SALEM, Ore. — Business is resuming on the Oregon Senate floor Thursday for the first time in six weeks as the Democrats and the Republicans reach an agreement, marking the end of the longest legislative walkout in state history and the second-longest in U.S. history, according to the Associated Press.
After taking roll call, the Oregon Senate reached a quorum of 20 lawmakers, with the GOP senators who returned to Salem.
"I'm encouraged that we were able to come to an agreement that will allow us to finish the important work Oregonians sent us here to accomplish. We have achieved major bipartisan victories already this session, and I expect that to continue now that we have returned to the floor," said Senate President Rob Wagner. "I am grateful for all the senators who listened to each other and sought an end to this walkout while protecting Oregon priorities and values."
Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp also released a statement.
"Senate Republicans and Independents stood firm as the last line of defense for parental rights and the rule of law. I am incredibly proud of their steadfast determination to give their constituents a long-overdue seat at the table. We have said from the very beginning that we cannot allow the Senate to operate in an unlawful, uncompromising, and unconstitutional manner. We repeatedly urged Democrat leaders to put the critical needs of all Oregonians first instead of prioritizing an extreme agenda that does nothing but divide us. I am pleased to say that we were able to hold the Democrat Majority accountable and accomplish all these things. We achieved constitutional, lawful bipartisanship. And parental rights were restored," Knopp said.
Senate Republicans have agreed to provide a quorum for the remainder of the legislative session, according to a news release from the offices of the Senate President and the House Speaker.
News releases from both parties provided some insight into the terms of the deal — filtered through each side's partisan lens — though further details likely will not become clear until bills are reintroduced as amended. Here's what we know so far:
- House Bill 2002 will receive a vote after being clarified to ensure the bill "affirms standard abortion care that has been in place for 50 years under Roe v. Wade, but was jeopardized by the Dobbs decision," Democrats said. It will establish provider protections against anti-abortion and anti-transgender laws in other states and require that health insurance covers medically necessary gender-affirming care. House Republicans said, however, that large portions of the bill will be struck to protect "parental rights."
- House Bill 2005 will receive a vote as it was introduced to "make our communities safer by banning untraceable ghost guns," Democrats said. A workgroup will be established to study policy solutions to gun violence and suicide prevention and $10 million will be invested in the Community Violence Prevention program. Republicans said that large portions of this bill were also struck, presumably the parts that would have raised the age to purchase and possess most guns from 18 to 21 and that would have allowed municipalities to decide whether they want to prohibit all firearms in public buildings and on public grounds.
- Senate Bill 348 and Senate Bill 393 are dead, according to House Republicans. The former would have modified and clarified voter-approved gun law Measure 114, currently held up in court. The latter would have directed the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission to study effect of sentencing types on recidivism rates.
- Senate Joint Resolution 33 and Senate Bill 27 will be referred back to committee and "conversations on how to enshrine Oregon values in our Constitution will continue in the interim," Democrats said. Republicans indicated that SJR 33 is dead. It would have proposed a constitutional amendment to allow for gay marriage, which currently remains outlawed under the Oregon Constitution.
- House Joint Resolution 16 would give Oregon voters the opportunity to amend the state Constitution to give the Legislature the power to hold statewide elected officials accountable via impeachment. "This change would align Oregon with every other state in the country." Both Democrats and Republicans had a similarly positive take on this.
- House Bill 2757 would substantively fund 9-8-8, the national suicide prevention hotline number launched in Oregon in summer 2022. "This hotline is a critical resource for Oregonians experiencing mental health crises. Implementing the full 988 architecture will ensure access and quick response for communities across the state," Democrats said. Republicans did not mention this bill in their release.
- House Republicans claimed that all bills will be redrafted to comply with legislative rules and an arcane state law that requires bill summaries be readable at an 8th-grade level per the Flesch reading ease test.
Republican senators, joined by one Independent, began shunning the chamber May 3 to deny a quorum, ensuring that no bills could be passed as long as the walkout endured. Originally the caucus cited long-forgotten readability standards for bill summaries as the reason for the protest, but it became increasingly clear over time that the schism revolved around the contents of House Bill 2002 — legislation championed by Democrats to expand access to abortion and gender-affirming care.
Negotiations between Senate Democratic leadership and Republicans quickly hit a wall as neither side appeared willing to budge on HB 2002. Gov. Tina Kotek intervened and continued talks with Republicans for a time, but she eventually acknowledged that she'd reached a similar impasse.
Murmurings of movement began earlier this week and reached a fever pitch on Wednesday. Sources in the legislature told KGW that a press conference to announce the deal would happen that afternoon, then walked it back. But there were signs that Democratic and Republican leadership had been meeting to hash out the details.
There were a few other key developments Wednesday that signaled change. First, Democrats in the House held their first reading of House Joint Resolution 30, which proposes a constitutional amendment to Oregon's two-thirds quorum requirement, changing it to a simple majority.
Constitutional amendments must be approved by voters, so HJR 30 would need to pass both chambers in the legislature and then pass as a ballot measure during a future election. Forty Democrats signed on in support of the resolution.
The Associated Press reported that sponsors were not optimistic about HJR 30 passing this session, so they have discussed trying again next year. It could also be circulated as an initiative petition and appear on ballots if it gathers sufficient signatures.
Early on in the walkout, nine Republican senators and Republican-turned-Independent Sen. Brian Boquist ran afoul of Measure 113, a ballot initiative approved by voters in 2022 that specifically took aim at legislative walkouts. Under the law, lawmakers are forbidden from holding the same office next term after hitting 10 unexcused absences in the legislature.
Despite the clear consequences of walking out after the passage of Measure 113, Republicans expressed optimism that they'd be able to challenge the law's constitutionality in court, or otherwise evade it through textual loopholes.
In a change from prior weeks, and in an apparent gesture of goodwill, Senate President Rob Wagner gaveled in Senate floor sessions this week without conducting a roll call — ensuring that Republicans are not fined $325 for unexcused absences as they have been since a rule change that began June 5.
The Story's Pat Dooris spoke to Wagner, the top Democrat in the chamber, in late May. At the time, Wagner stood firmly behind the decision not to back down on HB 2002, indicating that it would remain at the top of the Senate docket whether Republicans returned or not.
Prior to this week, Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp had insisted that members of his caucus would only return at the very final day of the session, June 25, and only to pass "substantially bipartisan budgets and bills."
Hundreds of bills remained stuck in various parts of the legislature throughout the walkout, many of them supported by both parties and some of them of vital importance. With little more than a week left in the session, it's unclear how many bills will be taken up by the Senate for a floor vote before sine die on June 25.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more details as they emerge.