Oregon Democrats aim to change quorum after GOP walkouts

(Update: Expanding AP story)

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — After two walkouts this year by minority Republican senators in the Oregon Legislature, Democrats said Friday they will ask voters to change quorum rules, allowing the statehouse to convene with only a simple majority of lawmakers present instead of the current two-thirds requirement.

The boycotts by the Republicans prevented the Senate from convening. Democrats dropped proposals on gun control and vaccines and Democratic Gov. Kate Brown ordered the state police to bring the missing lawmakers back during the second walkout.

The Republicans left the state to avoid apprehension, and returned only after Democratic Senate President Peter Courtney announced her party lacked the votes to unilaterally pass a sweeping bill to combat global warming.

Senate Democrats said that Majority Leader Ginny Burdick will introduce a constitutional amendment in the 2020 legislative session to lower quorum requirements. Voters would then decide on the proposed change in the 2020 election.

“Stopping the work of the people by denying a quorum is unconscionable and undemocratic,” Burdick, a Portland Democrat, said in a statement. “I hope our Republican colleagues now see that this is not a tactic that should ever be used again.”

There was no immediate comment from Republicans.

“Democrats were not happy when Republicans walked out on them this year. I believe Republicans were just as upset when Democrats walked out on them in 2001,” Courtney said.

Courtney also announced Friday that the Legislature will not fine the 11 state senators who left the state to deny a quorum during the second walkout that lasted nine days. They had faced a $500 fine for each day they missed. Courtney said attempting to collect the fines would have resulted in costly litigation.

“Walkouts are a measure that should never be used,” he said. “It deeply saddens me that we cannot have debates without resorting to such extremes.”

Senate Democrats said all but three other states require a simple majority for a quorum. In Oregon, the current quorum means 20 senators and 40 members of the House of Representatives must be present to conduct business. Under a simple majority, only 16 must be present in the Senate and 31 in the House.

The Oregon Senate leaders said they won’t send invoices trying to collect fines against 11 Republican state senators who staged a walkout toward the end of the 2019 legislative session. Instead, Senate Democrats said in a news release they “will focus on efforts to protect Oregon’s democracy by removing the ability of a minority faction to halt the work of the people by denying quorum.”

Senate Democrats claimed they “achieved historic results for Oregonians in the 2019 session, including passage of the Student Success Act, stabilizing Oregon’s housing crisis, paid family leave and criminal justice reform for juveniles.”

But twice during the 2019 legislative session, the Democrats said, “Senate Republicans abandoned their constitutional duties and hid in another state to deny the two-thirds quorum currently required to conduct business.” During the second walkout, the Democratic senators who remained at work moved to fine each absent senator $500 per day for not showing up to work.

“Stopping the work of the people by denying a quorum is unconscionable and undemocratic. Senate Democrats will work to protect Oregon’s democracy by giving Oregonians and their representatives more tools to stop any future quorum denials,” Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) said. “I hope our Republican colleagues now see that this is not a tactic that should ever be used again, and that they will work with us to prevent either party from walking off the job.”

Specifically, Burdick said she will introduce a constitutional amendment in the 2020 session to apply the same quorum requirements as all but three other states: a simple majority, which means 16 in the Senate and 31 in the House of Representatives.

The current quorum requirement is two-thirds, which means 20 senators and 40 representatives must be present to conduct business. The amendment would ultimately be decided by Oregon voters in the November 2020 General Election.

“The decision not to issue the invoices was a difficult one, given the seriousness of the walkout,” the Senate Democrats said in Friday’s news release. “But imposing the fines would have been bogged down by lengthy litigation and hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded legal fees.”

“Senate Democrats will instead channel the energy that would have been expended on that effort on preventative measures, including the constitutional amendment and other bills in the short session to ensure that a small minority of legislators cannot completely shut down the legislative process,” they said.

“The 2019 Legislative Session is over,” Burdick said. “It’s time for us to focus on Oregon’s priorities for 2020 and beyond, and to ensure that we are able to deliver the results that Oregonians are counting on us to produce.”