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STATE MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, July 3, 2019 A9 Acrimonious legislative session ends Democrats tout accomplishments Republicans describe as ‘overreach’ By Claire Withycombe Oregon Capital Bureau The highly public down- fall of a legislative plan to cap the state’s greenhouse gas emissions cast a long shadow over the last two weeks of the legislative session. Despite its acrimonious conclusion, though, Gov. Kate Brown and other Dem- ocrats were quick to tout their successes during the session. People across the state, from working parents to stu- dents to business owners, will be affected by the Leg- islature’s work, which con- cluded Sunday evening. Democrats cite as key accomplishments work to attack the state’s housing crisis, provide paid leave from work for new parents and other caregivers and to ask Oregonians whether the state can set limits on cam- paign donations. “I just think this has been an incredibly productive session,” said Senate Dem- ocratic Leader Ginny Bur- dick of Portland. “We’ve achieved things that have been kind of the Holy Grail for years, primarily school funding.” Brown told reporters on Monday that she’d been fighting for some of those policies since entering state office in the early 1990s. As a candidate for the House in 1992, Brown’s platform was “stable, ade- quate” funding for public schools. This year, lawmakers passed House Bill 3427 — which raises about $1 billion a year in new business taxes to pay for improvements to the state’s schools. “The Student Success Act marks a turning point for education in Oregon,” Brown said. “We can finally invest in an education sys- tem that will ensure every single student in our state is on a path to realizing their dreams for the future.” Some of what lawmakers did will require Oregonians to weigh in next year. Vot- ers will be asked whether to amend the state’s Constitu- tion to allow for restrictions on campaign donations, and whether to raise taxes on cigarettes and e-cigarettes to help pay for public health care. Lawmakers got more done than Brown said she had expected, including the paid family leave proposal and a law overturning man- datory minimum sentences for juvenile offenders, a modification to Measure 11. Behind those accom- plishments was a politi- cal shift — and some very tough negotiations between parties. “It was pretty stun- ning what we were able to accomplish,” Burdick said. “We were able to accom- plish it through some pretty stormy waters at the time.” In November, Democrats gained significant majori- ties in the House and Sen- ate enough to pass most bills without Republican help. However, a constitutional requirement gave Republi- cans leverage and came into play in a big way this ses- Oregon Capital Bureau/Claire Withycombe Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. at Friday’s press conference announces Senate Republicans will return to the Capitol after a walkout. sion. Each chamber needed at least two Republicans to have enough legislators present to legally conduct business. Republicans in the Senate left twice to protest major bills — the school funding measure and then cap-and- trade. In so doing, the Sen- ate couldn’t vote. The school funding leg- islation passed after Brown struck a deal with the Sen- ate Republican leader to kill bills tightening restrictions on guns and requiring more kids in public schools to get vaccinated. But the cap and trade walkout was another mat- ter, thrusting many other bills into uncertainty while lawmakers hurtled toward a June 30 deadline to finish their work. Republicans returned Saturday, June 29, with just enough time to pass a full budget for the state before adjourning. The House Republican caucus said the session was “defined by overreach.” “The failure of cap-and- trade was a turning point,” House Republican Leader Carl Wilson said in a state- ment. “The thousands of workers that came to the Capitol this past week sent a clear message to the super- majority that enough is enough.” Sen. Herman Baertsch- iger, Jr., R-Grants Pass, who leads Republicans in the Senate and spearheaded what were two improba- bly successful strikes by his party, could not be reached for comment. “The progressive poli- cies that my Democrat col- leagues have wanted for many years, they were suc- cessful in passing an enor- mous number of things that are going to affect Orego- nians significantly,” said Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-On- tario. “I can say some were good. Many, I voted against because I think they’re overreaching.” Bentz pointed to the gross receipts tax on business to raise money for schools, a new law to allow undocu- mented immigrants to get driver’s licenses and to limit what crimes qualify for sen- tencing to the death penalty. Versions of each of those policies have gone before Oregon voters via ballot measure in the past. “I think it’s been rather surprising that these changes have been made with- out chance for the people of Oregon to weigh in on them,” Bentz said. It was with a detectable