SALEM – Oregon voters might not have to pony up for a stamp if they mail in their ballot in the 2020 election.

A key legislative budget subcommittee advanced a measure Wednesday that would require the state to provide pre-paid envelopes to voters. Senate Bill 861 now heads to the full Ways and Means Committee.

The pre-paid envelopes would be marked “Business Reply Mail.” The postal service would charge a fee to the state for each ballot mailed back to elections officials using the envelope. Ballots returned at a drop-box would not cost the state anything.

The current cost of a first-class stamp is 55 cents, but the postal service will charge the state 64 cents for each business reply envelope returned by voters, according to the Legislative Fiscal Office.

That office estimated the overall cost to the state in the upcoming two-year budget cycle to be “approximately $2.7 million.” But budget analysts said the actual cost would vary, depending on how many votes are cast and what percentage of ballots are returned by mail.

The bill would take effect on January 1, 2020. That means the first election held using pre-paid envelopes could be a referral of the $1 billion-a-year corporate tax for education included in House Bill 3427.

A business group is gathering signatures for that referral, and Democrats in Salem are advancing a separate measure that would schedule an election on January 21, 2020 if the tax bill is successfully referred.

Next year will also see statewide primaries in May and a general election in November.

Democrats on the Capital Construction Subcommittee approved the bill largely without comment. Republicans on the panel voted against it.

“This is a lot of money that could go to schools, could go to public safety,” said Sen. Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River. “We have a lot of elections and this is going to cost millions and millions of dollars.”

Democratic Gov. Kate Brown has pushed for pre-paid postage on ballots. It’s also been a priority for The Bus Project, a Portland-based advocacy group. “We are turning every mailbox into a drop box to make sure that every voice is heard,” the group tweeted Wednesday.