Joseph Jordan: State Legislature: News and Notes
Six quick things to track in Salem.
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Now to the post!
Joseph Jordan is an Oregonian, writer, and law student.
The Oregon Legislature convened for its 2021 regular session on January 19.
1. Democrats control both houses of the legislature, with eighteen of the thirty seats in the Senate and thirty-seven of the sixty seats in the House. Under normal order, this means Democrats can pass any legislation they take up with only the votes of their co-partisans.
Republicans’ only recourse — one they took up in both 2019 and 2020 to halt climate change legislation — is to attempt to deny quorum. Quorum, a common rule in legislatures and boardrooms across the country, requires that two-thirds of each house be present for members to take up business. If every Republican in one house of the legislature or the other boycotts a session, nothing can happen. The only way to change these rules is through an amendment to the State Constitution.
2. State Police have warned lawmakers of potential violence in the wake of the January 6 Washington, D.C., insurrection, and the widespread disinformation that helped cause it. Indeed, Oregon saw its own Capitol intrusion in December, 2020, aided by Rep. Mike Newman (R-Independence), who opened a door to allow an armed mob to enter the building. That, combined with Coronavirus concerns, means that Salem has been perhaps Oregon’s hardest-hit major city, with Marion County reporting the second-most deaths and fourth-most COVID-19 cases of any county in the state.
Given the problems facing Salem, the legislature has remained in a state of suspended animation. Like many other Oregonians, legislators are attempting to muddle through their jobs with a combination of video conferencing and social distancing. All committee meetings will be remote until at least March.
3. Lawmakers have said early action is likely to respond to the unprecedented and perilous events of the past year. Indeed, the legislature’s path forward is much sketchier than usual; most years, intense negotiations would have happened over the winter break about big legislation to be rolled out across the five-month session.
This year, the flexibility required to respond to events on the ground reigns supreme. House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) told Oregon Public Broadcasting, “This session is about responding to crisis and helping people.” This means priority will likely go to pandemic response and wildfire response, with other issues following later.
4. Though other issues remain on the agenda, two items loom large behind the pressing emergencies: Gov. Kate Brown’s budget, and redistricting the borders of both the state Senate and House districts as well as those of Oregon’s U.S. House of Representatives (discussed more below).
5. Though the pandemic’s impact on tax receipts has not been as drastic as some feared — state economists have revised estimates of the state’s income upwards in recent months — growth in the economy remains slow while growth in the population and the cost of public services remains high.
Unlike the federal government, Oregon cannot run a deficit to make ends meet, so Gov. Brown has proposed sweeping cuts to state prisons and funding to hospitals; unsurprisingly, these proposed cuts have already proved controversial. The budget must be finalized before the legislature adjourns in June.
6. In Oregon, redistricting lies wholly in the hands of the legislature. Though there is little chance that many seats will change hands in the State Houses due to redistricting, the composition of the state’s federal House delegation depends on the outcome of the 2020 census and the redistricting that ensures.
Oregon’s population has boomed since the last census. From 2010 to 2020, Oregon’s population jumped from just over 3 million to just over 4 million, meaning that the state may well be in line to receive another seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. If that happens, the state legislature will have an opportunity to draw new districts, possibly guaranteeing one of the national parties another seat in Congress.
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