By Oregonians for Food and Shelter,
With temperatures dropping outside this week, the heat was rising in the Capitol during the third week of the Oregon Legislative Session. With the first and most significant deadline last Monday to get bills voted out of their original committee, more bills headed towards chamber floors, building pressure. Many bills died, and legislators sanded up some of the surviving bills with amendments, sending those on to the next phase of the process: floor votes, budget or tax committees, or the mysterious and influential “Rules” committees.
Most Capitol insiders expected SB 1599 to cause fireworks as the parties face-off over whether to move the pending transportation tax referral from the November primary to the May primary. In the Senate, Republican lawmakers staged a temporary walkout Wednesday – all 12 GOP senators were absent, denying a quorum as Democrats prepared to vote on the controversial transportation bill. However, they returned Thursday, generating speculation throughout the Capitol regarding the purpose and resolution of the walk-out. Meanwhile, across the rotunda, many House Republicans went missing briefly Wednesday as well. Floor business continued Thursday in both chambers, with observers scrambling to piece together whether “deals” had been cut between parties and chambers, and the terms of the agreements. On Friday, SB 1599 continued to be pushed back on the calendar, with speculation as to whether it even had sufficient Democratic votes to pass.
Several high-profile bills bubbled to the top, flaring tempers even further. A contentious committee meeting on a high-profile gun-related bill, HB 4145, spawned a conduct complaint against Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend. After all that, HB 4145 was pushed to Monday on the floor schedule, with many wondering whether the bill itself played a role in the backroom “deal making.” Several other contentious bills created long debates and backed up schedules, including a reproductive health bill (HB 4088), a bill subjecting insurance companies to Oregon DOJ investigations (HB 4098), and most notably, the partisan proposal to roll back tax deductions for Oregonians (SB 1507).
On the Federal side, OFS Executive Director Katie Murray joined ag partners this week in a meeting with Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (CD-6), who sits on the House Committee on Agriculture. The discussion focused on the draft Farm Bill and priorities from Oregon ag groups and commodities. We appreciated the opportunity to share our priorities and are grateful to her team for the outreach.
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