Gov. Kate Brown, House Speaker Tina Kotek, Senate President Peter Courtney and I agree on at least one thing: The 2020 legislative session WAS a failure. Regarding how and why the session failed; we have extremely differing views.

Just three bills made it to the Governor’s desk before adjournment. Dozens of crucial budget bills and bipartisan policy proposals failed to receive votes. But it didn’t have to end this way.

The truth is, the majority party wanted their cap-and-trade bill so badly, they were willing to sacrifice everything in its wake to ensure its passage. Time after time, we pleaded to either remove the emergency clause or put a referral on the bill. Let the people vote! Unfortunately, the flawed cap-and-trade bill was put ahead of legislation that would have addressed homelessness, health care, housing, education and public safety. When we encouraged them to put budget bills and bipartisan policy proposals ahead of cap-and-trade early in the session, the majority party said no.

When it became clear the party in charge was not interested in compromising on cap-and-trade and were not going to move forward with a proper end to the session, Republican lawmakers developed a plan for completing the Legislature’s business. Our proposal to return on the final day of the session (March 8th) would have allowed us to pass those essential budget bills and other shared priorities. To be clear, Republican lawmakers were not attempting to “cherry pick” which bills lived or died. In fact, we agreed to the list of important budget bills that Democratic leadership announced as priorities on the House Floor without allowing the passage of cap-and-trade. Again, the answer was no. 

Make no mistake, we had the time (in 2019 the Senate passed over 100 bills on the last day), the authority, and the resources to get these bills across the finish line on the final day of session. Instead of joining us on Sunday to finish the peoples’ work, Democratic leadership prematurely gaveled out the session and quit on the people of Oregon.

Sadly, there were a lot of budget and policy bills that both parties agreed upon, including my two bills; kratom and land use. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t have passed these bi-partisan bills at the beginning of session. Instead, Democratic leadership made their choice to hold common sense bills hostage until their agenda was complete. Oregon deserves better. 

After all the political theatrics, did it really matter? Today, the Governor signed Executive Oregon 20-04 on climate change. According to the Governor's Office:

..."This order updates the existing state carbon emissions goals to reflect the current science, setting a standard of 45% reduction from 1990 levels by 2035 to an 80% reduction from 1990 levels by 2050. 

Directs the Environmental Quality Commission to set and enforce sector-specific CAPS on climate pollution. 

Reduces climate pollution from cars and TRUCKS by 20%...."

You can read the entire order by clicking here. 

Additionally, Emergency Board passed new funding for the Department of Environmental Quality...allocating $5 million for 10 new full time employees to analyze the reduction of greenhouse gas pollution throughout Oregon. 

So again, did it really matter...Republican's denying quorum. The Governor still did what she wanted to do.