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The political stalemate in the Oregon Senate is showing no signs of breaking in time for a normal conclusion to the 2023 Legislative Session. If anything, leadership is moving further away from resolution by the day.

Republicans announced through a press release on Tuesday that their caucus would return on June 25—the constitutional Sine Die—to pass “lawful, substantially bipartisan budgets and bills.” Democrats responded Wednesday with a press release of their own, calling the walkout unconstitutional and a power grab because it would give Republicans veto power on which bills move forward on the final day of session.

This war through the parties’ press offices points to more than just a partisan problem. It’s a temperament problem. Leaders on both sides are choosing to escalate the rhetoric in public rather than defusing the tension through negotiation.

The idea has even been floated that Democrats could call Sine Die early and clear the table of all pending legislation. This would be disastrous, as priority legislation for Democrats and Republicans alike would be scrapped. It also banks on enticing Republicans to return for a special session to pass the budget, which wouldn’t be guaranteed.

It’s worth noting that the House, with twice as many members and more extreme viewpoints represented in each party, has continued to operate throughout the Senate walkout.

There are more than 150 bills awaiting second reading in the Senate, meaning that even at a record-setting pace of 5 minutes per bill, it would take a full 12-and-a-half-hour day to get through the docket.

There’s still time for Oregon Senate leadership to right the sinking ship. But it will require setting personalities and petty differences aside.

The sprint toward the finish line begins this week in the Oregon Legislature, but nobody is quite sure where the finish line will be.

Friday was the second and final chamber deadline, and any policy bill that hadn’t been heard by the end of the day has been scrapped for this session. The caveats are bills that found their way to referral to a non-deadline committee or will be amended onto other legislation before final passage.

Leadership’s targeted Sine Die on June 15 looks unlikely, as Republican senators have pushed their walkout past the point of no return — 10 senators have 10 or more unexcused absences. That’s the threshold for the new voter-approved law that would bar them from running for another term, and the incentive for returning sooner than necessary is low.

Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend) released a statement on Thursday saying Republicans will return to the Capitol to pass bipartisan budgets and bills, but that will almost certainly take place with 24-48 hours before the constitutional Sine Die on June 25.

Pac/West Lobby Group Director of Legislative & Public Affairs Rick Metsger wrote about the potential abuse of Measure 113 before the election, and we’re seeing the ramifications play out now, just six months later.

Revenue and Budgets

The work of policy committees is largely complete for 2023, and attention turns now to the Ways & Means committees and chamber floors.

Budget writers received positive news in last week’s revenue forecast, as Oregon’s economy continues to perform well. Legislators will now work through agency budgets, policy bills with fiscal impacts, and capital improvement projects — in that order. You can read the report from Pac/West Lobby Group’s state budget and revenue expert Phil Scheuers here.

Eight years ago, my then 15-year-old daughter, Anna, and I journeyed to the state capitol to interview Senate President Peter Courtney. Anna was a journalist for the school newspaper at South Salem High School.

After surviving 15 minutes of Courtneyisms, we walked down the hallway to see how the senate offices were laid out in the Capitol. There she encountered Sen. Elizabeth Steiner. The senator extended her hand for a welcome greeting, and Anna responded with a sheepishly lame hand of her own.

“Not good enough,” Steiner replied firmly. “You are a young woman who needs to hold her head high, deserve respect, and shake hands with confidence.” Anna was a bit startled.

“I want you to go back around the corner and then come back and try it again,” Steiner directed. Anna followed her instructions, returned, eyes straight ahead, and delivered a firm, confident handshake. “That’s better,” Steiner said. “Don’t ever give anyone the impression you are not worthy—because you are.” Anna, who graduated from the University of Oregon School of Journalism, never forgot that encounter or the lesson she learned.

Sen. Elizabeth Steiner

Now an 11-year veteran of the Oregon Senate, Steiner keeps her own firm grip on the legislative process as co-chair of the powerful Ways & Means Committee. And she gets plenty of hands extended from all the new friends her position attracts. In many cases, the hands are looking to grab money—sometimes lots of it.

The state revenue forecast will be released this week, and with it, the hopes and dreams of some advocates will be dashed as pencil meets pad and concludes that the math does not add up.

