December 20, 2023
Page 9
Federal Judge Rejects Request From Oregon Senators
U.S. District
Court Judge Ann
Aiken issued the
decision
(AP) -A federal judge has re-
jected a request from Oregon
Republican state senators who
boycotted the Legislature to be
allowed on the ballot after their
terms end.
U.S. District Court Judge Ann
Aiken issued the decision last
Wednesday. State Sens. Dennis
Linthicum, Brian Boquist and
Cedric Hayden were among the
plaintiffs who filed the federal
lawsuit to challenge their dis-
qualification from running for
reelection under Measure 113.
The voter-approved constitution-
al amendment, which passed by a
wide margin last year, bars leg-
islators from seeking reelection
after 10 or more unexcused ab-
sences. Each of the three senators
racked up more than 10 absences
during a record six-week walkout
that paralyzed the 2023 legisla-
tive session.
The boycott stemmed from bills
on abortion, transgender health
care and guns. The lawmakers
sought, among other things, a
preliminary injunction to prevent
the secretary of state’s office from
enforcing their disqualification
from the ballot. The office in Sep-
tember disqualified Linthicum
Senator Tim Knopp, R-Bend, speaks with Attorney Dustin Buehler, with the Oregon Department of
Justice. (Abigail Dollins/Statesman-Journal via AP, pool)
and Boquist from the 2024 bal-
lot, court filings show. Hayden’s
term ends in January 2027. The
senators argued that walkouts are
a form of political protest protect-
ed by the First Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution.
“The Senators were punished
solely for exercising their First
Amendment rights,” their attor-
neys said in court filings. Aiken
disagreed with their claims in her
opinion. “However, these walk-
outs were not simply protests
— they were an exercise of the
Senator Plaintiffs’ official power
and were meant to deprive the
legislature of the power to con-
duct business,” she wrote.“Their
subsequent disqualification is the
effect of Measure 113 working
as intended by the voters of Ore-
gon,” she added.
The Oregon Senate and House
of Representatives must have
two-thirds of their members pres-
ent in order to have a quorum
and conduct business. In recent
years, Republicans have protest-
ed against Democratic policies
by walking out of the Legislature
and denying a quorum in a bid to
stall bills.
The federal suit named Secre-
tary of State LaVonne Griffin-Va-
lade and Democratic Senate Pres-
ident Rob Wagner as defendants.
The senators claimed, among
other things, that Wagner violat-
ed their First Amendment right to
freedom of expression and their
Fourteenth Amendment right to
due process by marking their ab-
sences as unexcused.
Attorneys from Oregon’s jus-
tice department representing
Griffin-Valade and Wagner ar-
gued the First Amendment does
not protect legislators’ refusal to
attend legislative floor sessions.
“Under Oregon law, a senator’s
absence has an important legal
effect: without the attendance of
the two-thirds of senators needed
to achieve a quorum, the Senate
cannot legislate,” they wrote in
court filings.
The federal court decision was
issued one day before the Oregon
Supreme Court heard a separate
challenge to the measure. In oral
arguments before the state’s high
court in Salem Thursday, a lawyer
for a different group of Repub-
lican state senators argued that
confusion over the wording of the
constitutional amendment means
that legislators whose terms end
in January can run in 2024.
Griffin-Valade, the secretary of
state, is also a defendant in that
lawsuit. Earlier this year, she said
the boycotting senators were dis-
qualified from seeking reelection
in 2024. She directed her office’s
elections division to implement
an administrative rule to clarify
the stance. She said the rule re-
flected the intent of voters when
they approved the measure last
year. All parties in the suit are
seeking clarity on the issue be-
fore the March 2024 filing dead-
line for candidates who want to
run in next year’s election.
Pacific Northwest Fentanyl Crisis Surges
Officials
grapple with
how to curb it
(AP) — The fight against fen-
tanyl is increasingly being waged
in schools, jails and on city
streets in the Pacific Northwest,
where state officials in Oregon
and Washington have named it a
top issue as overdose deaths rise.
Washington’s Democratic Gov.
Jay Inslee plans to ask lawmakers
for about $64 million more to treat
and prevent opioid use. In Ore-
gon, Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek
has proposed declaring a fentanyl
emergency in Portland, and law-
makers have created a committee
on addiction to get a jump on the
issue before the Legislature recon-
venes in February.
“One pill can now take your
life. Fentanyl is the nuclear weap-
on of drugs and we’ve got to up
our game against this scourge,”
Inslee said during a press confer-
ence on Wednesday. A surge in
A person smokes fetanyl on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 in down-
town Portland. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP, file)
fentanyl deaths, including among
children, has marked the latest
iteration of the years-long opi-
oid crisis. The most recent pro-
visional figures from the federal
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention estimate that more
than 78,000 people died from
overdoses involving synthetic
opioids in the 12 months ending
June 2023, accounting for 92% of
all opioid overdose deaths during
that period. One way Oregon and
Washington want to reduce fatali-
ties is by more widely distributing
opioid overdose reversal medica-
tions such as naloxone. Naloxone
is most commonly administered
as a nasal spray or an injection
and helps restore breathing.
Inslee’s office said part of
his proposed supplemental bud-
get would go toward equipping
first responders with naloxone,
and setting up 20 “smart” ma-
chines that dispense naloxone
and other health supplies in ar-
eas of the state with high rates
of opioid overdoses.
Oregon’s state health depart-
ment said it plans to offer free
opioid overdose reversal kits to
middle and high schools. A bill
that has been filed ahead of Wash-
ington’s short legislative session,
which starts in January, would re-
quire all school districts to make
such medication available in its
high schools. Current law only re-
quires districts with at least 2,000
students to do so. The U.S. Food
and Drug Administration has ap-
proved three drugs for treating
opioid dependence: buprenor-
phine, methadone and naltrexone.
Authorities also want to curb
public drug use, which has be-
come more visible in major cities
such as Portland and Seattle due to
growing homelessness.
Kotek, Oregon’s governor, this
week released a proposal that calls
for the state, Multnomah County
and the city of Portland each to de-
clare a 90-day fentanyl emergency
and establish a command center
to improve coordination between
law enforcement, outreach work-
ers and service providers. She has
also urged providers to expand
their hours.
When the Legislature convenes
for its short session in Febru-
ary, Kotek also wants lawmak-
ers to consider outlawing public
drug use. Banning public use has
been a major talking point among
Portland officials and lawmakers
in recent months. Portland City
Council approved such a ban in
September, but it’s contingent on
state law changing.
Law enforcement officials have
advocated for such a measure,
saying a 2020 ballot initiative
that decriminalized possession of
small drug amounts has made it
difficult to stop public use.
“Confronting our most pressing
challenges requires the hope and
fortitude of an entire community,”
Kotek said.