Central Oregon Legislators Pass Bills at the Buzzer

Several Senate Republicans returned after a six-week-walkout, prompting a sprint to pass a stack of bills

By Jack Harvel

The Oregon State Senate established a quorum on June 15, ending the six-week walkout of Senate Republicans. It’s the longest walkout in the state’s history and the fifth time Oregon Republicans have staged a walkout since 2019. Back with just a little more than a week left in the session, the Senate has been speed-running bills through the final leg of the process before they reach the governor’s desk.

Republicans initially claimed that legislative language was too complex and ran afoul of Oregon’s readability law, which requires bills summaries to have an eighth-grade reading level. Later, Republicans demanded dropping House Bill 2002, a bill that would’ve allowed minors to get an abortion without parental consent, and House Bill 2005, which would’ve raised the minimum age to purchase most guns to 21, ban untraceable “ghost guns” and give local governments authority to ban guns on government property.

Democrats amended HB2002 to continue requiring parental notification for patients under 15, with a couple carveouts if medical professionals determine it’s in the child’s best interest not to inform their parents. Legislators dropped two of the three provisions of HB2005 but left the ghost gun ban in place.

“We walked out because of unlawful, unconstitutional and uncompromising actions of the Senate President and the Democrat majority. And we believe that lawful, constitutional compromise has been reached,” said Sen. Tim Knopp (R-Bend). “We are here, passing bills, and I think the people of Oregon won.”

Knopp pointed to the state’s kicker tax refunds, a $140 million investment in early learning and literacy and

Alyssa’s Law funding silent alarms and schools as important legislation coming for Central Oregonians. Rep. Emerson Levy (D-Bend), the champion of Alyssa’s Law, said provisions of the law were entered into the state’s budget for for new shelters and to maintain ones already built through Project Turnkey. There are also bills that could attract drought-resilient water infrastructure investments, climate-friendly building standards and initiatives and state fund- seeking re-election if they accumulate more than 10 unexcused absences. After the walkouts, 10 of Oregon’s 12 Republican senators won’t be allowed to assume office again. Knopp said they’re seeking a declaratory ruling from the Secretary of State on whether not they can run, and if denied, the Republicans will take legal action. schools; over fear that it wouldn’t pass as legislation. Levy agreed with Knopp about the importance of funding early learning, and the total legislative package includes $172 million in funding for a $1,000-per-child tax credit for people making below $50,000 and an investment in funding for child care facilities and programs.

“As a mom, it's really hard to find childcare here. And so the Department of Early Learning and Care is now going to be funded. That will invest in childcare infrastructure, which is huge, because the infrastructure piece is really big,” Levy said.

Jason Kropf (D-Bend) said there are useful middle housing tax incentives that could be help in building affordable housing in Bend, as well as $600 million in general obligation bonds to build more housing across the state. The state is also stepping in to provide funds ing for local projects like the Hawthorne Bridge, Deschutes County Courthouse and Central Oregon Community College’s Redmond campus. Kropf is a chief sponsor of HB2005, one of the bills legislators cut to bring Republicans back to the table.

“It was highly frustrating to show up to work every day, and to work hard on the issues that I think Oregonians had told us pretty clearly what were their priorities, and then to see a group of senators not showing up and how that sort of ground a lot of things to a halt,” Kropf said. “You saw some bills that I thought were really important to get modified to get those senators back in the building.”

It may be the last time some of those once-absent senators enter the building as legislators, however. Oregonians passed Measure 113 last year, which bars members of the House and Senate from

A handful of senators are continuing the walkout. Sen. Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer) released a statement saying Democrats got too much for the deal, as did Brian Boquist (I-Polk and Yamhill Counties). Sen. Dennis Linthicum (R-Klamath) criticized the returning Republic senators, saying they successfully blocked “unconstitutional, disingenuous, risky and life-threatening legislative concepts by stopping Senate business.” He compared it to a workers’ strike and compared the returning senators to scabs.

“I think you can always argue that it wasn't bipartisan enough. But at the end of the day, they substantially killed or substantially modified the bills that we asked them to that were most objectionable. I think it's really important that the Republicans didn't become the party of uncompromising because that's where the Democrats were,” Knopp said.

It’s unclear if the tight timeframe will leave some bills on the cutting room floor. Levy said it’s hard to quantify the consequences of the walkout and how bills could’ve been modified with a quorum in the Senate. Levy and Kropf said Democratic legislators are considering changing quorum laws so that only a simple majority is needed for a session to proceed. Only three other states require a two-thirds quorum to conduct business.