting YES on Measure 120 will protect family-wage union jobs, strengthen our transportation workforce, and ensure Oregon has the people and resources needed to maintain safe roads, reliable transit, and essential public services for years to come.
Oregon's transportation challenges are climate challenges that impact communities in all four corners of our state. We need a statewide funding plan that supports every community's ability to maintain safe roads, enhance low-carbon transit options, and keep essential services running.
This transportation funding package also advances Oregon's commitment to maintaining our natural resources and promoting clean, healthy communities across our state. Investments in public transit, allocations to local counties, and resources for multimodal transportation alternatives are essential to creating the Oregon we want to pass on to our children.
Measure 120 prioritizes environmental sustainability and the workforce who maintains our transportation infrastructure.
Vote YES on Measure 120.
Oregon Blue Green Alliance
(This information furnished by Felisa A Hagins, SEIU Oregon.)
Oregon’s unions are asking you to Vote YES on Measure 120 for safe roads, connected communities and good jobs.
Measure 120 will:
We all deserve to feel safe as we travel across our beautiful state. From Beaverton to Brookings and Medford to Malheur, everyone wants to get from Point A to Point B and not have to worry about whether our roads will be maintained or even open at all.
The last few years have seen hundreds of essential positions within ODOT go vacant without funding to fill them. Maintenance crews have been decimated, in many cases leaving just a couple of people responsible for hundreds of lane miles of roads. The threat of additional layoffs has caused hundreds of workers to leave ODOT to find a stable paycheck to provide for their families. All this while our infrastructure deteriorates, response times to emergencies go up, and roads become less safe.
Without this funding, we’re all going to see more potholes, crumbling bridges, and more frequent road closures.
That’s why Oregon’s labor movement is asking you to vote YES on Measure 120.
Unions saying YES are:
OR Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
Oregon AFSCME
Association of Engineering Employees of Oregon
LIUNA Oregon - Oregon & Southern Idaho District Council of Laborers
SEIU 503
(This information furnished by Catie Theisen, Oregon Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.)
33,000 Miles of Roads Need Maintenance
Counties across Oregon are responsible for the primary maintenance of over 33,000 miles of roads, infrastructure, and in some cases, transit. Years of underinvestment have resulted in potholes, crumbling bridges, and reduced public transportation services. County road departments statewide have been forced to make major staff reductions for decades. Between 1995 and 2017, the county workforce fell by 24%, or 485 positions. Today, we operate at roughly 80% of the staff needed to maintain Oregon’s roads and bridges. When the Oregon Legislature passed a pared-down transportation funding bill last year, we saw a way to safer travel. We urge voters to preserve that essential funding by voting YES on Measure 120. This package preserves the state’s allocation of 30% of essential State highway funding for counties.
To deliver the quality services our residents depend on, we need safe, well-maintained infrastructure. Emergency response, public safety, waste collection, are counting on Oregonians to VOTE YES on Measure 120.
Oregon’s transportation crisis is a statewide problem that impacts all 36 counties and every community. That’s why we need a statewide funding solution that ends years of kicking the can down the road. Alone, the counties simply don’t have the tools or the jurisdiction to tackle this problem independently.
For three decades, counties have been forced to make difficult decisions: reducing road maintenance crews, delaying key safety improvements, and cutting routine maintenance. Without stable long-term revenue, counties will continue to make deeper service and staffing cuts. This will increase the number of accidents and further deteriorate our ability to respond.
Oregon voters have an opportunity to finally fix our transportation system. We urge you to Vote YES On Measure 120 to maintain our most basic public infrastructure.
Kathryn Harrington, Chair, Washington County Commission
Pat Malone Benton County Chair
Nancy Wyse, Benton County Commissioner
Benton County Commissioner Gabe Shepherd
Phil Chang Deschutes County Commissioner
Laurie Trieger Lane County Commissioner
(This information furnished by Susan Allen, Oregon AFSCME.)
Reliable Frequent Transit Matters
Oregonians depend on a transportation system that provides clean, reliable ways to get where we need to go. Public transit is one of the most effective tools we have to reduce pollution, cut climate emissions, and make transportation more affordable and accessible. Decades of underinvestment have weakened our transportation system and put transit service at risk in communities across the state. Voters should protect a long-term transportation solution by voting YES on Measure 120.
Strong, stable transportation funding is essential to preserving and expanding public transit. The lack of ongoing funding has created an environment of scarcity, with transit advocates pitted against other road users while cuts have impacted every community in Oregon. We all deserve better.
