A fuss was generated in the Oregon House by a letter signed by advocates of House Bill 2864 and distributed by Rep. Teresa Alonso León, a Democrat from Woodburn who is the bill’s chief sponsor.

Republicans, among them Rep. Mike McLane of Powell Butte, said the letter implied that a vote against the bill — no matter what the reason — would leave them open to being portrayed as supporting racism.

“This letter is to provide notice that HB 2864 is a priority bill that will be included in the 2017 Legislative Report on Racial Equity,” it said. “Final floor votes for priority bills will be included in the 2017 Legislative Report on Racial Equity.”

“Does that mean a ‘no’ vote is considered racist?” said McLane, the Hose Republican leader. “No one wants to be called a bigot, racist or sexist.”

The bill would require Oregon’s 17 community colleges and seven public universities to develop training for faculty and staff for how they deal with diverse groups, known as “cultural competency.” The training would be required starting in 2020.

McLane raised questions about whether training standards might conflict with the state constitutional guarantee of free expression. He and others raised questions about the $400,000 price tag, although the added staff would be hired in the 2019-21 budget cycle.

The letter bears the logos of eight organizations: Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, Basic Rights Oregon Education Fund, Causa Oregon immigrant rights group, Coalition of Communities of Color, Oregon Voice, Partnership for Safety and Justice, Unite Oregon and Western States Center.

It does explicitly what many interest groups do implicitly — inform lawmakers that their votes on bills important to the groups will be weighted in support or opposition to the groups’ goals.

The bill passed after a 90-minute debate on a 45-15 vote — 10 Republicans joined all 35 Democrats — and moves to the Senate.