Oregon lawmakers on Monday opened a short legislative session expected to be dominated by plans to overhaul the state’s pioneering drug decriminalization law in the wake of surging homelessness, housing shortages and overdose deaths. They will be convened for the start.
Lawmakers have just 35 days to pass the bill. For now, Congressional leaders are seeking bipartisan communication to overcome partisan tensions that remain from last year’s Republican walkouts over measures on abortion, transgender care and gun rights. Parliament has been suspended six times in the past. A Republican state senator was disqualified from re-election for 10 weeks.
Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek urged lawmakers to focus on the state’s most pressing issues.
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“My primary focus in Congress is to put as much effort as I can into efforts to improve housing production in our state,” Kotek said. “That is the ultimate solution to the housing and homelessness crisis.”
Kotek’s only bill this Congress is a comprehensive housing measure that would amend Oregon’s distinctive land-use laws to, among other things, encourage housing construction. This law, which has been in place since his 1970s, established growth boundaries in cities to prevent urban sprawl and protect farmland and forests.
Kotek’s measure would grant cities a one-time exemption from the rule, allowing them to add new land for residential use to so-called “urban growth boundaries.” Thirty percent of new units in the expansion area must be affordable housing.
Oregon Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (left) and Democratic Senate President Rob Wagner attend a press conference at the State Library in Salem, Oregon, on January 31, 2024. Since Knopf led last year’s strike. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
The proposal would build on changes to land-use laws last year, when lawmakers passed legislation to make more land available for semiconductor development. The bill would allow Kotek to designate up to eight sites for urban growth boundary extensions and use them for such purposes.
Kotek’s roughly $500 million housing package this session will also include $20 million in grants in what he described as “climate-friendly” incentives. The grant will be available to housing projects where cooking appliances, heating and water heaters are powered by electricity instead of natural gas.
Another top priority for the Governor is to expand and increase funding for summer learning programs to help students overcome learning losses caused primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This session is expected to be a heated discussion centering on proposed changes to the state’s first drug decriminalization law.
Facing increasing public and political pressure and the largest spike in overdose deaths nationwide, Democrats are making significant changes to the law by making possession of small amounts of drugs a low-level misdemeanor again. He announced a bill to repeal that part. The move will allow police to seize drugs and control their use in public places, the authors said.
Measure 110, approved by voters in 2020, would direct state marijuana tax revenue to drug addiction treatment and decriminalize “personal use” amounts of illegal drugs. For example, if she is in possession of less than 1 gram of heroin, she will only be subject to a ticket and a fine of up to $100.
Republicans say Democrats’ proposals don’t go far enough. They want to make possession for “personal use” a higher level misdemeanor and make treatment mandatory.
House leaders from both parties acknowledge that they have policy differences and seek to build relationships and “surprise” to avoid the breakdown in communication that contributed to last year’s Republican walkout in the Senate. The company is focused on adopting a “no-nonsense approach”.
“We have a task in front of us that we need to focus on,” said Republican House Minority Leader Jeff Helfrich. “If the system breaks down and we can’t produce for Oregonians, that’s a problem.”
Senate leaders did not tout the partnership to the same extent, but Minority Leader Tim Knopp, who led last year’s walkout, said he had “positive” talks with House Democratic Chairman Rob Wagner. said.
Wagner said he traveled the state between sessions to visit Republican senators in his home district and had “a fun and frank conversation” with Knopp.
Knopp is one of 10 Republican senators disqualified from seeking re-election after a lengthy walkout last year. Under a voter-approved constitutional amendment aimed at preventing such boycotts, members of Congress who are absent 10 times or more cannot run for re-election. A group of Republican senators, including Knopp, challenged their disqualification in a lawsuit, but the Oregon Supreme Court rejected it.
The high court’s ruling upheld an administrative rule enacted last year by the Secretary of State’s office that states that members of Congress who have at least 10 unexcused absences cannot seek a subsequent term.
In another step to prevent a strike, Democrats introduced a joint resolution calling for a majority of lawmakers to attend this session, rather than two-thirds.
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The Republican strike strategy is based on denying the House or Senate the two-thirds quorum needed to operate Congress. If passed, the proposed constitutional amendment will be submitted to voters.
Kotek said he has been in contact with Republican leaders and is not concerned about policy differences erupting as they did in previous meetings.
“Let’s focus on housing, let’s focus on behavioral health, let’s focus on summer learning,” Kotek said. “This is not a fancy session. Let’s stick to the basics.”