Buses, light rail, and regional transit connections move hundreds of thousands of Oregonians every day while producing far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than individual car trips. When transit systems are reliable and frequent, more people choose them—reducing congestion, lowering emissions, and helping Oregon meet its climate goals. But when funding is unstable, transit agencies are forced to cut routes, reduce service, and raise fares, making it harder for riders to get to jobs, school, health care, and other essential destinations.
Right now, transportation systems across Oregon are preparing substantial cuts to the essential services so many of us rely on to get where we need to go. This is a death spiral for public transit, but we have a way out. Measure 120 will provide the stable funding we need to have safe roads and public transit systems that reflect the needs of communities across our state.
If Oregon wants to move forward, we need to invest in a multi-modal system that provides different communities with the resources to identify transportation solutions that make sense for their unique needs. This requires sustainable funding to build a sustainable future. Please vote YES on Measure 120.
Oregon Transit Association
Amalgamated Transit Union
(This information furnished by Felisa A Hagins, SEIU Oregon.)
LOCAL ROADS AND BRIDGES NEED REPAIR
As mayors we know how essential transportation is to the health, safety, and economic vitality of cities. Safe roads, reliable transit, and well-maintained bridges are the backbone of our local economies and the foundation of opportunity for working families.
When transportation funding is unstable, cities are forced to delay critical maintenance: like filling potholes, replacing foglines and guardrails, scale back safety improvements, and postpone projects that support housing and job growth. Emergency response time increases. Congestion worsens. Bus service becomes less reliable. The burden falls hardest on working people, seniors, and students who rely on safe, affordable ways to get to work, school, and medical appointments.
Oregon’s cities depend on a partnership with the state and county governments. State transportation investments help cities leverage federal dollars, plan responsibly, and deliver projects efficiently. Without predictable funding, cities face impossible choices: raise local taxes and fees, cut other essential services, or allow infrastructure to deteriorate further.
Investing in transportation is not just about concrete and asphalt. It is about public safety, economic development, and our ability to keep highways and roads safe and clear as we see more extreme weather conditions. It supports local businesses, connects rural communities to vital services and regional markets, and ensures first responders can reach people quickly in emergencies - to save lives. Functional transportation systems create family-wage jobs and strengthen supply chains that keep Oregon competitive nationally and globally.
Vote YES on Measure 120 to preserve essential transportation funding for communities like ours across the state. Our residents deserve safe streets, reliable transit, and infrastructure that reflect the strength and promise of Oregon. We stand united in calling for this transportation investment our communities need to thrive.
Mayor Lacey Beaty Beaverton
Mayor Malynda Wenzl Forest Grove
Mayor Lisa Batey Milwaukie
Mayor Keith Wilson Portland
Mayor Jim Akers City of Maywood Park
(This information furnished by Susan Allen, Oregon AFSCME.)
TRANSIT RIDERS UNITE
As a Portland City Councilor and a student who rides the bus to Portland State University, we know public transit is essential. We ride with workers commuting to jobs, students getting to class, parents traveling with their kids, seniors going to appointments, and neighbors trying to get where they need to go safely and affordably. For many Portlanders, transit is not a backup plan. It is a lifeline.
That is why we urge a YES vote on Measure 120.
Oregon depends on public transportation. Buses, MAX, and other transit connections help people get to work, school, health care, and everyday destinations without the high cost of owning a car. Transit also reduces congestion, cuts climate pollution, and helps make our city more accessible and connected. If we want an Oregon that is more affordable, more sustainable, and easier to get around, we need to invest in transit.
If this funding measure doesn’t pass, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is facing an $11 million shortfall. That could mean layoffs for about 50 staff, delays to safety projects, and reduced maintenance on the streets and infrastructure Portlanders rely on every day. TriMet is identifying service cuts to close a $300 million budget deficit. Our city isn't alone. Transportation systems across Oregon are facing cuts that threaten the service riders depend on.
When transit funding is unstable, riders feel it first. Service is cut, routes become less reliable, and costs become harder for working people and students to absorb. Those impacts are real, and they fall hardest on the people with the fewest options.
Measure 120 would help provide stable funding for transportation and transit so Portland can keep moving forward. It is an investment in safe streets, reliable service, and a city that works for the people who live here. We’re all on this bus together.
Angelita Morillo, Portland City Councilor & Transit Rider
Owen Swanson, PSU student & Transit Rider
(This information furnished by Felisa A Hagins, SEIU Oregon.)