Oregon’s special session stumbles on first day, as House waits for enough people

Oregon’s transportation-focused special session broke down before it could get moving on Friday.

As planned, lawmakers descended on the Capitol to take up a contentious question: Whether to pass a package of tax hikes that will put more than $5.8 billion into road upkeep and public transit over the next decade — and avert hundreds of state workers from being laid off next month.

The problem is that not enough lawmakers made the trip. Late Friday morning, it became clear that the Oregon House didn’t have a 40-member quorum needed to conduct business, as many Republicans and a few Democrats remained elsewhere.

What was supposed to be an 11 a.m. start for the chamber got pushed to noon, then 1 p.m., then 3 p.m. and so on, as Democrats worked to bring absent members in. At one point, the incessant delay prompted a member of the public to throw a cluster of foam clown noses onto the chamber floor from the balcony.

The early gridlock was not in the script. In the run-up to the session, Gov. Tina Kotek and other top Democrats said repeatedly that they expected to have a two-thirds quorum required to conduct business in both chambers.

But while the Senate mustered that threshold early Friday, the 60-member House remained shy of the mark well into the afternoon.

Four House Democrats said part of the problem was a canceled flight. State Rep. Andrea Valderrama, D-Portland, was delayed returning home from vacation. But that appeared to be only part of the problem. Fewer Republicans were on hand than House Speaker Julie Fahey anticipated.

Notably on hand was state Rep. Hoa Nguyen, D-Portland, who was absent for much of this year’s legislative session as she battled cancer. Nguyen wore a mask on the chamber floor.

The lack of quorum offered unexpected leverage to House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, who began working behind the scenes to negotiate concessions to a tax package she has criticized repeatedly in recent weeks.

As of late Friday afternoon, the chamber hadn’t achieved a quorum.

The day of relative inaction was a surprising start to a session that had appeared to be in supermajority Democrats’ control.

The problems at hand are well known in the Capitol, following a six-month legislative session where lawmakers talked plenty about passing a transportation funding package, but ultimately failed to do anything.

Top Democrats say the state needs a new infusion of funding to help both the Oregon Department of Transportation and local governments pay for routine road upkeep. As an added bit of urgency, ODOT says it will lay off nearly 10% of its workforce without roughly $290 million more this budget.

Lawmakers met to consider House Bill 3991, a bill from Gov. Tina Kotek. It would hike the state’s gas tax by 6 cents per gallon, raise registration and titling fees, double a 0.1% tax taken from worker paychecks, and require electric vehicle drivers to pay new fees.

Some Democrats and interest groups say that bill amounts to a Band-Aid over the state’s true transportation funding needs.

But most Republicans have adamantly opposed tax increases, even as they acknowledge road maintenance is a deserving expense. As the session got underway, the party put forward a set of proposals they said would let the state avoid layoffs — if Democrats were willing to gut funding for other priorities.

As Democrats struggled to move their proposal forward Friday, Republicans floated an alternative they said would be much more popular with voters.

GOP leaders offered up an amendment that would free up money that is currently restricted for things like public transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects, greenhouse gas reductions and more.

By doing away with statutory restrictions on how the money is spent, Republicans argued the state could direct more than $500 million toward saving jobs at ODOT. That would come at the expense of steep cuts in areas like public transit service, where much of the money Republicans identified is currently spent.

“With the challenges that Oregonians are facing at home, we cannot continue as a state to be all things to all people,” Drazan said at a press conference on the Republican proposal, an amendment to Kotek’s bill.

Drazan and her Senate counterpart, Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, said ODOT must have the ability to choose what it values most.

“We are allowing the agency to say, ‘This core function has to exist before we do the thing that we want,’” Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham said at a press conference. “I think Oregonians want bike and ped [projects], but they need a road.”

Bonham and Drazan were flanked by a group of business owners who said they worried the increased taxes would raise costs at a time they’re already feeling pinched.

Xochitl Munoz owns La Margarita, a Mexican restaurant near the Capitol. She said a rising cost of living and higher parking fees in downtown Salem are already depressing business.

“We have been in business for 41 years and have had many struggles over the years, but this is some of the worst that we’ve felt,” Munoz said at the press conference. “It’s like COVID times… except we have no relief from the government, just more taxes.”

Lawmakers in both parties say many Oregonians likely agree with the sentiment. Drazan and Bonham made clear Friday they would look to put the transit tax increase before voters if it passes. The last time a statewide gas tax went on the ballot, in 2000, it was opposed by nearly 90% of voters.

“Democrats know this is unpopular. They know that this won’t fly in the next election cycle, Bonham said. “They’re going to pay a political price for this.”

But opponents of Kotek’s transportation bill weren’t the only ones speaking out Friday. Dozens of unionized ODOT employees and their allies rallied outside the Capitol before Senate lawmakers gaveled in, chanting “Save ODOT jobs, keep kids safe!”

The union, a major political ally of state Democrats, has pushed hard in recent months for lawmakers to find enough money to avoid layoffs.

“The special session is here because of our work and advocating for ourselves,” said Jason Lawrence, vice president of the SEIU offshoot that represents more than 1,000 ODOT employees. His sales pitch to lawmakers: “Nothing moves in Oregon without us. That’s not an exaggeration. That’s not hyperbole.”

This story may be updated.