Capital Chatter: Special session? We have questions.

Published 7:04 pm Thursday, July 24, 2025

Gov. Tina Kotek this week announced a special session on Aug. 29 for the Legislature to increase transportation taxes and fees and slap short-term bandages on ODOT’s financial wounds.

We have questions, lots of questions.

Where will the Legislature meet?

In the Senate chamber of the Oregon Capitol.

Due to the ongoing Capitol reconstruction, the House and the Senate will both use that chamber for floor sessions.

The Capitol was to remain closed to the public until Sept. 29 while the Capitol Accessibility, Maintenance and Safety project wrapped up. Legislative staff were to have access to the House and Senate office wings on Aug. 11.

Will Republicans show up or will they boycott, depriving the House and/or Senate of quorums for conducting business?

House Republican Leader Christine Drazan told the governor that four Republican members would attend to provide a quorum in the House.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Democrat Kotek said that when she talked with Drazan and Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham, “They said they didn’t believe there’d be any quorum issues.”

Some legislators might be absent due to planned vacations or other commitments that could not be changed, Kotek said, “but everyone is going to make an effort to be there.”

Voters such as Chad Kernutt, of Albany, hope that’s not the case. Kernutt emailed Republican leaders on Thursday, saying: “I sure hope you guys find the courage to walk out on this treasonous and tyrannical behavior when the time is right so your constituents livelihoods don’t get pummeled by the rogue abusive and Marxist Oregon government. We will be watching.”

What will the session include, and how long will it last?

That is up to the presiding officers, both Democrats. Senate President Rob Wagner and House Speaker Julie Fahey control which bills are introduced and how they’re handled.

Whenever a special session loomed, the late Senate President Peter Courtney would warn that it could easily fall apart without a firm bicameral, bipartisan agreement beforehand on what would happen.

What does Kotek want?

On Wednesday, the governor said she called the special session to “take up legislation to pay for basic road maintenance and operations at the Oregon Department of Transportation, as well as address funding needs for local governments and transit districts across the state.

“Since the legislative session wrapped up at the end of June, my team and I have worked literally every day – talking with legislators, local partners, key stakeholders – to zero in on a solution and a timeline for the Legislature to come back together and address the state’s most immediate transportation needs.”

The Legislature passed ODOT’s 2025-27 budget but did not fund it.

The governor put the ODOT layoffs on hold. What does that mean?

The 483 layoffs were to take effect July 31. At Kotek’s direction, ODOT postponed them until Sept. 15, giving the Legislature time to act. 

The potential layoffs have the agency in turmoil. Most employees who received layoff notices are union members. They could potentially bump less-senior employees from their jobs, a process that could play out over several months.

An additional 449 vacant positions would be eliminated.

How did the Oregon Transportation Commission react?

At their meeting on Thursday, commissioners thanked Kotek, urged lawmakers to act, but said the governor’s plan was a Band-Aid, not a long-term financial cure.

“Whatever action the Legislature takes in a special session is not going to repair the damage that they’ve done to this agency. Morale is terrible,” Commissioner Jeff Baker told Kelly Brooks, Kotek’s transportation policy adviser.

“We’ve lost some really good people. We have a whole bunch of people that we haven’t lost, that we know are looking for jobs.

“We’ve got 483 families that have had to face the decision that Mom or Dad is going to have to go find another job. …

“I think the Governor’s Office and the Legislature need to understand – that when they put the Band-Aid on – that it’s going to take a while for this agency to get back up to speed, because it’s really been hobbled.”

What was unusual about the governor’s Wednesday press conference, which was conducted via Zoom?

Kotek participated from her home office in an undisclosed locale. The governor’s official residence, Mahonia Hall in Salem, is undergoing renovation.

Citing security concerns, Kotek’s staff declined to say where she and first lady Aimee Kotek Wilson are temporarily residing. They sold their Portland home after moving into Mahonia Hall.