SALEM — Sen. Bill Hansell said the feedback from constituents has been overwhelmingly positive.

Hansell, a Republican from Athena, is one of the Republican senators whose absence from floor sessions at the state Capitol during the past month has stymied the majority Democrats’ ability to pass bills.

“It was like running 5-to-1 (from constituents) in favor of our denying quorum and working on these issues,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get what’s in the district and what isn’t, but these are individuals (in the district) emailing, touching base with the office expressing their views.”

Hansell has served over four decades in local and state government positions, including eight terms as a Umatilla County commissioner and three terms in the Oregon State Senate. His Senate District 29 sprawls across much of Eastern Oregon, encompassing Wallowa, Union, Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam, Wasco (except The Dalles), Sherman, Wheeler and northern Jefferson counties. It covers an area greater than the state of Maryland.

By staying away from floor sessions, Hansell and other Senate Republicans have denied the chamber the two-thirds majority that the Oregon Constitution requires for the Senate to take votes.

The GOP walkout is the longest in Oregon legislative history.

Although Hansell repeated the complaint that Republicans made when the walkout started in early May — that the summaries of some bills are written at a reading level higher than is required by a 1979 law — he said he also objects to the contents of certain legislation that majority Democrats support and likely would pass but for the Republicans’ absence.

Probably the most contentious is House Bill 2002, which the House, also controlled by Democrats, has passed. The bill was the subject of negotiations last week between Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and lawmakers, including Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp, of Bend.

Those talks didn’t end the stalemate. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn June 25.

House Bill 2002 has multiple components, but it’s generally intended to guarantee and expand abortion rights and gender-affirming procedures.

Democrats introduced the legislation after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade.

Another piece of legislation, Senate Joint Resolution 33, would give voters a chance to amend the state Constitution to guarantee the right to same-sex marriage, abortion and gender-affirming care.

Hansell said Oregon already has “the most liberal abortion policies in the nation.”

He said the lack of a hearing process for a number of bills on the Senate side is an issue for the Republicans.

“It didn’t go through any hearing process on the Senate side. It could have, but the Democrats didn’t want to do it,” Hansell said. “So that was part of the process. We wanted to have a public hearing. The gun bills were coming over and they weren’t having the hearings. And so all these things kinda came together about the same time and that’s how they ended up.”

Staying busy

After Republicans staged similar walkouts in 2019, 2020 and 2021, Oregon voters last November passed a measure, with nearly 70% in favor, that disqualifies lawmakers with 10 or more unexcused absences from being reelected.

Hansell, who announced in March he would not be seeking reelection, is among the senators who have exceeded that threshold.

It’s not clear, however, whether that measure would affect senators from seeking reelection in 2024, or whether it wouldn’t apply until 2028.

Hansell dismisses the notion that he and other Republican senators are “not doing their jobs.”

He said he’s still working long days in Salem, attending committee meetings and other events. The only exceptions, he said, are the floor sessions.

“I haven’t gone anywhere. I haven’t gone to Idaho. I have been in the Capitol every single day going to committee meetings, doing constituent issues, correspondence meetings, media,” he said. “The only time I’m not there doing my work is for about an hour in the morning surrounding the gaveling in of the session.”