Ten state senators who participated in a Republican-led walkout during last year’s legislative session will be barred from reelection as soon as this year, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday morning.
In a unanimous decision, the court rejected an argument from five Republican lawmakers who contended in court filings that the plain language of Measure 113 should allow them to serve one more term, despite their decision to boycott more than 10 legislative floor sessions last year. The court ruled that voters understood the measure to mean that boycotting lawmakers would be immediately barred from seeking reelection.
“Reading the text of the amendment in light of the ballot title and the voters’ pamphlet, voters would have understood the disqualification to apply to the term of office immediately following the term in which a legislator accrued 10 or more unexcused absences,” the court stated in its decision. “Thus, for the reasons that follow, we conclude that voters intended that result and reject petitioners’ challenge to the (Secretary of State’s) rules.”
The Republican senators who challenged the measure were Sens. Tim Knopp of Bend, Daniel Bonham of Madras, Suzanne Weber of Tillamook, Dennis Linthicum of Klamath Falls and Lynn Findley of Vale.
“I’m disappointed but can’t say I’m surprised that a court of judges appointed solely by Gov. (Kate) Brown and Gov. (Tina) Kotek would rule in favor of political rhetoric rather than their own precedent,” Weber said in a statement. “The only winners in this case are Democrat politicians and their union backers.”
Drafters of Measure 113, which voters overwhelmingly approved in 2022, intended for it to stop walkouts that Republicans, as the minority party in the Legislature, have frequently used in recent years to stall bills pushed by Democrats, including forcing Democrats to scale back gun control and reproductive rights legislation last spring.
Last August, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, who oversees state elections, announced that nine Republicans and one Independent senator who participated in a six-week walkout last year would not be allowed to run for reelection when their terms ended.
“I’ve said from the beginning my intention was to support the will of the voters,” Griffin-Valade said in a statement Thursday. “It was clear to me that voters intended for legislators with a certain number of absences in a legislative session to be immediately disqualified from seeking reelection. I’m thankful to the Oregon Supreme Court for providing clarity on how to implement Measure 113.”
The five Republicans who challenged Griffin-Valade’s ruling argued that they should be allowed to run for one more term because of bungled language in Measure 113.
The Oregon Constitution states that lawmakers who miss 10 or more legislative floor sessions without excuse will be barred “from holding office as a Senator or Representative for the term following the election after the member’s current term is completed.”
The Republicans argued that meant legislators who accrued 10 or more unexcused absences in last year’s legislative session should be allowed to run in November 2024 or 2026, depending when their terms were up, because the election would come two months before the end of their current term.
The Oregon Supreme Court disagreed with the senators. “The text of the amendment does not unambiguously support either interpretation,” the court stated in its opinion, pointing out that nothing in the 2022 Voters’ Pamphlet or in media coverage about the measure implied that the Republican senators would be able to run again.
“If we were required to choose between petitioners’ and the (Secretary of State’s) interpretations based on the text alone, petitioners would have a strong argument that their reading is the better one,” the court stated in its opinion. “But we do not review the text in a void. We instead seek to understand how voters would have understood the text in the light of the other materials that accompanied it.”
Knopp told reporters on Wednesday that he would consider a ruling in either direction a win. If the court were to rule against the Republicans, he said, “I think we still win because our (affected) members literally have no reason to show up (during the upcoming short legislative session), and so in order for them to show up, they’re going to want to see that they’re going to be able to make a difference.”
Oregon is one of four states that requires a two-thirds majority in the Legislature to meet a quorum. In the majority of states, a quorum can be reached by a majority vote, meaning that a walkout by the minority party would not prevent legislative action. Since there are 17 Democrats in the 30-person Oregon Senate, that means at least three minority party senators have to show up each day during the five-week session that begins Monday for the chamber to conduct business.
The Supreme Court ruling applies to the nine Republican senators and single Independent who exceeded the limit of unexcused absences last year – meaning that a third of the Senate will be barred from reelection.
Knopp, Linthicum, Art Robinson of Cave Junction and Brian Boquist, an Independent from Dallas, would all have been up for reelection this year, but won’t be allowed to run.
Two other lawmakers – Findley and Bill Hansell of Pendleton – who would have been up for reelection this year are retiring. This means that at least five of the 11 Republicans in the Senate, along with the chamber’s lone Independent, will leave office in January 2025, reshaping the makeup of the chamber.
An additional four Republican senators will be barred from running for reelection in 2026.
That could open the door for contested races in those districts and give Democrats a chance to pick up at least one additional seat. There are 36,578 registered Democrats and only 26,529 registered Republicans in Knopp’s Bend district, which was redrawn in 2021.
Robinson’s son Noah will run for his seat, while Linthicum’s wife is running for his. In January, Knopp endorsed Downtown Bend Business Association Executive Director Shannon Monihan in the race for his District 27 seat.
The deadline for candidates to file to run for office is March 12.
Read the Oregon Supreme Court’s ruling here.
— Carlos Fuentes; cfuentes@oregonian.com; 503-221-5386; @carlos_reports
Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe