A3
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JuNE 29, 2019
State Senate Republicans return to Salem
A scramble to pass
bills by Sunday
By AUBREY WIEBER,
MARK MILLER and
CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Enough Ore-
gon Republican senators
will return to the Capitol for
the chamber to do business.
The Senate will convene
at 9 a.m. Saturday, and will
have until 11:59 p.m. Sun-
day to work through as many
bills as possible. There are
around 120 stacked up wait-
ing for action.
Not all 12 Republican
senators will return, but
only two are needed to pro-
vide a quorum so the body
can operate. State Sen-
ate Minority Leader Her-
man Baertschiger Jr. said the
majority of them will show
up.
Republicans walked out
last week to stop a vote on
a sweeping environmen-
tal proposal that has been
in their crosshairs since the
first day of session.
“For the next few days,
I had nothing but threats
— threats from the major-
ity leader, threats from the
governor and the speaker,”
Baertschiger,
R-Grants
Pass, said Friday. “I had no
threats from the Senate pres-
ident. Yes, the Senate presi-
dent was upset that we left,
reminded me that we had an
agreement from the last time
we walked, and I reminded
him in part of that agree-
ment, that cap and trade
would have a reset, and that
Senator (Cliff) Bentz, who
has worked so hard on this
legislation, would actually
have a place at the table.”
The terms of the reset
were not worked out in detail
— something Baertschiger
said he now regrets.
“It’s one of those things,
when you’re in the room,
that we all probably had a
little bit different definition
of ‘reset,’” he said.
Democrats were not the
only ones making threats.
Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dal-
las, made national news last
week when he threatened
state troopers with lethal
violence.
Boquist warned Senate
President Peter Courtney,
D-Salem, about sending the
police after him if he walks
out.
“If you send the state
police to get me, hell’s com-
ing to visit you personally,”
Boquist said on the Senate
floor. When a reporter asked
him about it later, Boquist,
always fiery, was not at a
loss for words.
“Send bachelors and
come heavily armed,” he
said he’d advised the state
police.
Baertschiger refused to
condemn Boquist’s words.
“I don’t know what
threats
you’re
talking
about,” he said when a
reporter asked about the
comments. “I know what
Senator Boquist said. You
got to remember, at that
time, there was — a lot of
Photos by Claire Withycombe/Oregon Capital Bureau
LEFT: State Senate Minority Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. at Friday’s press conference in Salem. RIGHT: State Senate President
Peter Courtney addressing reporters on Friday.
‘THE SITuATION IS SO FRAGILE ANd dELICATE THAT I CAN’T TAKE A
CHANCE THAT ANyTHING APPEARS IN PRINT, OR ON TV OR RAdIO ...
COuLd IN SOME WAyS dISRuPT A SITuATION THAT IS JuST
HANGING ON. I AM JuST HANGING ON By My FINGERNAILS.’
Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem
tempers were flaring. Obvi-
ously, his statement was not
helpful.
“I’m going to say it was
definitely not helpful. There
has been a lot of things said
by a lot of senators on both
sides of the aisle when the
tempers were flaring. So it
definitely was not helpful.”
Courtney spoke to report-
ers Friday for the first time
in over a week, but refused
to answer substantive ques-
tions about the negotiations.
“The situation is so frag-
ile and delicate that I can’t
take a chance that any-
thing appears in print, or
on TV or radio ... could in
some ways disrupt a situa-
tion that is just hanging on,”
the Salem Democrat said. “I
am just hanging on by my
fingernails.”
Courtney said there is a
limited amount of time to
get about 120 bills through.
“It’s been a very difficult
time,” Courtney said. “And
it’s been very, very diffi-
cult. And there’s no trust,
lack of trust, there is feelings
of betrayal, etc., etc., all of
these things are at work with
human beings, and that is a
tough situation to be in.”
Walking out a second
time, severing a deal secured
to end a May walkout, was
the nuclear option for Senate
Republicans. Baertschiger
said he at first was against
the idea, but he was the only
one. He said he had to be
talked into walking out by
his fellow Republicans.
