PLSO July/August 2019

10 Vol. 42, No. 4 The Oregon Surveyor | Featured Article A Sine Die Report What Happened Oregon’s Constitution required the Legislature to end by midnight, June 30. That Sunday, the Capitol was filled with politicians, lobbyists, staff, media, and a large contingent of State Troopers. On the last day of Session, the mood is ordinarily akin to a last day of school. Not this year. The air was thick with ten- sion. Troopers watched over legislators from the galleries above the Senate and House chambers. Troopers guarded from inside the chambers where legislators were voting. Troopers were posted out- side the chambers where lobbyists and the public congregated. Troopers were stationed at public entrances. And troop- ers roamed the halls of legislative offices. Setting the Stage But hang on. A good story starts at the beginning. So, let’s rewind the clock: In December, I was at a fundraiser. Ore- gon’s Speaker of the House, Tina Kotek (D-Portland), was the headliner. Kotek and other Democratic legislators attending were jubilant and emboldened. Gover- nor Kate Brown easily won re-election and voters gave Kotek a “supermajori- ty.” (38 of Oregon’s 60 House members were now Democrats. Only 31 votes are needed to change a law, and 36 votes to increase taxes or create new ones—the Constitution requires a 3/5’s superma- jority to increase taxes.) During her remarks, Kotek predicted that, “2019 will be a transformational session for Oregon” adding that everything Dem- ocrats had worked toward would come to fruition in the 2019 Session. Senate Democrats were equally successful at the ballot box. They now held 18 of the 30 Senate seats, giving them a superma- jority as well. (Only 16 votes are needed to change a law, and 18 votes for taxes.) So, what did this mean? Democrats could now change any law, increase taxes, and create new taxes without a single Repub- lican vote in the Senate or House. Senate President Peter Courtney Speaker of the House Tina Kotek The House, led by Kotek, was bold and aggressive... the Senate is led by President Peter Courtney... His style is marked by gradualism and cooperation between both parties. By Darrell W. Fuller, PLSO Lobbyist