The longest walkout in Oregon’s legislative history is over.
There were five Senate Republicans on the floor Thursday, enough to allow the Senate to return to work.
“A quorum is present,” Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, confirmed for the first time in six weeks.
More than 300 bills have been stalled in the Oregon Senate after Republicans and an Independent began denying quorum May 3.
Initially, Republican leadership said the protest was motivated by anger at the failure to follow statutes and rules requiring bill summaries to reach specific readability levels.
But as the walkout dragged on, it became clearer that consternation surrounded House Bill 2002.
The bill would clarify state law to allow minors under the age of 15 to have an abortion without parental consent, require insurance to cover gender-affirming care and add protections to healthcare providers who perform abortions.
Once a deal was reached, senators got to work quickly, taking votes on more than 30 bills, including an amended HB 2002 and a firearms bill, House Bill 2005. Both were changed as part of the compromise and passed with 17 votes in favor and three against. They’ll head to the House again for final passage.
Details of deal made to end walkout
The deal to get conservative lawmakers back to work surrounds changes to or the killing of various bills focused on gun restrictions, abortion protections, protection of marriage between same-sex couples and protections for transgender people.
According to a release from Wagner’s office, Senate Joint Resolution 33 and Senate Bill 27 will be referred back to committee. The resolution would have asked voters to enshrine protections for abortion and marriage between same-sex couples in the Oregon constitution. The bill would have changed the constitution if the resolution passed.
The agreement changes House Bill 2005 significantly.
It would have banned unserialized “ghost guns,” raised the age requirement to 21 for certain guns and allowed local governments to prohibit concealed firearms on government property. Now, it returns to its base bill on banning ghost guns and directs more than $356,000 to state police to implement the new rules on unserialized and undetectable firearms.
According to the release from Wagner, the agreement between leadership also involved establishing a workgroup to study policy solutions to gun violence and suicide prevention, as well as directing $10 million to the Community Violence Prevention program.
For HB 2002, the amended bill would still “establish provider protections against anti-abortion and anti-transgender laws in other states” and require that health insurance cover gender-affirming care.
More specifically, the amended bill would still allow minors under the age of 15 to receive an abortion without parental consent but only if a healthcare provider “reasonably believes” that informing a parent or guardian would result in emotional or physical abuse or neglect, or if a second provider at a different facility agrees that requiring the consent of a parent or guardian would not be in a minor’s best interest.
The amended bill removes grant funding to expand reproductive care directed to rural healthcare clinics and college campuses.
During a meeting with reporters, Wagner said the changes to the bill do not affect the “core tenants” of what Democrats hoped to accomplish with HB 2002: reproductive freedom and access to abortion care in statute, protecting providers and clinics and the “strongest gender-affirming care” insurance provisions in state statute.
“I couldn’t be prouder of those main three tenants in the bill,” he said.
Both amendments were approved during a work session Thursday afternoon and the bills were sent to the floor again.
Under the deal, Senate Democratic leaders will also agree to vote on legislation that previously failed to move forward, including:
- House Joint Resolution 16: Would ask Oregon voters to amend the Oregon constitution to give the Legislature the power to hold statewide elected officials accountable via impeachment.
- House Bill 2757: Would provide funding for 9-8-8, the national suicide prevention hotline number launched in last summer.
“I’m encouraged that we were able to come to an agreement that will allow us to finish the important work Oregonians sent us here to accomplish. We have achieved major bipartisan victories already this session, and I expect that to continue now that we have returned to the floor,” Wagner said in the release.
Response to the deal made to end the walkout
One sponsor of the gun bill and a member of the workgroup that developed the bill expressed his disappointment with the changes.
Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, gave an emotional statement from the floor before the bill passed in the House in May. He spoke of last year’s Safeway shooting in Bend where a 20-year-old killed 84-year-old Glenn Bennet and 66-year-old Donald Ray Surrett Jr. Earlier in the session, he had spoken to the Statesman Journal about how proud he was to support the bill on behalf of a community that had been so impacted by a shooter younger than 21.
On Thursday, he said he was disappointed to see the changes to HB 2005 but glad lawmakers would be able to finish the session and get a lot of other important work done.
“Republicans chose to appease an extremist gun lobby over working on common sense gun safety measures and other public safety measures,” Kropf said.
He added that legislators who have been working on gun safety are committed to continuing the work.
The Oregon Firearms Foundation, a gun rights organization, sent a scathing release in response to the deal. Its release was sent out before the walkout publicly ended and the deal had been publicly announced.
The foundation said Knopp had caved and it urged House Republicans to walk out as the bill is sent back for reconsideration.
They also expressed anger toward senators Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, and David Brock-Smith, R-Port Orford, who both missed less than 10 days, referring to them as “sellouts.”
“Once again, Republican ‘leadership’ has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Another disgrace for the people who got hired to protect our rights,” the release said.
In a brief statement on the floor, Knopp said Republicans had walked out against lawlessness but were now looking to end the session in a bipartisan fashion.
“We asked for compromise,” he said. “We have received that from your side.”
Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber, D-Portland, called it a win for the people of Oregon.
“Democrats did our jobs and kept our promises to Oregonians. We protected our shared Oregon priorities and values, including defending the rights we had under Roe v. Wade, rescuing urgent, bipartisan priorities, and sustaining the overwhelmingly voter-approved consequences for walkouts. Now, we’re going to finish the work,” she said.
In a release, Republicans called the deal a victory.
“Though Democrats hold a slim majority, it is critically important that the voices of all Oregonians are heard in this process. We knew the risk we were taking, but we feel our challenge to Measure 113’s constitutionality is strong. Some of our colleagues may disagree, but that is a battle for another day. Today, we are happy to deliver this win for Oregonians,” Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, said in the release.
Fines stack up for conservative lawmakers
Walkouts have become common in the Oregon Legislature. Republicans have walked out five times in the past five years. It is a tool available due to Oregon’s unique quorum rules. It is one of four states that require two-thirds of representatives or senators to be present to conduct legislative business.
In November, voters passed Measure 113 to bar lawmakers from seeking reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences. Ten lawmakers hit that threshold during this walkout. Republicans have signaled that they will challenge the measure in court.
On June 5, with conservative lawmakers still absent, the Senate began fining unexcused members $325 each day that quorum failed to be met. Senators Daniel Bonham, D-The Dalles; Lynn Findley, R-Vale; Bill Hansell, R-Athena; Cedric Hayden, R-Fall Creek; Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls; Art Robinson, R-Cave Junction; Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, and Suzanne Weber, R-Tillamook, each accumulated $1,300 in fines.
Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, received $975 in fines and Sen. Brian Boquist, I-Dallas, received $650. Sen. Kathleen Taylor, D-Portland, also received a $325 fine for an unexcused absence unrelated to the walkout.
Additional fines were paused this week as negotiations behind the scenes fired up.
According to Wagner, the brunt of negotiations began Friday afternoon and continued through the weekend. Leadership is currently working out how to waive the accumulated fines as part of the deal, he said. Retroactive excused absences, however, will not be granted.
“Absences are what they are,” Wagner said, noting that attendance is recorded daily in the Senate Journal.
Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature for the Statesman Journal. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @diannelugo