GOP tactics in 2023 Oregon Legislature could range from combat to cooperation

By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau

Oregon Senate Republicans will require all legislation be read in full before a final vote, a move that will allow the minority party to stand on the brakes of Democrats’ agenda in the new legislative session.

Senate Majority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, said the parliamentary tactic was needed to encourage the Democratic majority to work with the GOP on major issues that come up during the 2023 session.

The senior Republican leader in the Oregon Legislature said on Tuesday that the minority party’s tactics could range from combat to common ground with Democrats. He’ll work with House Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville.  

“We are asking for a more bipartisan Legislature,” Knopp said at a press briefing for Republicans’ “Equitable Oregon” agenda.

Knopp was joined by deputy leaders of the GOP Senate caucus: Lynn Findley of Vale, Dick Anderson of Lincoln City, Daniel Bonham of The Dalles and Kim Thatcher of Salem. The Senate Republican Whip, Dennis Linthicum, of Klamath Falls, also took part. 

The group discussed legislation introduced by the GOP to slow inflation, increase housing, remove government regulations, kill a state-drawn wildfire risk map, and stop “overreach” of state programs to add environmental controls and require changes in technology to move away from fossil fuels. 

Republican-authored legislation is rarely championed by Democrats and much of the legislative agenda staked out familiar philosophical differences with the other party. 

The biggest question mark was how far Knopp and other Republicans leaders are willing to go when it comes to major issues such as carbon caps, gun control and Oregon’s already progressive abortion laws.

“It is the obligation of the minority to make sure that every voice is heard,” Knopp said. “We will use the tables that are available to the minority to make that happen.’

Democrats hold a 17-vote majority in the 30-member Senate, one less than during the 2021-22 session. The majority allowed the Senate Democrats to choose the new President of the Senate, Sen. Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego. They also can appoint the chair and have the majority of members of committees. However, the loss of one seat means Democrats do not have the 18 votes needed to approve taxes and other financial bills without Republican support.

Oregon is one of the few states where a quorum of two-thirds of members is required for either the Senate or House to conduct business. Most states require a simple majority. The quorum requirement has been used by Republicans in recent years to walk out of the Capitol to deny the consideration of a carbon pollution cap and other controversial legislation. The state constitution also retains the requirement that all bills be read aloud before final passage. Normally a motion is made to read a bill only by title, but any objection from a lawmaker requires two-thirds of votes to override. 

The full reading of a bill has been used in sessions to slow debate on controversial bills. But former House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, employed a blanket requirement for all bills in 2021 that brought House business to a crawl and had Democrats use mechanical reading machines for bills that sometimes took more than a day to recite.

Knopp said the worst case scenario wasn’t a foregone conclusion. He pointed to his own testimony this session on a housing bill sponsored by Rep. Courtney Neron, D-Wilsonville, and Sen. Suzanne Weber, R-Tillamook, as a step towards Republicans and Democrats working together.

First elected to the House in 1998, Knopp has been House majority leader and Senate minority leader. He’s served in both chambers, with a seven-year stretch between leaving the House in 2005 and his election to the Senate in 2012. That timespan includes memories of Democrats using a walkout and parliamentary rules to block Republican legislation.

The best outcomes, Knopp said, are when both parties realize they can get more done in partnership and differences are kept on a political rather than personal plane.

“Your perceived adversary in the morning is your friend you need in the afternoon, Knopp said.

The 2021 session ended with bitter acrimony from Drazan toward former House Speaker, now Gov. Tina Kotek for ditching a negotiated compromise to end the slow reading of bills. Republicans denounced former Gov. Kate Brown for what they said was using emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic for too frequent and too sweeping limits on businesses and public health decisions such as getting vaccinated or wearing face masks in public.

Voters last November overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to block any lawmaker who has 10 or more unexcused absences from running for re-election, making the possible personal political cost of a walkout higher for Senators and House members. Whether or not an absence is “excused” is the decision of the House Speaker and Senate President, both Democrats.

Knopp said he has a long history of negotiating differences with Kotek and seemed optimistic that he can hash out issues with Kotek better than with Brown.

“We have the same initials and share a birthday,” Knopp joked. “We’ve always had a good relationship.”

Knopp said he was encouraged by the turnover at the top of Oregon state government. 

“The start of every session is a chance for us to start again,” Knopp said.

He paraphrased a 1958 quote by then-Sen. John F. Kennedy “Let us not despair but act. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past, let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”