Good ideas can take years to become law. A prime example is the recently passed federal infrastructure bill, which will send billions of dollars to Oregon.

“This will deal with problems I’ve been talking about forever,” said Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Springfield.

Another example: It took 20 years for DeFazio to unlock the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, where billions of unspent tax dollars piled up. Last December, Congress finally acted. That money now will go to port maintenance in Oregon and other states, including badly needed dredging and jetty repairs.

State legislation can follow an equally torturous path, as good ideas – or bad ones, depending on your perspective – take years to gain momentum.

Such is the story of our vote-by-mail system, which was blocked at times by influential Democrats or Republicans, depending on which party held power. The 1981 Oregon Legislature approved the first test of mail balloting for local elections. However, it wasn’t until 1998, after a veto by Gov. John Kitzhaber and other legislative defeats, that Oregon voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure expanding vote-by-mail to all elections.

Why does public policy take so long? That is life in America. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1920, finally granting women the right to vote, but only after an effort that took nearly 100 years.

As society evolves, so do political and public sentiments. Some ideas need to marinate and achieve the appropriate balance, if there is one. Others linger almost on life support until opponents give up, move on or are outmaneuvered. Such was the fate of the Oregon School for the Blind in Salem after decades of discussion about its cost, educational approach and deteriorating facilities. Should it shut down? Should it be moved across town to the Oregon School for the Deaf campus?

As far back as the 1980s, closure-oriented legislators were no match for one watchful woman who resolutely lobbied against such talk. By 2009, the tide turned. Despite some residual opposition, the Legislature defunded the 137-year-old residential school, whose population had declined to about two dozen blind or visually impaired students. The school facilities occupied a prime site in central Salem adjacent to Salem Hospital, which then bought the property for expansion.

This year’s Legislature followed similar paths, passing policies that previously produced scant progress. With only 11 dissenting votes, legislators approved a rewrite of the official state song, “Oregon, My Oregon,” to eliminate language deemed racist. Rep. Sheri Schouten, D-Beaverton, was derided when she first raised the idea. Not this year as part of the national reckoning on racial justice.

Another instance is that departing Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, succeeded in undoing a 2005 law that required prescriptions to buy cold or allergy medications containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.

One of the most controversial bills this year, requiring safe storage of firearms and banning almost anyone from carrying them in the State Capitol, finally made it through the Legislature, albeit on a near party-line vote. Senate Bill 554 was anathema to gun-rights advocates, yet their subsequent efforts to refer the bill to voters fizzled. So did recall attempts against Republican senators accused of abetting the bill’s passage by not walking out.

As for DeFazio’s infrastructure legislation, he set the stage only to see some key parts watered down or discarded in negotiations among President Joe Biden’s administration, two recalcitrant Democratic senators and 10 Republican senators.

With Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in attendance, Biden signed the roughly $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on Monday. It has parts but not all of what DeFazio envisioned, especially in climate protections.

“This is not the bill I would have written,” DeFazio said in a Zoom press conference with journalists last Friday. “Good legislation takes time.”

During the tenure of President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat, DeFazio worked toward an even more ambitious infrastructure plan. DeFazio said the Obama administration killed it, fearing the federal gas tax might rise for the first time since 1993.

Subsequently, Republican President Donald Trump talked with DeFazio and others about a $2 trillion infrastructure package. Yet two weeks later, according to DeFazio, Trump said he wouldn’t work with Democrats if they were going to investigate him. Still, the House passed DeFazio’s INVEST in America Act, although it never became law.

Now that Oregon governments know the infrastructure money is on its way, some transportation, sewer, drinking water and other projects can get underway next year.

Oregonians won’t face higher federal gas taxes for that construction. But starting Jan. 1, they will pay 2 cents a gallon more in the state gas tax. That is part of the state’s transportation infrastructure package approved by the 2017 Legislature.

Through December, the state tax remains 36 cents per gallon, and the federal tax is 18.4 cents, for a total of 54.4 cents in taxes. Some Oregon cities and counties add a local tax, with Portland’s the highest at 10 cents.

A bottom ranking for Brown: Oregon has the least-popular governor in the nation, according to a ranking from Morning Consult. Credit goes to John Horvick of Portland-based DHM for spotting this.

Republican governors dominate the higher rankings. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott tops the chart with a 79% approval rating. At the other end is Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Brown at 43%. Scott, a Republican, does well because he has solid support among Democrats and independents in his state.

The rankings for Oregon’s neighboring governors are Gavin Newsom, D-California, 56%; Brad Little, R-Idaho, and Jay Inslee, D-Washington, both 55%; and Steve Sisolak, D-Nevada, 50%.

More legislative departures: On Thursday, two more state representatives announced they would not seek re-election next year – Jack Zika, R-Redmond, and Jeff Reardon, D-Portland. On Wednesday, the state Senate honored Sen. Chuck Riley, D-Hillsboro, who is leaving this year.

The Senate Democrats also are losing their caucus’ communications director, Amanda Kraus. She will become communications director at the Bureau of Labor and Industries, headed by Commissioner Val Hoyle.

“Salem’s success at the Legislature in recent years reflects a concerted effort to rebuild Capitol relationships.”