Take all the usual pressures, egos and issues. Compress them into one-third the building space. Add the sounds of drilling and pounding. 

What you’re left with is the political and construction zone known as the 2023 Legislature.

Fresh off a pandemic, Oregon’s leaders face another unprecedented challenge: legislating in the State Capitol while it undergoes massive reconstruction and seismic upgrades. Though not the ideal atmosphere for governing, lawmakers and state employees are functioning as best they can.

“I did tell the team, ‘I think the word ‘ideal’ is just something we’re not going to have in our vocabulary until 2025,’” Legislative Administrator Brett Hanes told me this week. “In 2025 when we start to open up and start to wrap up construction, I think it’s going to look great – all the new things we’re going to have, all the new services, the safer building.”

The half-billion-dollar Capitol Accessibility, Maintenance and Safety Project was long overdue and worth the short-term disruptions. Everyone I talked with for this column said legislative operations are running reasonably well despite the circumstances. It’s a relief to be back in the Oregon Capitol after its pandemic-related closure kept out the public, lobbyists and many employees. 

Still, I wonder how the cramped space, jampacked schedules, construction sounds and smells, and other annoyances affect relationship-building and political decision-making.

“We expected there to be noise and odor issues as we progressed during session. The members, staff and the public are doing their best to conduct business with the construction interruptions,” CAMS director Jodie Jones said. “The members and staff have been extremely supportive of the project. They understand the difficulty and complexity of a project of this magnitude and work with us to find ways for both legislative business and construction to progress together.”

Everyone has had to sacrifice.

Much of the Capitol is off-limits. Finding a spot for a quiet conversation or a private phone call is difficult. Visitors, lobbyists and journalists are relegated to working in hallways. Construction noise occasionally overpowers a colleague’s floor speech. Senators don coats and blankets to keep warm in the Senate chamber.

Committees are operating in a hybrid fashion, enabling Oregonians to testify in person or remotely, although people must register in advance to testify. But with fewer rooms available, committees are allotted less time to meet, hear testimony and deliberate. There also is no café – one less space where people can mingle and share ideas. Outside the Capitol, arriving visitors find many parking spots occupied by construction vehicles.

“Even under ‘normal’ conditions, parking and meeting space have always been scarce,” Hanes said. “Construction has exacerbated that scarcity, and until it is completed, I’m afraid our options are limited.”

Senate President Peter Courtney had wanted the Legislature and other officials to vacate the Capitol during the construction. The renovated Public Utility Commission building – a former Sears store near the Capitol Mall – would become the temporary capitol. House Speaker Tina Kotek and others torpedoed that plan in 2015, citing the overall cost, uncertain public support and the inconvenience of moving.

Many lawmakers and staff are relatively new. They never worked in a fully open Capitol to know what they’re missing. One example: The lack of rooms forces some committees to meet during evenings. That means legislators have less time to socialize, build personal connections and discover common interests. Politics is the art of those relationships, honed both by bumping into people spontaneously and by deliberately spending time together.

Members of the Legislature often count on lobbyists for the latest information as well as historical knowledge. The construction environment has made it challenging for lobbyists to snag lawmakers for a quick update and to answer last-minute questions before votes or committee meetings. Lobbyists also told me that as recent legislative deadlines approached, too many bills were never “worked” – bringing together divergent stakeholders – whether that was due to politics or the dearth of conference rooms for sit-down meetings.

In the Senate, construction frustrations add to partisan tensions. Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, wrote in his constituent newsletter: “[T]he massive remodel of the Capitol is filling the Senate Chamber with so much construction noise and fumes from heavy equipment beneath the floor that it’s hard not to get cranky. That’s starting to come out in ways that aren’t pretty.”

Workers and lawmakers continue adjusting. Two air purifiers have been installed in the Senate chamber. And with House and Senate floor sessions lasting longer, crews have extended the time during which they try to keep the construction noise down.

Meanwhile, some lawmakers have found ways to lighten the mood. Reps. Nathan Sosa, D-Hillsboro, and Kevin Mannix, R-Salem, recently brought in puppies for folks to play with.

And the broken elevator on the House side of the Capitol is working again.