FILE – The state senate convenes at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Ore., Thursday, May 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman, File)
After a group of Republican lawmakers boycotted votes in the Oregon Senate for six weeks and waylaid progress on hundreds of pieces of legislation including bills on gun control, abortion rights, gender-affirming health care and more, the Oregon State Supreme Court has ruled they cannot run for reelection.
The state’s high court announced the ruling on Feb. 1. It reaffirms a measure passed in 2022 by Oregon voters and implemented by Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade to disqualify 10 Republican senators who staged routine marathon walkouts to block bills.
Oregon’s Measure 113 stipulates that any lawmaker who has over 10 unexcused absences from the legislative session is disqualified from reelection the next term.
The nine Republicans and one independent, including the state’s Senate minority leader Tim Knopp, challenged the legislation in court, arguing that the absenteeism rule wasn’t clearly defined, threatened to squash dissent and, as written, ultimately infringed on their ability to campaign.
Measure 113 states specifically that those in violation of the rule are barred from running “for the term following the election after the member’s current term is completed.”
According to Oregon NBC affiliate KGW, besides Knopp, the lawmakers who boycotted votes for 10 or more days last year include Daniel Bonham, Brian Boquist, Lynn Findley, Bill Hansell, Cedric Hayden, Dennis Linthicum, Art Robinson, Kim Thatcher and Suzanne Weber. Their terms run through the end of this year or expire at the end of 2026.
The high court’s ruling disqualifies them from making another bid for office now or when their time runs out two years from now.
Oregon Senate Republican Leader Sen. Tim Knopp looks to Democratic Senate President Rob Wagner as he speaks during a news conference as part of a 2024 legislative preview at the State Library on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Salem, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
There are only a dozen spots in the state’s senate for Republican lawmakers, so the ruling places a significant pressure on the party to now fill the looming vacancies.
The New York Times reported that Knopp does not intend to appeal and that he seems unsure if the decision will hurt Republicans in Oregon or not.
He released a statement after the ruling saying he was “deeply disturbed by the chilling impact this decision will have to crush dissent,” but as the Times noted, earlier in the week he said if the measure went into effect against him and others, then those legislators would have no reason to show up at all for any of the work.
Knopp did not immediately return a request for comment to Law&Crime.
In a statement Thursday, Griffin-Valade remarked: “I’ve said from the beginning my intention was to support the will of the voters. 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.”
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