State senator backs changing quorum rule so minority can’t stall legislation by walking out

By Debora Gordon for Ashland.news

Nearly 50 people, mostly older, attended a town hall meeting with Oregon state Sen. Jeff Golden at the Ashland Public Library late Tuesday afternoon. Dressed casually in shorts, a button-down shirt and sneakers, Golden began by asking the audience, sitting in chairs arranged in a circle around him, to introduce themselves and state any questions or concerns, which Golden noted down on his yellow legal pad.

The main concerns cited were climate change and wildfires, Republican walkouts, support for the arts in Ashland area, ranked choice voting, and homelessness, particularly among senior citizens.

“Five years ago, I ran for this office for two reasons: climate and campaign finance reform,” Golden said, “and I’m not thrilled with the progress on either one … I think that everyone has to ramp up their involvement in elections and really take a hard line with candidates, to find out what they’re ready to do on climate and stand up to constituents who are resistant. We need people who understand that the window is closing. We want to give us some chance to survive as a species and it’s difficult to overstate. We have a party in Salem that doesn’t want to associate itself in any way with climate action.”

“We’ve sort of been the frogs in the slowly boiling water, but it’s not slow anymore,” Golden continued. “There’s an acceleration going on that is devastating. I’ve been working on wildfire and wildfire prevention. The odds are not looking good. … Everything has to be done to accelerate the transition off fossil fuels.”

Golden notes that some bills are held up by legislators across the aisle, such as SB 530, a natural climate solutions bill, which was still in committee when the legislature adjourned. Golden also pointed to SB 80, which makes certain changes related to statewide wildfire hazard map, and SB 509, which establishes policy for Oregon related to reducing number and intensity of wildfires.

“SB 762,” he added, “invested a lot of money in suppression and early detection, installing a network of video cameras; high tech, early detection. Fires discovered when very small. Our department of forestry and their partners, rural fire districts, are doing a fabulous job. That’s the easy part; the other parts have to do with fuel reduction, and Ashland is a statewide leader in doing that.”

Among other projects Golden is supporting is the CHIPS act, federal legislation for $52 billion to encourage domestic semi-conductor manufacturing. He asked, “Does it make more sense to invest in more tax incentives for corporations, a race to the bottom, or invest in workforce and infrastructure? … Rogue Community College is doing amazing things; equipping people in one or two year … programs to take part in the advanced manufacturing and semi-conductor boom and that’s where I wanted to see more money but that didn’t really carry the day, and it was a very good session for corporate Oregon.”

“I represent 175,000 people in this valley and a whole lot them would like to participate in the new economy,” Golden said, “but don’t have the training or skills to do it. RCC and SOU are ready to get them there, but we need support for higher ed. We did bring both K-12 and higher ed budgeting up to the level we want.”

Regarding the legislators who have not shown up for votes, Golden said, “You may remember we passed by a two-to-one vote, Measure 113, last November and that said that any legislator with 10 or more unexcused absences may not run for re-election. According to that law, 10 legislators cannot run again. … Let’s change Oregon’s quorum to 50% ….

“There was a kill list negotiated and the Republicans said we will come back if you kill these bills We said very publicly we are not changing a comma of any bill as a price to get people to come back and do their jobs and that is dealing with terrorists, dealing with hostage takers and we can’t run a democracy that way. Six weeks went by and we were in a complete deadlock. … (I)n the end, there were enough really important bills, but we did what we said we wouldn’t do, which was change legislation. We reduced the gun bill down to one measure; you can no longer manufacture your own guns with 3D printing. … (W)e reinforced the notion that walkouts work if you’re the minority power, which means in a way we have minority rule in Oregon. There have been a lot of suggestions on how to fix it. I think the only one is a simple majority (quorum to do business).”

Regarding other concerns raised, Golden talked about funding for the arts and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

“Our friends from the festival and in the arts were hoping we would pass House Bill 2459,” Golden said, “which would have provided $50 million to performance venues around the state. The single largest recipient would have been the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Performances venues, because of COVID primarily, are really challenged right now, and none more than the festival, layered on top of wildfire and smoke difficulties. We have an odd budget process, policy and budget committees. If there are any policy bills, they don’t then go to the floor. They go the Ways & Means Committee. … The Ways & Means people never heard any of that and they have an unmanageable mountain of stuff to get through and look to their fiscal staff and those are not public meetings; those are the co-chairs, house and senate, some from the speaker and president, all these decisions to make in the last couple of days.”

Regarding other issues, Golden affirmed he is a big supporter of ranked choice voting, particularly as it appeals to younger voters — who, he noted, have not participated in elections in large numbers.

Audience member Alan Journet, co-facilitator of Southern Oregon Climate Action (SOCAN), commented on the issue of climate change and wildfire and the response of the Oregon Department of Forestry during a Zoom meeting. Journet said, “The Oregon Department of Forestry did an absolutely abominable job of educating the people who were on the call as to why they were doing what they were doing. And they got a lot of questions. It was clear they understood the role of climate change, etc., but they didn’t respond very well to the folks who said, ‘Well, the problem is, you’re not logging enough trees.’ What was happening was the folks who were already programmed to be against the government for whatever they were doing were never educated as to what really was driving the wildfire problem.”

Golden agreed. “It was the most disastrous public communications event that I can remember. Basically, this is really tricky stuff, enhancing any kind of regulation on private property these days, there’s a screaming sector of the media that keeps talking about government tyranny and government destroying liberty and all of that. The bill gave the Department of Forestry and OSU this mapping responsibility and without anyone with communications experience, those staff were out in front, trying to answer questions. People were scared and furious and confused, they were hearing they bureaucrats go into the technical aspects of this map and why, telling them they should believe the map, so it was a classic failure to listen to people at all. So, we’ve been trying to get folks who know what they’re doing in public outreach.”

As time ran out, Golden concluded with an invitation to subscribe to his newsletter, encouragemed people to join local groups to work on important issues, and a thank-you to the audience for attending, followed by enthusiastic applause.

Debora Gordon is a writer, artist, educator and non-violence activist who recently moved to Ashland from Oakland, California. Email Ashland.news Executive Editor Bert Etling at [email protected] or call or text him at 541-631-1313.