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TexasTowelie

(116,507 posts)
Tue Aug 27, 2019, 07:16 AM Aug 2019

Oregon Senate leaders drop plan to collect fines from Republicans who walked out

The Oregon Senate leadership is dropping its effort to collect $3,500 in fines from each of the Republican senators who participated in a walkout last session, refusing for more than a week to show up.

It's a move Democrats are making so they can pivot and, instead, ask voters to change quorum rules so the Legislature can be in session with a simple majority of lawmakers.

The change, which would require voter approval of a constitutional amendment, is aimed at preventing future walkouts in which a minority party can stall the Legislature by denying a quorum.

Current rules require a two-thirds majority, or 20 senators of the 30-member upper chamber to conduct business. That's how 11 Republican senators were able to wage a successful walkout that helped kill a carbon emissions cap-and-trade bill backed by Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Kate Brown.

Read more: https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/23/oregon-senate-drops-plan-to-collect-fines-from-republicans-who-walked-out-salem/2099522001/
(Salem Statesman Journal)

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