Editor's note: In November, voters will be presented with four statewide ballot measures. This article deals with Measure 113 which was referred to the people by the citizens' initiative process.

Measure 113 is a response to strategic walkouts by the Oregon Senate and the Oregon House in recent legislative sessions. In 2019, the Democrats were pushing hard for HB 3427, a massive tax bill to fund education and heavily supported by the teachers' unions. Republican Senators walked out and later forced a compromise.

Later that same session, Republican Senators under the leadership of Senator Fred Girod (R-Lyons) -- later joined by many members of the Oregon House -- walked out to prevent the passage of HB 2020, a bill which would have tied Oregon to a massive carbon tax which Democrats wanted for their climate policy.

The text of the measure is simple. It reads:

Failure to attend, without permission or excuse, ten or more legislative floor sessions called to transact business during a regular or special legislative session shall be deemed disorderly behavior and shall disqualify the member from holding office as a Senator or Representative for the term following the election after the member’s current term is completed.

The chief sponsors of the initiative are Andrea Kennedy-Smith of McMinnville and Reed Scott-Schwalbach of Portland. Kennedy-Smith is a public sector vice-president of Service Employees International Union Local 503 which is one of the largest and most powerful public employee unions in Oregon. Scott-Schwalbach is the President of the Oregon Education Association, another very powerful public employee union.

Democrats may grow to regret taking tools from the minority party as they did under the leadership of Harry Reid in 2013 and then watched helplessly as President Donald Trump appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and soon Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court bench.

Their day of reckoning came on Jan. 20, 2017, with a Republican president and Senate in control of judicial nominations. For the past four years, President Donald Trump and Republicans have done their constitutional duty in nominating and confirming federal judges, including now three Supreme Court nominations. But don’t blame Trump or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Blame Harry Reid who put politics ahead of principle and opened the door for Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and soon Amy Coney Barrett.

Measure 113 will appear on the ballot this fall for adoption or rejection by the voters.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-10-14 06:53:26

Last Update: 2022-10-13 16:12:22