Proposal to raise lodging tax by 1% could bring in $30 million annually for wildlife protection

Yahoo

29-04-2025

The Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in April 2024. Visitors to the historic hotel pay a 1.5% lodging tax to fund Oregon's tourism commission. A proposal being considered by lawmakers would raise the tax 1% to help fund statewide conservation work. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Oregon lawmakers are considering a proposal to increase by 1% a state tax on hotel, camping and Airbnb stays that would raise up to $30 million a year for state wildlife conservation.
The proposal has garnered widespread support among hunting, fishing and conservation groups, who say the state has long underfunded species conservation programs at Oregon's Fish and Wildlife Department, leaving gamesmen, nonprofits and wealthy donors to fill the gaps. It's also received widespread opposition among local travel, tourism and restaurant associations, who say an increase in the tax will deter visitors and businesses from planning trips and hosting conferences and events in Oregon.
House Bill 2977 is one of several bills being considered this session that would add to or alter the state's 22-year-old transient lodging tax, which is currently 1.5% of the amount charged for occupying a hotel, short-term rentals like Airbnbs, and tent and RV camping sites.
Several other proposals in the Legislature would redirect some revenue from the tax — which generates about $40 million a year — to community infrastructure, roads, police and firefighters in tax districts that see the highest volume of tourists.
House Bill 2977, sponsored by state Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, and state Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, moved out of the House Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water committee in late March and awaits a public hearing in the House Revenue Committee. Because it's a proposal to raise a tax, it will need three-fifths of the Legislature to approve it.
The lodging tax currently funds statewide and local programs administered by the nine-member, governor-appointed Oregon Tourism Commission, also known as Travel Oregon, which promotes tourism across the state. At least 65% of the revenue by law must go to marketing and to statewide programs.
Helm said it makes sense to direct new lodging tax dollars to species and habitat conservation given the draw wildlife and healthy nature have for visitors to Oregon.
'To my mind, there's a perfect nexus between people who want to go out and recreate, hit the river, canoe, bike ride, hike, whatever it is, and then probably before they go home, whether it's they stay a few days or just one, they're going to have a meal, they may stay overnight,' he said.
Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife currently has to ask the Legislature every two years to find money from the general fund for its comprehensive wildlife strategy and habitat division, both of which are outside of the activities the agency can fund with hunting and fishing license fees and federal funds. Federal funds and licensing fees make up about 90% of the agency's budget.
'All natural resource agencies in total, all 14 of them, get about 2.7 percent, right now, of the General Fund,' Helm said. 'Break that down by agency, especially where the agency is fees-funded, like this one, and the general fund is de minimis.'
House Bill 2977 would establish a separate fund to support annual payments to Fish and Wildlife's habitat division and the state's Wildlife Action Plan, or Oregon Conservation Strategy.
The plan targets more than 200 species in the state that face the most urgent risk of endangerment or extinction from climate change and human pressure, and identifies key issues affecting them, key habitats they depend on, and lays out tools to begin helping them.
In the next few years, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife expects to add 70 species to the list of greatest conservation need, pushing it over 300 species for the first time, Davia Palmeri, strategic advisor and federal policy director at the agency told lawmakers at a hearing on the bill in February.
'Oregon hunters and anglers have long served as the financial backbone for conservation through license sales, excise taxes on gear and so on. And we probably lead the charge in funding,' Tristan Henry, Oregon field representative of the Washington D.C.- based Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, told lawmakers at the February hearing. 'However, as our wildlife management needs have grown more complex, it's become clear that broad-based, consistent funding is necessary, particularly for implementing the statewide wildlife action plan.'
More than 150 letters of testimony in support and more than 60 opposed were submitted prior to the hearing.
Among those in opposition are local travel and tourism associations in Salem, Lane County and Clackamas County, where officials fear a higher lodging tax will drive tourists and businesses away from planning trips or conferences in Oregon.
Andy Vobora, vice president of Travel Lane County, wrote in testimony that Eugene's reputation as 'Track Town USA' for hosting international track and field competitions and collegiate events could be jeopardized.
'Organizers have voiced concerns about rising lodging costs, a key factor influenced by lodging taxes. Last year, Travel Lane County facilitated a meeting with local hoteliers, the NCAA, and event organizers to discuss how best to accommodate visiting teams and individuals. The message was clear — cost sensitivity is a major concern,' he said.
Proponents of the bill argue that Oregon's state lodging tax is already one of the lowest in the nation — only Alaska and California have a lower lodging tax — and that healthy nature and wildlife are a big part of why tourists come to Oregon, supporting more than 200,000 jobs and billions in consumer spending. But opponents say that doesn't take into account how high lodging taxes get when local taxes are added in many parts of the state.
Bill Perry, president of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, told lawmakers at the February hearing that the local and state lodging tax combined in Portland makes it closer to a 16% tax.
'Boise is three points lower, Phoenix is three points lower. So you've got all these places that we're competing with that have lower rates. And so increasing these rates are going to make us increasingly non competitive,' he said.
Other proposals in the Legislature would also allow the state's lodging tax revenue to go beyond Travel Oregon programs and marketing, and be used for new purposes that support infrastructure in tourism-heavy communities.
Two bills proposed by state Sen, Suzanne Weber, R-Tillamook — Senate Bill 453 and Senate Bill 457 — direct the Legislature to study the permissible uses of the state lodging tax, including the possibility of allowing a larger proportion of those dollars to fund public safety programs for police and firefighters. Both bills have been sitting in the Senate Revenue and Finance committee, where they aren't subject to typical legislative decision-making deadlines.
House Bill 3325 would let Oregon tax districts that see the most tourists use some of the lodging tax for essential services, such as highway maintenance, parks, police, firefighters and public bathrooms. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Cyrus Javadi, R-Tillamook, and sitting in the House Revenue committee. Javadi and Weber are co-sponsoring an almost identical bill, House Bill 3556, that is also sitting in the Revenue Committee following a public hearing in March.
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