Co-chair can be the most stressful job in the legislature, but Steiner handles it with a mixture of calm and discipline. Discipline was on full display when some colleagues urged her to tap into the state’s “rainy day” fund to pay for programs and services that the current budget may not be able to accommodate. She dismissed the idea quickly and firmly. Times may be challenging, but it’s not raining, and she wants to make sure the dollars are there when a real downturn threatens to impact core services. Her calm is the product of grace under pressure.

“It really isn’t more difficult than a lot of other things I have had to do,” Steiner said, referring to her long career as a family physician. Moving from one exam room to another, dealing with loss, grief, anxiety, and fear. But also to offer comfort and encouragement. And, most importantly, listening.

“I believe in active listening,” Steiner explained. “So many people are so busy formulating their answer they fail to really listen and hear what the other is saying. I believe it is important to respond with clarifying questions. ‘Tell me what this means to you,’” she said.

She is a firm believer in inclusion. She has dined with Republican colleagues, visiting their districts and practicing active listening to their issues and concerns.

“I learn new stuff all the time. It makes me more effective,” she said. “I appreciate someone who can bring institutional memory to many of the issues we face.”

Sen. Elizabeth Steiner

Steiner stepped into the Senate when she was appointed to succeed Suzanne Bonamici, who had won election to Congress in 2011. She didn’t know what to expect when she entered the Senate for her first session but was eager to learn.

“It’s a lot like parenthood,” she explained. “Until you are a parent, you really don’t know what it is like. It requires good communications skills, listening skills.”

She particularly enjoys traveling around the state, conducting remote hearings to hear from Oregonians on their turf.

“Problem-solving comes by getting everyone in the room together, letting people talk.”

Steiner has observed one thing about the legislature that mirrors her experience in medicine.

“Legislators seem a lot like doctors in that they tend to self-specialize. I am a generalist. I think it is important in this work to see how everything ties together and look at the whole picture.  We need more generalists,” Steiner said.

Staying grounded is another quality she embraces. When not handling complex agency budgets, she likes cooking, baking, hiking, and engaging with the congregation in her synagogue.

It is her own personal prescription for health. And health is what drives her in the legislative arena.

“I want to help Oregon be the healthiest state in the nation. I am very proud to be a part of a state that takes a leadership role in health care.”

For Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

Author’s Note: The following story reads only 56.4 on the Flesch Kincaid Reading Test. A score of at least 60 is preferred to ensure it can be easily read. I apologize for any difficulty the reader may have.

It has finally happened. Artificial intelligence has come to the Oregon Legislature. Some may wryly observe that it is a step in the right direction.

Since the beginning of the session, Republicans in the Senate have insisted that all bills be read from the podium in their entirety, even if dozens of pages long. It is a tactic to grind the legislative process down to a crawl.

Democrats have countered by bringing in Mr. Robot. Using artificial intelligence, a robotic voice can read the bills for hours on end, never tiring, and adjust its presentation speed when called upon. Just think about what might be next. With ChatGPT now all the rage, legislators may soon begin using AI to write and deliver their floor speeches. Could computer-generated voting be right around the corner?

Republicans countered again with their own AI introduction, claiming that many bills were passing through the chamber without passing the Flesch Kincaid Reading Test. Developed some 83 years ago, the test calculates the number of syllables in words, then the number of words in sentences to determine how difficult a piece of writing is to read and comprehend. Republicans have been feeding bill text into the computer, which has then calculated that some bills, or parts thereof, fail to achieve the minimum ‘60’ score on the readability test (0-100 being the scale) and the maximum 8th-grade reading level.

It is a clever, if transparent, approach to slowing down the process. The test itself is not a conclusive evaluation of readability or understanding. The Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t pass the Flesch Kincaid test, nor does the Oath of Office senators took to begin their service. At least we all just hope they understand the meaning.

Republicans have now adjourned to math class. They are busy calculating how many days their collective membership can stay away from Senate proceedings to deny quorum. They are limited by a new constitutional amendment, just passed by voters, that says if legislators have more than 10 unexcused absences, they are barred from running for re-election.

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic. It always comes down to the basics.