“My fear is that it could
be abused very easily, that
every time you don’t get
your way, you just walk out,”
Baertschiger said of the tac-
tic to deny the Senate a quo-
rum. “I think that would be
abuse of that. I think our
caucus carefully looked at
these situations and said our
districts had said adamantly
they could not survive cap
and trade. They were very
adamant, and I think you’ve
seen that yesterday. So I
think that is why the caucus
made that decision.”
Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-On-
tario, said it’s a bit more
complicated than that. In
the weeks leading up to
the walkout, no one was in
favor, he said.
“It’s absolutely fake to
say everyone wanted to
walk out,” he said.
But, once House Bill
2020 came closer to a final
vote, it became clear Repub-
licans had to do something.
“At that point, we really
had no choice,” he said.
The caucus was united,
Bentz said, but Baertschiger
was “not enthusiastic” about
giving the nod to a sec-
ond walkout. He eventually
came around, and Republi-
cans got the desired result,
though Democrats say it’s
not because they left the
building.
During the walkout,
Courtney announced that he
didn’t even have the 16 votes
from the 18 Democratic sen-
ators needed to pass the bill.
Baertschiger
declared
victory anyway.
“Our mission of walk-
ing out of this building was
to kill cap and trade,” he
said. “That’s what our con-
stituents said yesterday. And
that’s what we did.”
However,
Courtney
declared the bill dead Tues-
day, and Republicans won’t
be back on the Senate floor
until Saturday. They said
they didn’t trust that the bill
was dead, and they were
concerned over some other
policy bills.
Baertschiger said he
trusts Courtney will play
the final two days straight,
so Gov. Kate Brown doesn’t
have to call a special session
during the summer to pass
budgets.
“We have a constitu-
tional duty to pass all the
budget bills, and I hope that
the Senate president brings
them forth first so we can
get that done,” Baertschiger
said. “After the budget bills,
we have some policy bills
left. Some of those are good.
I would say most of them are
good bills, to be honest with
you.
“There are a handful of
bills that we are having a
conversation about, but I
think a lot of those need an
up-and-down vote. I’m con-
fident that we can pass the
budget, all the budgets, and
we can work through all
those policy bills and be out
of here by midnight on Sun-
day. My caucus has told me
they are dedicated (to) work-
ing through that agenda and
having those conversations.”
The tension will be over
what remaining legisla-
tion get consideration first.
Republicans would like to
take up budget bills as they
are not controversial and
bring money back to their
districts.
But Democrats know if
they stack the calendar with
budget bills, Republicans
could walk out before policy
bills are taken up. There are
several controversial items
in the queue. Chief among
them is Senate Bill 116.
That proposal would
push a potential referendum
on a business tax package to
fund education to a special
election in January, rather
than the regular election in
November 2020.
Republicans think the tax
package on the ballot would
energize their base, boost-
ing their candidates up for
reelection.
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group,
Pamplin Media Group and
Salem Reporter.
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Thousands protest climate bills at state Capitol
Farmers, loggers
take a stand
By SIERRA DAWN
McCLAIN
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregonians
brought more than 2,000
trucks, tractors and other
vehicles to the state Cap-
itol on Thursday morn-
ing to protest climate bills
and other legislation they
say will threaten their
livelihoods.
Trucks circled the Cap-
itol, honking. The Capitol
steps, mall and surround-
ing streets were thick with
protesters.
Farmers, ranchers, log-
gers and others whose jobs
are dependent on natural
resources say the legisla-
tion — House Bill 2020,
also known as cap and trade
— will increase their fuel
and energy costs while hav-
892 Marine Drive, Astoria • (503) 338-0101
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
From left, Donna Nelson, Steve Nelson and their daughter,
Ellie Eliger, protest a cap-and-trade bill in Salem.
ing a minimal impact on the
climate.
“We’ve got climate prob-
lems to deal with, obvi-
ously,” said Mary Hewitt,
19, waving her sign among
a group of other young
protesters.
Hewitt comes from a
family of truckers, fish-
ermen and other work-
ing-class people. “So many
of my peers have come out
supporting these bills,” she
said. “They think they’re
fighting for the environ-
ment, and I get it. But this
is not the way to help the
earth. Ride a bike to work.
Walk more. Recycle. But
don’t crush me and my fam-
ily. We’re people, too.”