■
roll Anderson, Bonham, Boquist,
Compost, Dembro Finley, Frederi,
Gelser, Bluin, Gerard, Golden,
Gorsek, Hansel, Hayden, JAMA.
Knope, Lieber, Linthicum,
Manning, Meek, Patterson,
Prazonski, Robinson, Brocksmith,
Solman, Steiner, Taylor, Thatch,
Weber, Woods, President, Wagner.
Excused Jerrod Gorsek.
Absent Bonham, Boquist,
Finley, Hansel, Hayden.
Kanope, Linthicum, Robinson,
Thatcher Weber. Eighteen eyes.
The call is removed.
Colleagues, the quorum is not present.
Now, I know that's not the great
TV that you've ever seen, but, ,
we wanted to see what your Senate is up to,
and you got to see it right the.
Did your state senator
show up for work today?
That was actually an extended
look at the work being done or
not done in the Senate today.
Pretty much nothing.
Those sights and sounds are becg
all too familiar in that chambe.
No quorum again today as the
Republican walkout continues itt
checked the two sides nowhere nr
compromise to bring Republicans back.
The GOP wants the Democrats
to scrap bills on abortion,
gender affirming care and guns.
The Democrats have said the bill
on abortion and gender affirming
care is not going to be changed,
not going to be touched,
not going to be thrown out.
So the deadlock toils on on Fri.
We told you the governor,
Tina Kotek,
and Senate President Rob Wagnere
not ruled out the option of getg
state police involved to force
those senators back to the cham.
But that extraordinary option is still
just that at this hour, an opti.
The session ends June 25th.
That's just over a month away n,
with the biggest to do being
the state budget.
The governor has signed a bill to keep
state agencies afloat until September.
If a budget is not agreed to this session,
Kotak could call a special
session to get a budget approve.
Time will tell on that one.
And tonight we're going to answr
a few of your questions about te
walkout that you've been sending
us over the past couple of week.
Let's start with this voicemail from Rick.
I was wondering why the Oregon
Senate can't do like the federal
Congress do and just consider a
quorum as the majority of the pe
present rather than having to wt
for all the Republicans to retu.
That would certainly simplify
everything and would probably
keep them from walking out.
I think you're absolutely right,
Rick, but the answer is that's t
possible under Oregon's constitution.
Article 4, Section 12.
Here's what it says.
Quorum Failure to affect organization.
2/3 of each house shall constite
A quorum to do business,
but a smaller number may meet,
adjourn from day-to-day,
and compel the attendance of absent members.
So a constitutional amendment wd
be required to change those quom
rules to a majority instead of .
The amendment would require voter approval.
And by the way, Oregon is one look at that.
Oregon is one of only four
states in the country.
To require this 2/3 agenda or 2/3 that,
lawmakers are in the chamber for a quorum.
The others are Texas, Tennessee, and Indiana.
I was so stunned by that fact.
It's hard to talk.
45 of the states only require a majority.
Massachusetts by the way.
An outlier requiring 2/5 of sens
and 3/8 of representatives for a quorum.
Why Massachusetts?
Why anyway?
The other question we've been getting a
lot lately is this one, Susan writes.
Do the Republican lawmakers
get paid during their walkout?
I don't think I would be able tt
away with that behavior in my workplace.
Must be nice to take an extra paid days
off from work at the taxpayers expense.
And, Stewart adds,
are the legislators still gettig
paid in spite of not working?
How much per day and why?
Great questions.
Let's dive into what we found Le
this afternoon we heard back from the
financial services arm of the legislature.
Thanks for returning our emails.
They tell us.
Yes, legislative members do cone
to be paid even if they've walked out.
A state law fixes their salary
and provides 0 exceptions,
so they're paid regardless of attendance.
On to the question of how much.
Well,
the financial services folks
gave us a rough estimate,
$326.89 per day. That covers day
salary per diem and benefits,
But because each member makes
their own benefits selections,
the daily pay actually specifically varies.
But if we take that average
of around 325 bucks,
that means that lawmakers with r
more unexcused absences have tan
home more than $3200 to simply t
participate in the legislature.
And yes, yes, yes, I hear some of you
who support the Republicans in their walkout.
You are now yelling at the TV that they are
in fact doing work by blocking those bills.
OK, that is one way to look at .
In the meantime, what other questions
do you have about the walkout?
We'd love to try and answer the.
Send an e-mail, will you?
Our address is the story at kgwm
or call and leave a voicemail.
The number is
503-226-5090.