sense of relief that law- makers adjourned on Sun- day evening, but some law- makers have raised concerns about how the Legislature functions in the future. Some Republicans say their constituents aren’t heard when one party dom- inates the political process. “The communities that we represent out in rural Oregon have just as many rights as the folks in Port- land do,” said Sen. Dallas Heard, R-Roseburg, before lawmakers adjourned. “And that’s really all I’m speaking to, is that there needs to be a renewing of mutual respect between the two parties and between the majority and the minority.” Democrats have worried publicly about a breakdown of the Legislature’s institu- tional norms. “If you look at the insti- tution and the hit it took, it’s at least D and maybe even an F,” said Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem. “It was really troubling to me to see this institution get clobbered the way I think it was getting clobbered. And I am concerned about that.” “I think it’s really clear that Senate Republican actions have subverted the Democratic process,” Brown said. “And instead of staying at the table and engaging in a productive Last of bills head to Gov. Brown for signature By Mark Miller, Claire Withycombe and Aubrey Wieber Oregon Capital Bureau The Oregon Legislature, delayed by a walkout by Sen- ate Republicans, sprinted to finish its work, voting on the last bill just before 5 p.m. Sunday. Here are key bills headed to Gov. Kate Brown for sig- nature to head into the law books: SIGN OF THE TIMES: Under Senate Bill 998, the so-called “Idaho stop” law, bicyclists will be able to roll through stop signs at intersec- tions without having to come to a complete stop. They’ll be able to treat stop signs as yield signs. It will still be ille- gal for them to go through without stopping if traffic or pedestrians are in their way. Cycling advocates have been calling on Oregon to adopt Idaho’s traffic law for years to make biking through resi- dential neighborhoods less of a hassle, but this is the first time such a plan has actually passed both chambers of the Legislature. BUY YOUR LEAVE: Workers will lose a fraction of their paychecks under House Bill 2005. But in exchange, they’ll have access to one of the Western Hemisphere’s most robust paid leave pro- grams. A worker could take as much as 12 weeks off per year — plus two more for a preg- nancy, childbirth or medical conditions — with up to full pay. It’s not an unrestricted benefit. Workers will have to apply for leave and demon- strate they are taking time off work to deal with a family medical emergency, a health issue, the birth or adoption of a child or abuse or harassment. Employers have to chip in as well, but at a lower rate than employees. Combined, Oregon Capital Bureau/Claire Withycombe Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, stands on the floor of the Oregon Senate Sunday. they will pay up to 1% of wages into a state-run insur- ance program modeled off workers’ compensation. Mul- tiple business lobbies and labor unions supported HB 2005, which was developed through a bipartisan process led by House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson, D-Port- land. It will make Oregon the eighth U.S. state with paid family leave. GREEN LIGHT FOR CARDS: House Bill 2015 will allow Oregonians who can’t prove legal residence in the U.S. to get driver’s licenses, nearly five years after Orego- nians rejected a similar law. Advocates argued that the bill could make the state’s roads safer. Licensed drivers are required to get insurance. At least one state with a sim- ilar law — Connecticut — has seen dips in the number of hit-and-run crashes since implementation. The bill applies to any- one who may not have vital records proving their legal residence. POWER TO THE PEO- PLE: It’ll be up to state voters whether the Oregon Constitu- tion clearly allows limits on campaign contributions. Sen- ate Joint Resolution 18 refers a constitutional amendment to the ballot that would allow the Legislature, local govern- ments and voter initiatives to cap the amount that someone can give to a candidate for office, as well as require polit- ical campaigns to disclose their donors. The voter referral was priority one for campaign finance reform advocates. It had the strong support of the governor, who pledged last year to push for limits in Ore- gon’s famously lax campaign finance system. The state is one of 11 that doesn’t limit how much an individual can give to a political candidate. MISSING MIDDLE: More than 50 Oregon cities, including virtually the entire Portland area, will no lon- ger be able to limit neigh- borhoods to single-family homes. House Bill 2001 does away with what some housing advocates call “exclusionary zoning,” requiring cities with a population over 10,000 to allow a duplex wherever they would allow a single-family house. Cities with more than 25,000 residents and suburbs of Portland would also have to allow townhomes, triplexes, quadplexes and cottage clus- ters. HB 2001 was amended several times and picked up support from Republicans in the House. It