SALEM, OR -- Oregon State Senator Mark Hass (D-Beaverton) says he's not surprised at the failure of Measure 97, the tax on large corporations opposed by voters in the general election. He says it had too many flaws.

Hass says the state still faces a massive hole in the budget and lawmakers need to find a solution. "If we don’t do something, we’re choosing to keep the system we have now. Which, not only doesn’t work very well, but in the coming year it’s going to mean some pretty serious cuts to education funding, which is about half of the state general fund budget."

He says 97's failure could help move the process of change forward. "Maybe that fight got us closer to where we need to go to do something reasonable about trying to fix one of the most volatile tax codes in the country."

Hass proposed a compromise similar to M97, but with a tax that was 1/10 the sized. There wasn't enough Legislative support last session to move it forward. Governor Brown says she'll meet with several groups before the end of the year to come up with a proposal the Legislature can consider.