Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced Tuesday that the elected officials who participated in the legislative walkout earlier this year will not be allowed to run for reelection in 2024.
Last year, two-thirds of Oregon voters approved Measure 113, meant to disqualify legislators from reelection following the end of their term if they had 10 absences from legislative floor sessions.
On Tuesday, Ms. Griffin-Valade informed the Oregon Elections Division to implement the rule, clarifying that absences in the 2023 legislative session meant disqualification from running in 2024.
Oregon law requires each chamber of the legislature to have two-thirds of the body present to reach a quorum and conduct floor votes, and lawmakers from both sides have previously used walkout tactics to prevent business from moving forward.
When Measure 113 passed last November, Republican lawmakers, in particular, had already participated in seven walkouts since 2019, frustrating constituents and their opponents. Then, earlier this year, 10 lawmakers participated in a walkout that became the longest in state history, raising the question of whether they would indeed be banned from reelection.
Oregon state senators are elected for four-year terms. The Secretary of State’s office explained that “some have suggested this language means a Senator who accumulated disqualifying absences in 2023 would be able to run in 2024 but be prohibited from running in 2028.”
Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp certainly believes so, as he has promised to challenge the measure in court. During the end of the legislative session, in June, he had asked Senate President Rob Wagner to retroactively excuse the absences, but Mr. Wagner told reporters he would not.
Legal Challenge
In a statement responding to the Secretary of State’s decision, Mr. Knopp wrote, “It appears the Democrat Attorney General and the Democrat Secretary of State are willing to cover for the Democrat Senate President Rob Wagner’s decision to ensure Measure 113 quashes the free speech of minority Senate Republicans as it was designed to do by political special interests.”“We believe the plain language of Measure 113 allows for members to run again in 2024 elections. We disagree with the Secretary of State’s determination and will challenge it in court.”
State senator Brian Boquist pointed out that “the statute of limitations is two years for elections per the Oregon Revised Statute.”
In an email to the secretary of state’s office, he stated his intention to file an official complaint against the Elections Division and the attorney general, as they have flipped positions on this issue.
“The Secretary of State has suddenly claimed constitutional authority for legislative affairs regarding Republicans while at the exact same time denying she has constitutional authority over Democrats in the legislature,” he told The Epoch Times.
Walkouts
Earlier this year, amid the introduction of contentious abortion and gun control bills, nine Republican and one Independent senators staged a walkout. The Epoch Times reached out to the 10 state senators for comment.“The breaking point really was, one of our staff people found out that the bill summaries on every single bill were not meeting state law,” Mr. Knopp had said at the time.
It ended up lasting six weeks, resuming near the end of the legislative session, where the parties reached bipartisan agreement on some issues and quashed some other bills.
In June, during a 10-hour weekend of negotiations, Republicans wanted abortion and gun control bills scaled back while Democrats pushed for a waiver to standard legislative procedure, which would allow them to fast-track hundreds of bills.
In the end, a requirement that parents be notified if a child under 15 is seeking an abortion remained, but with an amendment that if two separate health professionals deemed it unsafe, they could override the requirement. A bill that would offer abortion services on university campuses and in rural parts of the state did not more forward. Cross-sex, “gender affirming” services remained covered by insurance plans, and protections for Oregon abortion professionals providing services to out-of-state clients remained in place. Meanwhile, another resolution that would add these protections for abortion and same-sex marriage into the state constitution did not move forward. Democrats agreed to drop legislation that would raise the age minimum for purchasing and owning guns to 21, and to ban concealed weapons in public buildings.
Democrats said they were proud that crucial portions of abortion and transgender legislation were kept in place.
In July, several of the Republican state senators announced their plans to run for reelection. The Secretary of State was still reviewing the issue at the time.
“I think it was the right decision to walk out. I think it was the right decision to come back to a deal that the Democrats said that they wouldn’t negotiate. In fact, they did, and we do appreciate that,” he replied. “But what was done with the unexcused absences were arbitrary and capricious and retaliatory. And so we think if the people actually knew what was going to happen before they voted on Measure 113, I don’t think they would voted for it.”
He further revealed that Republicans would be willing to continue to use walkouts in future sessions if Democrats would not negotiate.
