Secretary of State Tobias Read released a memo Wednesday outlining what Democrats must do to place a controversial gas tax repeal on the May 19 ballot. Instead, she said she’d prefer lawmakers just repeal HB 3991 in the special session that starts in February. So Democrats pivoted, saying they would speed the referral to the May primary ballot, rather than the general election in November, which Republicans preferred. Both tasks — whether to disconnect from the Trump bill and how to tackle program cuts — could prove contentious and complicated and overshadow work on the referral to repeal the gas tax. Oregon Journalism ProjectThis story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom for the state of Oregon.