Oregon legislators were rushing all last week into the weekend to pass new laws. They were looking to approve hundreds of bills and a budget for the next two years. This all had to happen before the legislative session ended on Sunday. The Republican boycott created the slow down and backlog. Legislators were working all weekend and into the evenings. Last week, the Oregon State House and Senate voted on more than 200 bills.
Lawmakers have been working mainly to approve hundreds of bills and billions of dollars in spending before the legislative session ended after a six-week Republican walkout caused stacks of legislation to pile up. Some of the measure they took action in included expanding wildfire protection efforts, banning TikTok on government cell phones and computers, and bolstering mental health and addiction treatment.
It was big news in Oregon how the Republicans walked out to boycott what they considered laws against parents and families. It was sparked largely by two bills on the hot-button issues of abortion and gender-affirming care, and guns. Negotiations with Democrats ended the boycott as parts of the bills were modified.
But, the Dems also pushed a measure to prevent the Republicans from holding the legislature hostage in the future. GOP senators will sue over the measure that stops candidates from registering to run for office if involved in certain protests in the legislature starting in September, for the 2024 election.
Abortion was the big ticket item for fire from the Republicans. Democrats agreed to change language concerning parental notifications and scrapped a section that would have required student health centers at public universities to provide emergency contraception and medication abortion. Still, guns were also the hot spot. Dems agreed to make changes. They dropped several amendments on a bill that would punish the manufacturing or sale of undetectable firearms, also known as ghost guns.
