With less than two weeks remaining until sine die, the Constitutional adjournment of the Legislative Session, last minute political maneuvers are impacting the outcomes of key legislation. Senate Republicans have left the state, denying a quorum for any bills to advance on the Senate floor. Hour by hour, new developments are continuing to occur, but it appears that the 2019 Legislative Session is over.

The procedural tactic of denying quorum (20 members are needed for the Senate chamber to advance legislation) was utilized earlier in the Session as the vote on the education tax package, House Bill 3427 A, sailed through the legislative process. Senate Republicans ultimately returned in exchange for gun control and mandatory vaccination bills being withdrawn.  

In response to the threat of a second walk-out by Senate Republicans, Governor Kate Brown announced on June 19 that she will prepare to call a special legislative session in July.

Constitutionally, there are three options for a session to be extended, or new session to be called outside of the regular sessions:

  1. A regular session may be extended for a period of five calendar days by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of each house and may be extended more than once;
  2. In the event of an emergency, presiding officers of both chambers may upon written request of a simple majority of both chambers may convene the Legislative Assembly; and
  3. The governor, on extraordinary occasions may convene the Legislative Assembly by proclamation, and shall state to both houses when assembled, the purpose for which they shall have been convened.

Traditionally, the Legislature has also passed a continuing resolution during the long sessions to keep agency doors open if budgets stalled beyond the July 1 budgetary deadline. In anticipation of a second walk-out, the Legislature passed “gut n’ stuffed” House Bill 5048 A, a continuing resolution that would remain effective until September 15, 2019. Under HB 5048 A, budgets would continue to be funded at current service level until September 15. The continuing resolution passed its second chamber on June 17, creating more flexibility to keep the doors of state agencies open during political maneuvers like a walk-out.

The second walk-out by Senate Republicans centers around cap and trade. The initial threat was flagged in the form of a June 18 press release. “Senate Republicans are willing to stay in the building and suspend the rules to pass all budget bills and do the work of the people. However, we are prepared to take action to stop HB 2020. The bill makes the urban-rural divide stronger than ever because the biggest polluters are in Oregon’s large cities. It is fundamentally inequitable to put the responsibility of cleaning up their pollution on the backs of rural Oregonians,” said Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger (R-Grants Pass). Denying quorum, is one of the only options Republicans have to stop or slow legislation.

The press release came after an impassioned ways and means committee meeting, where few concessions were made on the cap and trade bill. The bill then moved to the House. After more than six hours of heated debate, the controversial cap and trade bill, House Bill 2020 B passed the House on June 17.

Rep. Karin Power (D-Milwaukie), in her floor speech on the bill asserted to her House colleagues, “I understand the fear on both sides of the debate: fear of change; fear of loss; fear of what the coming months, years, and decades will look like. What I can say with authority, is that we are falling short of our carbon reduction goals. We are not taking sufficient action to help our economies transition, or our communities adapt. If we don’t speed up our mitigation and adaptation efforts, it will be too late.”  

The impact on total worldwide carbon output weighed against the cost of the bill to rural Oregon was one of the most cited criticisms in the floor debate.

The bill has one final stop before it goes to the governor’s desk for her signature, the Senate. Though the bill only requires a simple majority of 16 votes to pass, vote counts have been shaky as some moderate Senate Democrats have been keen on seeing modifications to soften the impact to industry critical to rural economies. Others know that industry is prepared to refer the education tax package to the ballot if cap and trade were to advance, and have been toeing the line to ensure the education package remains intact.

Oregonians employed in the timber industry have continued their protest of the bill in full force by driving log trucks around the Capitol and filling the inside and outside of the building with signs opposing the bill using taglines such as: “pretend we are trees and save us.”

As of June 20, negotiations are continuing but there is no clear agreement in sight. If Senate Republicans do not return to the Capitol, the remaining bills that have not passed the Senate will die, including some agency budget bills, cap and trade, heavily negotiated drug take-back policy, housing bills, paid family leave, and other hot topics of the Session.

If the governor calls the Legislature back for a special session, the purpose must be clearly stated, but that does not prohibit other issues from being put back on the table. The governor, however, is looking first to bring Senate Republicans back to the Capitol and has authorized the state police to bring them back.  The Senate President has authorized a $500 per day fine for absent senators as an added incentive.  

Contributed by: Megan Chuinard | Public Affairs Associate