The 35-day Short Session
officially concludes at
midnight on March 8th.
Unfortunately, it was a
Session of failure and poor
leadership. Governor
Kate Brown’s Cap & Trade was
the centerpiece of this
failure. Rather
than focus on shared-values
and budget priorities, such
as addressing homelessness,
health care, housing,
wildfire prevention,
education and public safety,
Democrats instead made their
special interest issue of
Cap & Trade top priority.
The Republican caucus
members on both the House
and Senate chose to leave
the state in order to deny
quorum, thus protecting
their respective districts
from the harmful economic
effects of Cap & Trade.
The Republican stance was
not only about the issue of
Cap & Trade, but how the
legislative process was
abused to push this
unpopular bill forward.
While Democrats claim this
2020 version of Cap & Trade
took into account Republican
concerns, not one Republican
amendment was adopted — not
one. Democrat concessions
merely delayed a few of the
impacts from significantly
higher energy prices.
Democrat leaders used Cap &
Trade to take other
priorities hostage
Oregon’s legislative process
is to be deliberative (slow,
methodical) and transparent
for public input.
Furthermore, Oregon’s
constitutional requirement
for 2/3 of members to be
present in order to conduct
business is a high
percentage in order to
compel both parties to work
together — not for one party
to dominate the other. A
quick five week Short
Session does not allow for a
proper deliberative and
transparent process that
such a complex policy
requires.
After Cap & Trade was moved
— without a public hearing —
from one committee to
another; after Democrat
leaders cut-off a video feed
of Republicans questioning
state agency directors about
Cap & Trade; after Democrats
added an additional person
to a committee in order to
have enough Yes votes to
move Cap & Trade to the
Senate Floor; and after no
Republican amendments were
given public hearings or
adopted, Republicans had
little choice but to leave
the state in order to stop
the process.
While Republicans were out
of the state, leaders of
both parties talked several
times. When the deadline for
Cap & Trade to become law
had passed,
Republicans agreed to return
to Salem to vote on a list
of priority budget bills put
forth by Democrat leaders,
only to have Democrat
leaders abruptly end the
session — killing
almost every bill. The way
the Democrat super majority
party operated the Short
Session is inexcusable.
Bills in which both parties
were willing to debate and
vote on should have been
scheduled first, before Cap
& Trade. Instead, Democrat
leaders used Cap & Trade to
take all other priorities
hostage. When their plan
didn’t work, they killed
everything, which directly
hurts the people of Oregon.
Often when two parties
cannot resolve a dispute, an
arbiter is brought in to
settle the matter. In this
case, after two consecutive
sessions where the Cap &
Trade dispute could not be
resolved by the legislature,
Republicans asked
for one simple thing
— refer the bill to
the voters —
as arbiter,
to settle the issue once and
for all. Democrats refused
even to do that.
The 2020 short session will
not be remembered as an
example of democratic
leadership but of the super
majority’s failure to lead
and govern. It didn’t have
to be this way. Fortunately,
this November Oregonians can
express their disgust with
this failure to lead and
vote to bring back a fair
and balance process to
Salem.
E. WERNER RESCHKE
State
Representative
Southern Klamath & Lake
Counties
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1456
Capitol Address:
900 Court St. NE,
H-384, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email:
Rep.EWernerReschke@OregonLegislature.gov
Website:
www.oregonlegislature.gov/reschke
Facebook:
Facebook.com/wernerfororegon
