NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Smith lands committee
assignments in Salem
Oregon Legislative
session concludes in
tense final day
SALEM — Oregon law-
makers concluded their
work for the year on Sun-
day, marking the close of the
most remarkable and con-
tentious legislative sessions
in modern memory.
In a day filled with flar-
ing tempers and frequent
confusion, lawmakers in the
House and Senate passed a
completed state budget and
a raft of policy bills just
after 5:20 p.m., well before
the midnight deadline set
forth in the constitution.
Among the bills headed
to Gov. Kate Brown are a
proposal to create a paid
family medical leave insur-
ance program in Oregon,
a law allowing duplexes in
lots zoned for single-family
homes, and ballot referrals
that will ask voters to place
a cap on campaign contribu-
tions and hike tobacco taxes.
Those were just a few of
well over 100 bills — many
of them high-profile goals
for Democrats — lawmak-
ers rushed through in the
final two days.
As the Senate president
and House speaker gaveled
out the session nearly in
OPB Photo/Kaylee Domzalski
Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, waits to enter the floor of the
Senate on the last day of the legislative session.
Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Cor-
valis, who has raised
the strongest objections
to Boquist’s comments,
refused to attend a floor ses-
sion because of his presence.
She pointed out that a pri-
vate attorney retained by the
Legislature recently recom-
mended Boquist be kept out
of the Capitol until the mat-
ter had been resolved.
“What I was told is, ‘If
you feel unsafe or if you
feel uncomfortable, you can
leave,’” Gelser said.
Her absence nearly
wound up killing the most
high-profile housing bill
lawmakers took up this ses-
sion. House Bill 2001 would
allow duplexes and other
multifamily buildings on
parcels currently zoned for
single-family homes in cit-
ies of at least 10,000 people,
essentially pushing greater
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
Partly sunny and
nice
Pleasant with
some sun
79° 54°
79° 56°
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Beautiful with
clouds and sun
SATURDAY
Mostly sunny and
pleasant
Mostly sunny and
pleasant
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
84° 57°
88° 57°
89° 58°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
84° 57°
84° 60°
90° 61°
92° 62°
93° 62°
OREGON FORECAST
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
Olympia
64/56
73/51
78/52
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
79/56
Lewiston
68/57
84/59
Astoria
66/56
Pullman
Yakima 84/57
66/51
80/56
Portland
Hermiston
71/59
Salem
The Dalles 84/57
74/59
71/52
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
72/49
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Bend
75/51
72/43
74/48
Ontario
87/59
Caldwell
Burns
89°
56°
85°
56°
106° (2013) 40° (1931)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
Eugene
0.00"
0.00"
0.01"
4.55"
5.10"
5.71"
WINDS (in mph)
85/56
76/40
Trace
Trace
0.01"
9.57"
6.49"
7.58"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
79/54
72/54
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
Pendleton 70/45
73/55
Corvallis
86°
58°
85°
56°
105° (2013) 40° (1919)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
64/53
Aberdeen
76/54
76/58
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
65/58
Governor threatens to do by rule
what she couldn’t by legislation
Brown tells media
that resuming the
fight for carbon
legislation is a top
priority
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
PENDLETON
TEMP.
Seattle
density in some residential
neighborhoods as a way to
address the state housing
crisis.
The bill has some support
and opposition in both par-
ties, and with Gelser gone
it fell one vote shy of the 16
votes required to pass. Law-
makers called the bill back
in the afternoon.
By that point, Boquist
had left the building —
along with Senate Minority
Leader Herman Baertsch-
iger Jr., R-Grants Pass —
and Gelser returned to the
floor. A number of lawmak-
ers also changed their votes
on HB 2001, allowing it to
pass 17-9.
As they did Saturday,
lawmakers took up bills at a
fast clip, passing them with
little to no discussion. That
included some of the ses-
sion’s signature proposals.
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
81/53
Wed.
WSW 8-16
W 8-16
WSW 6-12
W 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
75/39
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
tinue to serve in a lead-
ership capacity,” Smith
SALEM — Rep. Greg said. “These committee
Smith, R-Heppner, was appointments will allow
appointed by Speaker of me to continue to bring
the House Tina Kotek House District 57’s voice
to serve on a number of to the table as I work with
committees during the my colleagues to craft
80th Legislative
solutions to the
Assembly, includ-
issues facing our
great state.”
ing as co-vice
Smith
will
chairman of the
also serve on the
joint ways and
Oregon Legisla-
means committee.
ture’s Emergency
Some of the
Board, a bicam-
other
commit-
Smith
eral and biparti-
tees Smith has
been appointed to include san committee that func-
House committee on rev- tions during the time that
enue, joint legislative the legislature is not in
audit committee, joint tax session.
“I am honored to have
expenditures committee,
co-chairman of the joint the opportunity to serve
ways and means subcom- on the Emergency Board
mittee on general govern- once again,” Smith said.
ment, and co-vice chair of “I look forward to work-
the joint student success ing with my colleagues
to ensure state agen-
committee.
