SALEM -- Gov. Kate Brown said less than a week ago that passing a $900 million corporate tax plan was not among her top priorities in the remaining weeks of the legislative session. But on Wednesday the governor changed course, saying the proposal has gained traction, thanks in part to her efforts.

The tax bill negotiated by House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, and Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, "was informed extensively by the work I did and my team did," Brown told reporters. The governor said her personal conversations with tech firm executives and chamber of commerce leaders helped build support for the bill.

Brown also said her call for lawmakers to focus on her priorities last week -- even though the corporate tax plan wasn't among them -- helped propel the plan forward.

"There needed to be a sense of urgency in the building, and I think we created that sense of urgency," Brown said.

The wish list Brown outlined last week included bills to close the state's Medicaid budget shortfall, trim government costs and fund a mammoth transportation upgrade. Lawmakers have just over three weeks before they must adjourn July 10.

In a statement Wednesday, Kotek's spokeswoman Lindsey O'Brien said the speaker "appreciates the Governor's work to get revenue reform and cost containment done this session." O'Brien said the corporate tax proposal, which is supposed to fund education, is getting support from businesses and education groups and Kotek is "hopeful that the growing momentum will help build more support in the Senate, too."

Yet the outlook for the corporate tax plan still is not good. A committee working on it could vote Thursday to send it to the House for a floor vote. But even if it passes the House, it faces a roadblock in the Senate. Democrats need at least one Republican vote in each chamber to achieve the supermajority necessary to raise taxes, and Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, has said his caucus is united against the bill.

Senate Republican spokesman Jonathan Lockwood said Wednesday there's nothing Democrats could do to convince any caucus member to support a tax on firms' Oregon sales, the type of corporate tax in the proposal. He said Kotek's strategy of putting other bills on hold until the corporate tax passes has frustrated many lawmakers.

"No one's responding well to the speaker shutting down the Capitol for her resurrection of Measure 97," Lockwood said, referring the much larger corporate tax that failed at the ballot in November.

The proposed health care tax to fund the state's Medicaid program has the best outlook at the moment, with a House floor vote scheduled Thursday.

But the other two bills Brown said last week that lawmakers must pass -- a multibillion dollar plan to pay for transportation projects and a proposal to curb government costs -- are still sitting in committees.

The transportation package in particular might be in trouble. Though there is general agreement on the bill among senators of both parties, House Democrats and Republicans have been at odds over the proposal.

Republicans say they won't vote in favor of the transportation plan until the state's low-carbon fuel standard law -- also known as "clean fuels" -- is modified to cap its costs. During transportation negotiations two years ago, Republicans called for the clean fuels law to be repealed.

Negotiations fell apart at the time, and Republicans have since soften their stance on the clean fuels program. But House Democrats are apparently unwilling to budge in turn. Rep. Cliff Bentz, the top transportation negotiator for House Republicans and a hawkish critic of the clean fuels program, said he and Kotek are at an impasse.

In an interview last week, Bentz said he and other House Republicans will vote for the transportation plan, but only if clean fuels amendments move forward. Bentz said he's optimistic that House Democrats will meet Republican demands; at least one Republican vote is needed in the House and Senate to pass tax increases including the transportation funding bill.

Brown said she's attended House Democrats' caucus meetings twice in two days to reiterate the need for a transportation plan she says will bring infrastructure improvements and new jobs across the state.

Asked if she has instructed House Democratic leadership to capitulate to Republicans on clean fuels, Brown said, "I don't tell the leadership to bend. That's not my role."

But Brown said she has been "keeping the pressure on" and expects lawmakers to send her a transportation funding bill "quickly."

If no deal is reached, would she call lawmakers into a special session to pass a reworked transportation plan?

"Too soon to tell," Brown said with a chuckle.

-- Hillary Borrud and Gordon R. Friedman