makes Ore- gon the first state to do away with single-family-exclusive zoning, except in its smallest cities. SMOKED OUT: Vot- ers will also decide whether Oregon will increase its tax on cigarettes and cigars and expand the tobacco tax to cover vaping products. House Bill 2270 was stuck in neutral for months this spring before a compromise referred the con- cept to voters next November instead of being put into effect directly by the Legislature. Public health advocates say more tax money is needed to fund the Oregon Health Plan and raising the tax will deter young people from taking up the nicotine habit, while crit- ics say it’s wringing more money out of poor Orego- nians, who make up a dispro- portionate share of the state’s smokers. LET’S BE FRANKED: Did you know members of Congress don’t have to pay postage on their official mail? Soon, Oregonians will enjoy this privilege of “franking,” as it’s called. Senate Bill 861, which affects elections start- ing next year, makes it so bal- lot return envelopes don’t require a postage stamp. It removes a cost, however small, that election reform advocates say is a barrier to poor and homebound Orego- nians voting. SB 861 was a top priority for the late Den- nis Richardson, Oregon’s sec- retary of state. MOBILE HOME SECU- RITY: Mobile homes com- prise nearly one-tenth of all housing units in Oregon. But many of the state’s mobile homes are aging, a num- ber of mobile home parks have closed or are in dan- ger of closing, and many mobile home residents sim- ply don’t have the money to dispose of a home that is breaking down or to buy a new one. That’s where House Bill 2896 comes in. Mobile home residents will be eligi- ble for grants to get out of an old home and into a new one. Money is also set aside to preserve mobile home parks, including by helping tenants band together to buy them cooperatively. DIRTY DIESEL: #Tim- berUnity protesters who thronged the Capitol on Thursday called for the Leg- islature to reject the cap-and- trade bill and also another piece of legislation some truckers oppose: House Bill 2007, which sets an emis- sions standard for diesel trucks based in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Trucks using dirty old diesel engines instead of newer models won’t be able to get a title in those three counties after 2024. EGGS-CELLENT: Ore- gon has already created some rules and a schedule by which Oregon hens are supposed to have a certain amount of room to lay eggs. Senate Bill 1019 takes that a step further by requiring the state’s Agri- culture Department to make rules to require that hens be “cage free” by 2024. The bill exempts from state inspec- tion operations with fewer than 3,000 egg-laying hens. discussion, they took their marbles and went home.” She said it was an “important conversation” for the Senate and House to have about whether to change the state’s quorum rules. Since time limits on legislative sessions were enacted, lawmakers must act more quickly to get their work done and a walkout is more disruptive. Baertschiger told report- ers on Friday that he was reluctant to walk out and thinks the tactic could be abused in the future. Bentz said it should only be used in “the most incredibly difficult of circumstances.” “The only reason that we used the tactic is because we viewed the cap-and-trade bill as an existential threat to Oregon in general and East- ern Oregon in particular,” Bentz said, “Because of the fact that energy is so incred- ibly important to our lives and to cede control of the price of energy to California — that won’t work.” Meanwhile, issues of the overall climate and work- place culture in the Capitol remain in the background. Next week, the Sen- ate is expected to hold a hearing over remarks Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, has made, including saying that Oregon State Police ought to be “bachelors” and “heavily armed” should they be sent to bring him back to the Sen- ate to vote. “Sen. Boquist’s behav- ior was unbecoming of an elected official and an embarrassment to the entire state of Oregon,” Brown said. “I expect the Senate to hold him accountable.” Gov. Brown threatens executive action on climate By Aubrey Wieber Oregon Capital Bureau Less than 24 hours after the 2019 Legisla- ture closed, Gov. Kate Brown renewed the fight for a cap and trade program, saying Mon- day she might act with her executive authority to drive ahead with the hotly contested envi- ronmental policy. She spoke on the heels of a major polit- ical collapse last week, when Senate Republicans doomed a vote on House Bill 2020. The legislation, set- ting up a market-based credit system to force polluting industries to reform, had passed the House and was one vote away in the Dem- ocratically controlled Senate from becoming state law. On Monday, Brown asked industry exec- utives to sit down with her and reach a compromise. If such negotiations don’t work, she would consider her other options to force down emissions in the state, including executive powers and direction of state agencies. 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