Merkley touts American Rescue Plan benefits for Oregon hermistonherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hermistonherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
ODOT using $124 million in federal relief funds to shore up work amid lost revenue
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) The Oregon Transportation Commission on Thursday approved spending $124 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding provided by Congress at the end of 2020 for Oregon roads.
Recognizing that gas tax revenue for roads declined as people have stayed home during the pandemic, Congress provided $10 billion in relief funding for roads nationwide.
The federal money can be used for both construction projects and operations and maintenance activities, such as plowing snow, patching potholes and carrying out other activities, by the Oregon Department of Transportation and local governments to keep roads safe and open to traffic.
New Timber Taxes Proposed, Industry Says They Can’t Afford Them
March 10, 2021
In 1991, the Oregon state legislature passed a measure reducing what was known as the “severance tax,” which collected revenue from logging companies for trees cut on privately owned land. This was intended to reduce the hardship which companies said they were suffering from the reduction in the amount of logging they were able to do on land owned by the state and federal governments as a result of measures taken to protect wildlife. Timber companies warned that if they were not given this tax relief, they were in danger of bankruptcy.
NACo: Federal Public Lands Counties Applaud Direct Aid In The American Rescue Plan Act
NACo News:
WASHINGTON The National Association of Counties (NACo) Saturday welcomed inclusion of a new program to provide additional direct aid to public lands counties as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
Sixty-two percent of America’s counties contain untaxable federal public lands, yet counties are still responsible for providing many services in and around these lands.
The Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund, spearheaded by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), will provide $1.5 billion in direct, flexible aid to public lands counties over the next two years, in addition to the American Rescue Plan Act’s $65.1 billion county aid package.
Wyden Gets Modified County Payments Program Into COVID-19 Relief Bill ijpr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ijpr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.