The Oregon State Capitol, where the 2022 session is nearing its end

It’s out with the old and in with the new in Salem and Washington, D.C., as lawmakers wrap up sessions and prepare for the next round of partisan fighting.

Congress returns Monday for two weeks of floor votes before adjourning until after Labor Day. The Oregon Legislature wrapped up the regular session June 27, but is scheduled to return to Salem Sept. 20 for a special session on redistricting. 

Candidate committees growing: There are now 46 candidate committees for state and local offices created to start fundraising for the 2022 election. Though candidates cannot formally file for office until Sept. 9, prospective candidates can already set up the machinery to harvest donor dollars. PACs range from county commissioners to sheriffs, legislators to the governor.

Open field running: The most popular office targeted by the PACs is the state’s top job. With Gov. Kate Brown ineligible to run again because of term limits, no incumbent will be on the ballot for the first time since 2010. So far, 11 PACs have been formed for the race — nine Republicans and two Democrats. None of the top Democrats who might run — Treasurer Tobias Read, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and a slew of Portland-area officeholders — have created PACs. Incumbents can often transfer money from their existing campaign funds to a revised committee for a new office. On the Republican side, a bumper crop of candidates is filing for the May 2022 primary. The list includes the party’s 2016 candidate for governor, Bud Pierce, who has announced plans to run again.  

Initiatives inching along: A total of 32 proposed initiatives, two referendums and two referrals for the November 2022 ballot have been submitted to the Secretary of State as of Friday. Topics range from legalizing market sales of hard liquor to overturning a recently passed gun control bill. Several would penalize lawmakers who walk out to deny a quorum — a move made by Republicans in the past three sessions. If the past is any indicator, few will make it to the ballot. The COVID-19 pandemic has also made signature gathering more problematic.

Health care for all: The only two sure bets to get in front of voters are the referrals — constitutional amendments placed on the ballot by the Legislature for the required voter approval. Initiative 401 is primarily aspirational: “Establishing the obligation of state to ensure every resident of state access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care.” Proponents say the undulating private medical insurance market in Oregon has left many residents with scant or no coverage. Opponents, primarily Republicans, said the referral opens the door to a state-run medical insurance option. 

Slavery and servitude: Initiative 402 would “prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude in all circumstances.” In addition to explicitly banning slavery — which has never been legal in Oregon — proponents say it closes a loophole that allows the equivalent of involuntary servitude in some prison, probation and parole situations. The initiative authorizes courts to “order convicted person to engage in education, counseling, treatment, community service or other alternative to incarceration.”

Vax Lacks: Oregon’s rate of daily COVID-19 vaccinations has hovered around 5,000 per day this month, down from peak days of over 50,000 in early April. Oregon is hardly alone in the slow down. The New York Times reported Thursday that about 550,000 shots are being administered each day, down from more than 3.3 million at the peak of demand.

Boots made for walkin’: The Texas Legislature has come to a full stop as senators have walked out to deny a quorum to do any business. If this sounds familiar it is. Oregon has had walkouts the past three sessions. Four states require more than a majority of lawmakers to make a quorum: Oregon, Texas, Tennessee and Indiana. All have constitutions requiring two-thirds of legislators to conduct any business.

Flip-flop feud: The difference between the Texas and Oregon walkouts is who is leaving town and who says lawmakers are shirking their duty. In Texas, Democrats have left the state twice to block Republicans from passing bills to tighten voting access. The latest bills would ban drive-through and 24-hour voting, allow partisan poll watchers to make more demands at voting locations, and make mail-in voting more difficult. In Oregon, Republicans have walked out four times in the Senate and once in the House since 2019. Each walk-out was different, but the top issue has been a carbon cap Democrats say they have the votes to pass. 

Arrest that legislator (not really):  In both states, laws are on the books allowing the governor to order state law enforcement to detain lawmakers if they are in the state and compel them to return to their capitols to supply the quorum. While orders have been issued in Oregon and Texas, the moves have been largely to up the political pressure, with no lawmakers found and forced back to Salem or Austin.

Oregon goes Hoosier way: Why does Oregon have a two-thirds quorum? Because the drafters of the Oregon constitution needed for statehood in 1859 cribbed heavily from Indiana’s constitution. Indiana had the two-thirds quorum, so Oregon did the same. All the 17 states that have joined the union since have gone with a majority quorum.

Less is more: Massachusetts is the only state where a quorum is less than a majority. The state House requires three-eighths of its 160 members — yes, it is that big — to be present. The Senate sets quorum at two-fifths of its 40 members. Democrats hold a whopping 129-30 majority in the House (there’s one independent) and 37-3 majority in the Senate. However, Gov. Charlie Baker is a moderate Republican. He hasn’t officially announced if he will run for a third term in 2022.