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A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 1 July 2019

Oregon Republican senators end walkout over carbon bill

By ANDREW SELSKY police to find and return bers — and therefore at
SARAH ZIMMERMAN the rogue Republicans to least two Republicans —
Associated Press the Senate so the cham- present to vote on legisla-
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Repub- ber could convene, and a tion.
lican lawmakers returned counter-threat by one GOP Nine minority Republicans
to the Oregon Senate on senator to violently resist returned to the Senate
Saturday, ending an acri- any such attempt. Senate on Saturday after Senate
monious nine-day walkout Republicans fled the state President Peter Courtney
over a carbon emissions bill to avoid being forcibly re- said the majority Demo-
that would have been the turned by the Oregon State crats lacked the necessary
second such legislation in Police, whose jurisdiction 16 votes to pass the legis-
the nation. ends at the state line. lation, a statewide cap on
The boycott had escalat- Democrats have an 18 to carbon that allows compa-
ed when the Democratic 12 majority in the Senate nies to trade pollution cred-
governor ordered the state but need at least 20 mem- its. Shortly after convening,
senators quickly voted 17-
10 to send the climate pro-
posal back to committee, Lawmakers convene at the Oregon Senate after the minority
essentially killing it for the Republicans ended a walkout they had begun on June 20 over
session. a carbon-emissions bill they said would harm their rural con-
stituents, at the Oregon Senate in Salem, Ore., Saturday, June
Sen. Sara Gelser, a Demo- 29, 2019.
crat from the college town Associated Press
of Corvallis, said the de-
mise of the cap-and-trade quist's words, only saying to make Oregon a leader
bill has deeply upset many the comments were un- in the fight against climate
constituents. helpful. change and will ultimately
"That's a bill that's been Boquist faces a formal create jobs and transform
many, many years in the complaint that will be tak- the economy.
making," Gelser told report- en up at a special commit- The bill, if passed, would
ers Saturday. "I think there's tee hearing in July. have been the second in
a lot of heartbreak, but to- The walkout by the Repub- the nation, after California,
day is one day and we'll licans, which began June to cap and trade pollution
come back and address it. 20, inspired protests at the credits among companies.
We have to. Our planet de- Capitol by their backers It aimed to dramatically re-
mands it." and led to the building be- duce greenhouse gases by
The House had previously ing closed one day due to 2050 by capping carbon
passed the bill, one of the a possible militia threat. emissions and requiring
centerpieces of Oregon's But Senate Majority Lead- businesses to buy or trade
2019 legislative session, er Ginny Burdick said that for an ever-dwindling pool
which is scheduled to end the walkout didn't change of pollution "allowances."
late Sunday. much, as the measure With only two days before
Republicans, who make didn't have enough sup- the 2019 legislative session
up the minority in both port to get to the governor's officially ends, the Senate
chambers, uniformly op- desk even before Republi- hurried through some of the
posed the proposal saying cans left the statehouse. more than 100 bills and mo-
it would increase the cost "As the person who counts tions that were still pend-
of fuel and wreak financial the votes, my personal ing. Among the measures
havoc on the trucking and sense is that the votes were are ones on paid family
the logging industries. not there," Burdick told re- and medical leave, cam-
One of the Republicans porters earlier this week. paign funding, and fund-
absent Saturday was Sen. The Republicans, though, ing for the Oregon Food
Brian Boquist, who had painted their boycott as a Bank and for Medicaid.
told state police to come triumph. Other big-ticket items are
heavily armed and to send "Our mission in walking out a bill aimed at addressing
bachelor officers if they was to kill cap and trade," sexual harassment in the
were going to forcibly re- Senate Minority Leader Capitol, money to expand
turn him to the Senate dur- Herman Baertschiger told affordable housing and an
ing the walkout. Senate reporters Friday. "And that's increased tobacco tax.
Republican leader Herman what we did." The Republicans wielded
Baertschiger, Jr., on Friday Democrats had said the cli- power disproportionate to
refused to condemn Bo- mate legislation was critical their numbers this session.q