SALEM — Republicans on Wednesday, April 12, locked up the brakes on the Oregon Legislature as Democrats added pressure to the accelerator.

House Republicans joined their Senate counterparts in adopting the parliamentary stall tactic of requiring that bills be read in full before final passage.

But just as it seemed the House was headed toward the same legislative logjam facing the Senate, both parties appeared to ease off — for now.

Late April 12, a deal was struck between party leaders. Republicans agreed to allow bills to be read by their title only — substantially quickening the pace of bills coming to a final vote.

Democrats agreed to delay consideration of a contentious gun control bill measure originally scheduled for April 12 until early next month.

Long hours with little doneThe moves came after both chambers endured marathon sessions on April 11.

The House met for six hours and 54 minutes to pass just five bills. The time stretched with the required recitation of the text of each measure as it came up for a final vote.

“We’re moving about as fast as molasses in December,” said freshman Rep. Emerson Levy, D-Bend.

A bill Levy co-sponsored to allow counties broader control over funds from tax lien forfeiture revenue was scheduled for a vote April 11. It didn’t happen. Like most bills on the daily calendar it was “carried over” to the next day.

Adding to the snails pace was the propensity of lawmakers to rise to add comments to bills up for a vote — even those with no opposition.

House Bill 3426, which would require 988 crisis hotline centers to have policies and trained staff to serve firefighters and other first responders, drew a dozen speakers over 50 minutes of “debate.” It then passed unanimously and was sent to the Senate.

Senate still set on slowThe Senate will continue to cope with the slow pace that kept lawmakers in the Capitol on the floor for nine hours on April 11.

As the last of 21 bills was voted on with the clock approaching 9 p.m., Sen. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, was the final senator to speak. He rose to remind colleagues on both sides of the political aisle of a key meeting on April 12.

“Tomorrow evening is the mid session capitol karaoke,” he said. “We all need a little stress relief and that is when to do it.”

Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, has used the slowdown tactic since the session began in January. He set a combative tone for 2023 when he slammed Democrats last November for backing Sen. Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, for Senate President.

“Sen. Wagner has shown he is untrustworthy, deeply partisan and doesn’t have the necessary skills to run the Senate in a bipartisan fashion,” Knopp said.

But Knopp and Senate Republicans largely cooperated on swiftly passing bills sending more than $200 million to counties as emergency homeless aid requested by Gov. Tina Kotek.

The two parties also worked together on bills for over $200 million in aid for the state’s semiconductor industry and a bill barring public employees who lived outside of the state from being reimbursed for travel to and from Oregon.

House tends to less turmoilHouse Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, for most of the session has opted to avoid the requirement that bills be read in full on final passage.

She maintained a cordial relationship with House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis. The speaker even made a trip to Central Oregon prior to the session to tour regional businesses with the minority leader.

But the debate sharpened as gun control and abortion access bills were poised to move out of House committees and toward floor votes.

Breese-Iverson tried to bring several stalled school security bills onto the House floor for a vote. Democratic leaders argued the bills were an attempt to take the focus off gun control legislation that would come up for votes in the second half of the session.

The key Republican target during the chamber’s slowdown was House Bill 2005, a gun control measure that Rayfield said last week would likely come up for a vote on April 12.

The bill would allow local governments to bar people with permits to carry concealed firearms from bringing their weapons into public buildings and nearby grounds. The legislation would also increase the minimum age to purchase many firearms from 18 to 21, and ban “ghost guns” that are built without a serial number that can be traced.

The Republican delaying tactics kept the bill near the bottom of a long list of legislation up for final votes. When it appeared the bill wouldn’t climb up the queue fast enough for a April 12 vote, Rayfield said he would counter the slow pace by scheduling longer and more frequent sessions — including Fridays and Saturdays.

House GOP leaders started April 12 allowing bills to be read by title only. The move came after Democrats agreed to set a special order of the day for May 2 to bring the bill up for a vote.

Halfway home but far from done

The battle between “slower” backed by Republicans and “longer” of Democratic leaders could be the blueprint for upcoming battles.

As of April 14, the Legislature had passed 87 days of the constitutionally mandated 160-day session. Democratic leaders had set a target date of June 15 to adjourn.

Of the more than 2,900 bills and resolutions introduced in the House and Senate, just 23 have reached the desk of Kotek to be signed into law.

House leaders have pledged to get the gun control and abortion access bills passed before going home. The Senate has its own political hot button debate coming up: legislation to limit rent increases by landlords to less than the amount set by the Legislature in the last session.

Looming over all the policy debates in the biggest chore of all: Lawmakers must approve a balanced state budget for the two-year fiscal cycle beginning July 1.

How much money lawmakers will have to allocate will be clearer when the next official state revenue forecast is released May 17.

Under the Oregon constitution, they must complete their work no later than June 25.