The Oregon Legislature came back to Salem this week and quickly fulfilled its increasingly wacky reputation.

On Tuesday’s opening day of the 2022 session, the House was testy, the Senate more collegial. 

The contentious issue of farmworker overtime, which I discussed in last week’s Capital Chatter, illustrates how the political mood differs in the Senate and House. Sponsored by urban Democrats, House Bill 4002 resides in the House Business and Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene

But let’s start in the Senate, where lawmakers got down to business Tuesday morning while folks in the House were milling around. 

Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, said that if overtime is to be mandated for agricultural employees, it must be done right. He gave a remonstrance – a brief floor speech – in which he thanked Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, for meeting with agricultural producers from Hansell’s Senate district to discuss the issue. Hansell pledged to work collaboratively toward “victory” and quoted Courtney:  

“It really resonated with me and the (producers) that you said, ‘When it comes to legislation, you can have a win or you can have a victory. A win is when one party crams something down and it’s not bipartisan when we end up with a vote. A victory is when we work on good policy to bring (people) together and we have a bill that will be supported on both sides of the aisle and also in both chambers.’”

Advocates are using the courts, the Legislature and the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to push for agricultural overtime. In the House, rural Republicans pushed back in their remonstrances. 

Rep. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, said the latest work group on the topic fell apart because the advocates were not motivated to find a legislative solution. Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, read an editorial from the Capital Press and echoed a colleague’s call for an honest, intellectual conversation.

In a lengthy, heartfelt remonstrance that covered several topics, Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Happy Valley, said farmworkers deserve better treatment and vowed that the Oregon Legislature would provide it.

Here are more tidbits from the first week’s wonders and wackiness:

The State Capitol finally was open to the public for a legislative session. Sort of. 

For the first time, metal detectors greeted anyone entering the Capitol, although Bonham reportedly came through a different door and accidentally evaded them. 

Masks are required in the Capitol due to the public health protocols, which led to disagreements Tuesday between anti-mask protesters and Oregon State Police. On Wednesday, officials disputed media reports that individuals who claimed religious exemptions were allowed in without masks.

An email to the “Capitol Community” from Legislative Administration and OSP said: “There is no religious exemption to the masking requirement, and no one claiming solely such an exemption was permitted to enter the Capitol. (There were a small number of individuals who requested an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as referenced in Oregon Health Authority’s administrative rule OAR 333-019-1025, OR OSHA rule OAR 437-001-0744 and BOLI FAQ). 

House Republicans questioned the mask mandate, especially that they had to wear one even while speaking. The Oregon Capital Chronicle reported that Rep. E. Werner Reschke, R-Klamath Falls, “stood off the House floor without a mask and popped his head in to vote. But he avoided the kind of showdown that ended a December special session, when Courtney had a Senate Republican escorted from the chamber by (Senate staff) for not wearing a mask.” 

That senator, Dallas Heard of Roseburg, was not in the Senate on Tuesday.

The public could watch Tuesday’s opening session from the House gallery. In the Senate, due to COVID-19 concerns, Courtney reversed course and closed the chamber to the public.

For the same reason, legislative committees are operating remotely via video conference and phone. The legislative IT system remained intact, but the Capitol wi-fi network used by the public crashed from late Monday morning until early Tuesday afternoon.

Rep. Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, was elected House speaker with only one vote to spare. Democrats and Republicans alike then gave him three standing ovations, including one after his poignant speech that detailed his rough growing up.

Courtney has been giving extensive media interviews about this being his final session as Senate president before retiring. Yet the usually voluble politician abstained from an opening-day speech. 

One sign of the changing of the guard emerged later in the week when Courtney removed himself from one of his longtime passions, the Oregon State Hospital. He appointed Sen. Kate Lieber, D-Beaverton, to replace him on the mental hospital’s advisory board.

The Legislature has so many new members that two newly appointed senators lead committees. Sen. Rachel Armitage, D-Scappoose, is co-chair of the Joint Committee on Information Management and Technology. Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, who served in the House, is co-chair of the General Government budget panel.

COVID-19 concerns hung over the Capitol throughout the week. Courtney canceled the Senate’s second floor session, scheduled for Thursday. Two senators came anyway – Kathleen Taylor, D-Portland, and Fred Girod, R-Lyons – since the Oregon Constitution required Courtney to go through the motions of starting and adjourning the floor session.

Gov. Kate Brown delivered her final State of the State speech Thursday live on YouTube instead of the traditional appearance before a House chamber packed with representatives, senators, judges, past governors, other luminaries, the public and journalists. She also did not hold a press conference afterward, either online or in person, to take questions.

Brown took the high road in her half-hour speech, never referring to her critics. But they tuned in, filling the accompanying YouTube chat with often-snarky comments about her mask mandates and other perceived missteps. As of late afternoon, her speech video had been “liked” only nine times out of 1,603 views. 

Finally, for a humorous and effective explanation of this year’s “short” legislative session, check out “Chef Grayber.” Rep. Dacia Grayber, D-Tigard, created a faux cooking video on Twitter that explains: “For the long session, we prefer to slow-cook our bills at a steady temperature. For the short session, however, we’ll be using a pressure cooker.”

She demonstrates a recipe that starts with great ideas and includes a bit of negotiation, some healthy collaboration, a bit of legal vetting, a dose of debate and a dash of compromise.

“Salem’s success at the Legislature in recent years reflects a concerted effort to rebuild Capitol relationships.”