PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – During the latest legislative session, Oregon lawmakers approved spending millions of tax dollars to clean up along state highways like I-84 and I-405 in the Portland area.

Now it’s up to Gov. Tina Kotek to sign the legislation that will approve the funding.

Lawmakers grudgingly approved giving the Oregon Department of Transportation $20 million to clean up campsites and graffiti. They say they are hiring contractors, including Clean and Safe, to help with the work – including getting rid of trash, cleaning up homeless camps, and erasing graffiti on road signs.

They’ll also spend money on access prevention-trying to block off certain areas.

“Eight million dollars that’s going towards access prevention. So that means fencing and barricading some ODOT right-of-way areas to prevent people from parking vehicles or camping in areas that are really unsafe for folks to be in,” Kacey Davey with ODOT said.

ODOT says if the governor signs off on the funding, cleanup efforts could start as early as next month.

Several lawmakers questioned ODOT about the request for the money, concerned that once a clean-up takes place, signs could just be spray painted again and trash could reappear. The response was that the problem would just keep getting worse, and by responding quicker, it could keep the activity down.

Lawmakers also want to know more about what’s being done to catch people spray painting signs. For instance, the large overhead ones typically seen on highways often require ODOT to shut down the entire roadway to remove and replace them.