Oregon Senate Republicans refuse to bend as legislative walkout hits ninth day

Oregon Republicans are justly famous for grinding the Democratic-controlled legislature to a halt, and once again they’re demonstrating why.

Their latest walkout reached its ninth day Thursday as Senate Republicans continued to make themselves scarce, denying the majority the two-thirds quorum needed to conduct business and preventing a vote on hot-button Democratic bills on abortion, gender-transition procedures, and firearms.

House Bill 2002B would expand Oregon’s wide-open abortion landscape by adding protections for providers and making it clear that minors of any age need not obtain parental consent to terminate pregnancies.

The bill also adds cosmetic procedures such as “facial feminization surgery” to the list of gender-transition treatments that public and private insurers are required to cover. In Oregon, teenagers 15 and older may access medical and dental care without parental consent.

Outnumbered Republicans declared the bill invalid because it fails the “Flesch readability test,” dusting off a long-forgotten 1979 rule requiring legislative summaries to score at least 60 on the rubric, or the eighth-grade reading level. The bill summary scored 14, according to Republicans.

“We have no choice but to protest in this way,” said Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp at a press conference last week. “We believe that the Democrats should follow the law. We don’t believe that they currently are. And therefore we are engaged in a peaceful constitutional protest by denying a quorum.”

Let Democrats in Tennessee and Montana lead raucous legislative protests. In Salem, plain-spoken Republicans from rural central and eastern Oregon are experts at gumming up the works with their deft wielding of parliamentary procedure, taking a page from Disraeli as they spar with majority Democrats.

The Republicans don’t always get their way, but they certainly know how to get in the way.

In the last two weeks, outnumbered Republicans have waged a marathon House floor flight; attempted to vote out Senate President Rob Wagner; filed a lawsuit against the Democratic leadership, and refused to show up as the clock ticks on the session ending June 25.

On Thursday, the Senate once again fell short of a quorum as just 18 legislators punched in, two short of the 20 needed in the 30-member chamber to reach the two-thirds threshold. The Senate meets next on Monday.

The Republicans are rallying under the banner of “Follow the law.” Democrats have countered with “Do your job.”

“The people of Oregon aren’t fools,” said Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber in a statement. “It is no coincidence that Republicans are employing these embarrassing antics as the Senate is about to vote on bills that protect reproductive health freedom and establish common sense gun safety laws.”

The law says get back to work#doyourjob #orpol #orleg https://t.co/LaD4Y3eayv

— OR Senate Democrats (@ORSenDemocrats) May 5, 2023

Oregon Republicans have staged a half-dozen boycotts since Democrats seized control of the state legislature in 2007. Senate Republicans walked out twice in 2021, first to protest pandemic lockdown rules and then to block redistricting legislation.

Fed-up Democrats responded with Measure 113, a ballot initiative that prohibits legislators from running for reelection if they accumulate 10 unexcused absences. The initiated constitutional amendment passed in November by 68-32%.

“It should bother all Oregonians that Republicans are threatening to violate a constitutional amendment their constituents just approved – all to deny Oregonians access to abortion,” said Ms. Lieber.

Senate Democrats have also accused the minority of seeking to “take away our abortion rights,” prompting the Oregon Senate Republicans to tweet: “Wait … so you’re claiming there’s a bill headed to the Senate floor that will ban abortion? What bill is that? We’ll wait.”

Some Republicans are drawing perilously close to the 10 unexcused absences, which could cut short their legislative careers but may also prove useful in bringing a legal challenge.

“We believe that there are going to be lawsuits that are going to be filed not only over bills but also over Measure 113’s constitutionality as well,” Mr. Knopp said. “I would suggest that it’s going to be difficult to challenge without somebody having standing.”

Republicans sued to challenge HB 2002B based on its Flesch readability score, but a judge refused last week to grant a temporary restraining order, saying the court lacked the authority to interfere in legislative proceedings.

Some Republicans had secured excused absences before Mr. Wagner cracked down on May 5 by adding weekend sessions and approving absences only in “extraordinary circumstances.”

“I respect the right to have a different opinion and disagree,” said Mr. Wagner after a recent roll call vote fell short of a quorum. “But disagree here.”

Naturally, Republicans objected. Sen. Cedric Hayden filed a complaint saying that his religious liberty rights were violated over an unexcused absence last weekend because he’s a Seventh-Day Adventist who worships on Saturday, the Capital Chronicle reported.

Sen. David Brock Smith said in an emotional speech on the Senate floor that his request for an excused absence May 6 to help his mother care for his father, who has vascular dementia, was rejected.

Democrats have accused Republicans of using the readability test as an excuse to deep-six duly passed legislation, while Republicans argue that Democrats broke their vow to hold a bipartisan session with a late-session rash of left-wing bills.

Also fueling the Republican ire is HB 2005, which would outlaw so-called “ghost guns,” or those without serial numbers; raise the minimum age to buy some firearms from 18 to 21, and allow localities to ban concealed-carry in government buildings.

“We said we would sign up for a bipartisan session and we did, until they took it in a very progressive-left, liberal, national-agenda [direction] with the most extreme bills that are out there, many of which we believe also are clearly violations of constitutional law,” said Mr. Knopp.

The Republicans have little chance of changing the Democrats’ minds, but the end game may be to cause the majority to withdraw the bills. Another objective is to call attention to HB 2002B.

“Oregon parents are largely unaware that their rights to protect their children are being stripped away, but will still be responsible for covering the procedures,” tweeted Republican state Rep. Ed Diehl.

Critics have pointed out that the Reproductive Health and Access to Care bill isn’t the only one that fails the Flesch readability test. As far as Republicans are concerned, they should all be revised.

“To comply with state law, every bill must return to its original sponsor so Legislative Council can redraft the bill summaries,” said the Senate Republican Leader’s office. “The bill must then be sent back through to committees to be reconsidered before being heard on the Senate and House floors.”

The Democratic and Republican leadership met Wednesday to discuss the stalemate, but nothing was resolved.

“All six leaders agreed: We met, we had a conversation, we are planning on additional conversations,” said the joint statement.