In addition to Smith’s cies remain funded, the
committee
assign- state budget remains bal-
ments, he has also been anced, and tax dollars of
appointed by House hard-working Oregonians
Republican Leader Carl are spent wisely.”
The Emergency Board
Wilson to continue to
emergency
serve as the Caucus Bud- allocates
get Chair.
funds, increases expen-
“I am honored to have diture limitations, autho-
been appointed to these rizes transfers, receives
positions by my col- reports, and approves
leagues and look forward submissions of federal
to the opportunity to con- grant applications.
East Oregonian
unison, lawmakers erupted
in cheers. The doors were
thrown open in both cham-
bers, and lawmakers waved
at each other from across
the expanse of the rotunda.
In the Senate, staffers tossed
stacks of paper in the air in
celebration.
But before that revelry,
tensions dominated much
of Sunday — particularly
in the Senate, where law-
makers are still harboring
resentment over a nine-day
boycott by Republicans.
Controversy over com-
ments Sen. Brian Boquist,
R-Dallas, made about state
police ahead of that walkout
continued to roil the cham-
ber on Sunday, with several
Democrats requesting that
he stay off the Senate floor.
Boquist, who’d complied
with a similar request on
Saturday, insisted on attend-
ing. He said his remarks just
before the Republican walk-
out — that police should
“send bachelors and come
heavily armed” if they tried
to arrest him — were not an
indication he posed a threat.
“If people are worried,
they shouldn’t be,” he said
Sunday morning. “That’s
why we have state police
here. They do a fine job.”
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:10 a.m.
8:48 p.m.
5:04 a.m.
8:59 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
July 2
July 9
July 16
July 24
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 113° in Thermal, Calif. Low 30° in Truckee, Calif.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
SALEM — Less than
24 hours after the 2019 Leg-
islature closed, Gov. Kate
Brown renewed the fight for
a cap-and-trade program, say-
ing Monday she might act
with her executive author-
ity to drive ahead with the
hotly contested environmen-
tal policy.
“Let me be very, very
clear,” Brown said. “I am not
backing down.”
She spoke on the heels of
a major political collapse last
week, when Senate Republi-
cans doomed a vote on House
Bill 2020. The legislation,
setting up a market-based
credit system to force pollut-
ing industries to reform, had
passed the House and was one
vote away in the Democrati-
cally controlled Senate from
becoming state law.
Brown wasn’t taking her
most significant legislative
loss lightly.
Brown said she wants to
see action sooner than later,
and is open to calling a special
session to again advance the
legislation.
“I believe the bill needs
some fine-tuning, but I don’t
think it needs to be entirely
rebuilt,” she said.
Brown said she cam-
paigned on cap and trade, as
did many Democratic legis-
lators elected in November.
Recent polling shows climate
legislation is popular among
Oregonians, though more so
AP Photo/Sarah Zimmerman
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks with the media at the Capi-
tol in Salem on Monday.
in urban areas. Her plan was
backed by most Oregon vot-
ers, she said.
Brown’s proclamation was
immediately praised by envi-
ronmental groups, still smart-
ing from the sudden and unex-
pected death of HB 2020.
“This effort is not over, and
not over for this year,” said
Renew Oregon spokesman
Brad Reed. “That is extremely
inspiring.”
Renew is a coalition that
has been the main special
interest behind cap and trade,
rounding up more than 800
businesses to endorse the
proposal.
Renew’s staff and lobby-
ists worked extensively with
legislative leaders on the bill.
Now, with Brown taking the
leading role in the charge for
cap and trade, Reed said his
group will be as involved in
the politics ahead as she lets
them.
Behind the recent oppo-
sition was wildly effective
messaging hitting the preva-
lent themes of ever-expand-
ing government and favorit-
ism of urban elites: The bill
would decimate rural econo-
mies while flowing money to
Oregon’s cities, all the while
handing control over the econ-
omy to a bureaucracy led by a
director appointed by Brown.
“The climate bill was a
match that lit this powder keg
of 30 years of resentment,”
Reed said.
The messaging by indus-
try and Republican lawmak-
ers gained traction, culminat-
ing in the largest protest of the
bill yet, coming at the Capitol
last Thursday, two days after
Democrats declared the bill
dead.
Brown accused opponents
of conducting a misinforma-
tion campaign. She said she
wants to talk directly to citi-
zens and have more conver-
sations with the public at large
to better explain the proposal.
Oregonians opposing the
bill were fed information by
industry opponents, the gov-
ernor said.
The face of that opposition,
at least in the Capitol, was
business lobbyist Shaun Jil-
lions, who heads trade associ-
ation Oregon Manufacturers
and Commerce. Jillions never
gave up on the fight against
HB 2020, successfully work-
ing hard in the final weeks to
turn key Senate Democrats
against the bill.
CORRECTION: In the Page A1 story “New learning center opens the door to
industry child care in Boardman,” published Saturday, June 29, the story misstated
the name of the business Threemile Canyon Farms.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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rain
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cold front
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