NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: A New Year is Looming 12/26/23

In 2022, Oregonians voted overwhelmingly for Measure 113, which appeared to say that any legislator with more than 10 unexcused absences could not run for re-election. And yet, this past session suffered a six-week Senate walkout which risked a total failure of the session and the possibility of adjourning with no state budget.

In simple terms, some members felt strongly enough about some measures to risk their political careers and the well-being of the state. I disagreed with them on the issues – and the use of the walkout tactic. But I understood their motives and commitment.

So what’s going on now?

Our Secretary of State has ruled that members exceeding the 10-absence rule cannot run for re-election. But several senators have challenged that decision in two separate Court cases. And that makes things confusing.

In mid-December, a federal judge rejected a request by three Republican senators who argued the First Amendment protects walkouts as a form of free speech. People read that headline and thought the larger question was resolved. It isn’t.

The law inserted language into the state constitution that says any lawmaker with 10 or more unexcused absences can’t hold office “for the term following the election after the member’s current term is completed.” The problem is that elections are held prior to the end of a legislative term, not after. The Court may rule that this allows the AWOL Senators to run for one more term.

On the other hand, in voter’s pamphlet explanatory statements and news articles, voters were told those penalties would kick in immediately. Arguments supporting the SOS decision say the plaintiffs are making an “illogical, solely textual reading of Ballot Measure 113 that would disregard the intent of the voters.”

We can expect the Oregon Court to rule soon. Their opinion will have a big influence on who remains in the Senate for the 2025 legislative session. Of 10 Republicans who violated Measure 113 with this year’s walkout, six have terms that expire at the beginning of 2025. Two of those — Senators Bill Hansell and Lynn Findley — have already announced they will retire.

The basis for all of this drama is Oregon’s unusually high quorum requirements. Two-thirds of representatives or senators must be present for the House or Senate to do business. In most states, that number is a simple majority of just over one-half. High quorums give the minority power to stop, or at least delay, bills supported by the majority. Late in the session, I co-sponsored legislation to change our quorum requirements. Watch my comments on the Capitol steps here.

Reps. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, and David Gomberg, D-Otis, take questions during a press conference on June 6, 2023. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Fast forward some twenty months. Oregon State University, designated by the agreement to organize and administer the research forest, has decided not to participate. What that means going forward isn’t yet clear. But I’ll admit that after years of tough work by key stakeholders, it’s hard not to worry about what will happen to this valuable, all-too-rare example of constructive resolution of a longstanding Oregon feud. I’ll be watching this one closely.

Coast Range fog settles on the Elliott State Forest near Coos Bay.

The Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management, the federal agency in charge of an initiative to find more sources of renewable energy, has identified two areas where it wants to lease wind farm space in Oregon, one off the coast of Florence and one off the coast of Brookings. According to the Portland Business Journal’s analysis of the BOEM maps, area A would be approximately 32 miles offshore from Reedsport and area B would be 18 miles from Brookings.

The proposals suggest 74 turbines in the Florence/Reedsport area and 188 in the Brookings area which would each be 725 feet tall and generate 20 million watts per hour. There are not currently turbines that efficient, but BOEM projects there will be by the time projects are being built.

BOEM received more than 1,000 public comments on the proposal, most of them negative. Local residents and people with tourism interests voiced concern about harming views and ocean recreation. Tribes, fishing groups, and environmentalists voiced concern about the wind farms hurting fish and wildlife.

The Coastal Caucus, which I chair, has proposed that wind farm decisions be delayed while adequate steps are taken to hear from tribes and preserve the environment, marine life, and our coastal industries. We will issue another letter on this matter in the new year.

The proposed location of wind farms off the Oregon Coast. BOEM had earlier proposed the areas outlined in black but has since narrowed proposals to areas highlighted in blue.

Fires destroyed homes, upended communities, and disrupted lives. We’ve spent the last three years cleaning up and rebuilding. And we got a lot of state, federal, and private contributions to do so. But one thing overlooked in that process was the damaging affect of debris removal, tree clearing, cutting and harvesting, and construction or manufactured home delivery across fragile gravel roads never designed for that kind of daily, heavy traffic.

Residential roads were trashed not by the fires, but by the response to the fires. And because they didn’t live here, state decision makers didn’t see that.

In 2022, I asked ODOT to allocate half a million dollars to Lincoln County from one of their special emergency funds. And at long last, that work was done this month.