our view

Sitting at the gas pump, watching the red digits siphon money out of our wallets, gives Oregon drivers a few moments of communal contemplation.

For most of us, those thoughts center around a single question: Why can’t I pump my own gas?

We dutifully sit there while the attendant scrambles from lane to lane, car to car, as though acting out Frogger — taking our orders, inserting our credit cards, punching our rewards numbers into the console, then — finally — unscrewing our gas cap and plunging the nozzle into the tank.

Then, once again, we wait — for the tank to fill, for the attendant to find time to squeeze out a few more pennies before uncoupling us from the pump and hand us a receipt … which we glance at quickly and sigh before crumpling it into a wad and tossing it into the back seat.

The eternal impatience of those few minutes filling up has once again come before the Oregon Legislature as House Bill 2426, which promotes a modified approach that would give drivers statewide the choice to do it themselves at the pump — an option already in practice in more than half the counties in the state since 2015.

“Is this the most important issue that we are going to address in the 2023 legislative session?” State Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, asked during a hearing at the statehouse last week.

“It is not. It’s not even in the top 20 issues. But I believe it is our job as legislators to be responsive to what the people we represent want,” she said.

Supporters point to surveys that show 68% of Oregonians would like the option of having self-service.

They also point to instances the past three years where restrictions were lifted during wildfires and heat waves.

A similar bill ran out of gas in committee a year ago because there was not enough support to change a law on the books for more than 70 years. Opponents cite safety concerns and the loss of jobs as reasons for not wanting the change.

HB 2426 would designate that half the pumps in Jackson County and surrounding areas be designated for assisted service, for those drivers who will continue to prefer, or need, help filling the tank.

In that way, supporters stress, stations can continue to employ attendants, who theoretically would have to do less hopscotching between cars.

It’s unlikely that those of us who dare exit the car to do the deed ourselves would pay less than those who remain seated, unaffected by weather and cranky pump handles.

While Oregon does see its gas prices affected by labor costs, its status as one of the most-expensive states in the country to fill up — sixth-highest prices as of last week — has more to do with taxes (10th highest nationally) and geography (most of the states atop the price list are in the West).

HB 2426’s choose-your-own-adventure model seems like a common sense approach to ending one of the more vexing examples of government control over our everyday lives.

At the very least, it has the added benefit from removing Oregon from a list whose only other member is … shudder … New Jersey.