Why Did Oregon GOP Senators Stay Home? A Look At The Tension

Partisan tensions in Oregon skyrocketed this week because Republican state senators didn’t show up to work Wednesday, denying Democrats who control the chamber a quorum. The move cast doubt on planned votes on legislation about gun control, abortion rights and gender-affirming health care.

Here’s what to know about where Republicans and Democrats are divided and what’s at stake.

Republican state senators skipped a Senate floor session Wednesday.

According to the office of Democratic Senate President Rob Wagner, 10 Republicans and the chamber’s lone independent were absent.

In Oregon, two-thirds of the state House and Senate members need to be present to conduct business, or 20 of the 30 current members. Currently, 17 senators are Democrats, 12 are Republicans and one is an independent.

Two bills on gun control and access to abortion and gender-affirming health care were scheduled for floor votes in the Senate this week. Because Democrats control the Legislature, the bills were expected to pass, but now their fate is unclear because there may not be enough lawmakers present in the chamber to begin proceedings.

WHAT DO REPUBLICANS SAY?

Republicans said they were protesting over bill summaries not being written in plain language.

They based their boycott on a 1979 state law that requires the summaries of bills to be readable by those with an eighth- or ninth-grade education — measured by a score of at least 60 on something called the Flesch readability test.