From a policy perspective, things are less complex. Republicans are furious about HB 2002, a wide-ranging medical rights bill coming up for a vote that contains six or seven hot-button issues. Democrats are pushing the bill as the mirror opposite of legislation Republicans have been jamming through in red states, where the same bundling of multiple issues is aimed to restrict their own residents’ rights.

It is the infamous cable bundle that has been practiced in legislatures long before cable was even invented. We all know the drill. You want sports channels, but you must pay for the ‘Cooking with Charlie’ channel that you will never, ever watch. Bingo-Bango-Bundle.

While the bundle serves to enforce voting discipline in both caucuses, when issues strike at moral and ethical beliefs, bundling of such issues can weigh heavily on members of both parties. A member may have strong moral views guiding support for one issue and then have equally strong ethical concerns about supporting another. It is a Solomon’s choice with few alternatives.

A poll released just last week by the Portland firm DHM illustrates the conflict. By almost a 2-1 margin, Oregonians oppose providing medical care for gender transition to minor children, a component in HB 2002. This includes almost half of Democrats as well. Yet, other polls have shown that over 80% of Republicans support access to birth control. Both issues and numerous others are all part of the HB 2002 bundle.

Once on the floor, members have few options, although one is available. Rarely used and even less commonly known is a process in Oregon’s Legislative Procedure that allows members to ‘split the vote.’ A motion for ‘Division of the Question’ (Masons Manual Chapter 33) can be made by a member when a bill is before a legislative body. A bill can be split into two, three, or even more subjects if those subjects can stand alone as separate bills. It takes a majority vote to divide the question, but in legislatures where partisan margins are thin, it can be an effective way to deal with individual ethical conflicts.

Constitutional amendments in Oregon are based on that same principle. Only single subjects can be presented to voters so as not to conflict the voter to vote for one thing while disagreeing with another.

Absent such a move, however, the bundle is considered in its entirety. No cord-cutting allowed.

The ultimate game plan of the Republicans or counter chess moves by the Democrats are unknown. Crystal clear, however, is that the sand in the hourglass on this constitutionally restricted session is sifting quickly. Citizens have one directive for both parties: Time to Move On! (Flesch Kincaid Score 100-Grade Level 5th Grade-easily readable).

Secretary of State Shemia Fagan

Secretary of State Shemia Fagan was thrust into the media spotlight last week when it was revealed she has been moonlighting as a consultant for a cannabis company that has been under legal and political fire in Oregon. The report came out hours before her Secretary of State office released the results of an audit recommending easing restrictions on cannabis companies in Oregon.

After initially denying wrongdoing, Fagan on Monday apologized for exercising “poor judgment” and “harming the trust” of Oregonians. She has been a fast-rising star in the Oregon Democratic Party, winning legislative seats in two different districts and taking the Secretary of State’s office back from Republican control in 2020.

The response came quickly, with Republican leaders demanding Fagan’s resignation and Gov. Tina Kotek, a fellow Democrat, calling for investigations by the Government Ethics Commission into Fagan’s contract and by the Department of Justice into the audit itself. Top Democrats in both chambers also expressed concern.

In politics, perception can be just as powerful as facts. We will be watching to see how this political jousting match affects the Legislature down the home stretch of this session. Diverting attention away from the issues at hand could impact any legislation that requires bi-partisan support.

Second Chamber Posting Deadline This Week

The first part of the second major deadline hits this week as all bills must be posted to their second work session committee by Friday, May 5. As with the first session posting deadline, bills will then have two weeks to be heard or they will be considered dead.

Ways and Means Roadshow Wraps Up in Ontario

The Oregon Constitution requires the legislature to pass a balanced biennial budget each odd-numbered year. After receiving the governor’s recommended budget, the Joint Ways & Means Committee, comprised of 20 members of both parties and both chambers, releases its budget framework from the co-chairs. The committee then travels throughout the state to hear from communities about their priorities and how best to spend their tax dollars.

Oregonians are welcome to come to Salem and talk with legislators in their offices at any point during the legislative session. By contrast, the Ways & Means roadshow places legislators in communities across the state to speak with a broader cross section of Oregonians.

Look back on each of the hearings:

• April 8, 2023: Sylvania Campus of Portland Community College in Portland
• April 14, 2023: Newport Performing Arts Center in Newport
• April 21, 2023: Umpqua Community College in Roseburg
• April 28, 2023: Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario