Will Oregonians see a legislative session in 2024? Or will Republican lawmakers — at least on the Senate side — protest by not showing up?

That’s up to the Democratic majority, according to Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp of Bend. He led this year’s record-setting 43 days of what he termed “peaceful protest,” using the Oregon Constitution’s quorum requirement to deny Democrats the ability to conduct business.

“However, if Democrats just want to relitigate their progressive liberal national agenda, I don’t know there’ll be a ‘24 session,” Knopp told me recently. “And they are in the majority, but they don’t control what happens. And we proved that, if we stick together as Republicans and independents.”

He told the Senate on Sept. 29 that the February session should focus on two issues that trouble Oregonians: 1) housing and homelessness, and 2) addiction, drug use and Measure 110. Lawmakers also will rebalance the state’s two-year budget and make any needed technical fixes to past legislation.

Gov. Tina Kotek’s top priority for the 35-day session is expanding Oregon’s housing supply. And to address the drug crisis, Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, and House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, have created a Joint Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response, which will meet four times to prepare for the session.

Kotek and legislative leaders recently met to discuss the session parameters. Knopp told the Senate that the initial conversation was positive.

“We need to avoid the inflammatory issues that have marked sessions in the past because they will derail the spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship,” he said. “I believe we are on the right track. I think we need to stay on that track as it relates to not having those inflammatory issues in the ‘24 session.”

Last month I hit the road to interview the top four legislative leaders: Knopp, Wagner, Rayfield and then-House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, Prineville.

We discussed what this year’s sometimes-tumultuous 160-day session was like for the individual leaders — politically and personally — and what lies ahead for 2024. (Other columns will appear in the Chieftain as space allows, and will be featured on the Chieftain’s website, wallowa.com.)

Knopp and I talked at his office in Bend, where he is executive vice president of the Central Oregon Builders Association.

Some tensions remain. As president, Wagner has sole discretion of whether to excuse a senator’s absence. Republicans contend his decisions have been arbitrary, capricious and in violation of the First Amendment.

Ten senators accumulated enough unexcused absences during the walkout that voter-approved Measure 114 now could bar them from seeking election. That will depend on how the Oregon Supreme Court interprets the measure. Knopp said that if courts decide he cannot seek reelection, he is unlikely to run for any other office.

Republicans ended the Senate Democrats’ supermajority in last year’s elections by capturing one seat. Knopp contends, however, that Democrats still governed as if their majority were larger. Senate Republicans sought to force bipartisanship by slowing the session and refusing to waive the constitutional requirement that bills be read in full before floor votes.

Based on Democrats’ past performance, Knopp said, they needed to earn Republicans’ consent.

“It’s important for us that all citizens of Oregon are heard and listened to. And that means that they don’t just get to come to a one-minute hearing, but what they actually say ends up in legislation throughout the session,” he said at a Jan. 24 press conference, which was lightly attended by the news media. “If we’re going to be one state and not having an urban-rural divide, then we have to include everyone.”

Although controversy dominated the year’s legislative headlines, Knopp said, “I would say that there is a general spirit of wanting to work together to get things done on an individual basis. As long as the politics can be dealt with, a lot of good things can be done.”

In the beginning of the session, D’s and R’s worked collaboratively on housing and semiconductors. But near the end, he said, Republicans had nothing left to lose. Democrats had refused to negotiate on controversial bills, insisting on up-or-down votes.

Until Democratic Sen. Kathleen Taylor of Portland got involved in negotiations, Republicans were on a path to never return from their walkout, Knopp said. The Democratic leadership had given up. However, Taylor and Knopp have a trustworthy relationship, having collaborated on PERS, paid family leave and equal pay legislation in the committee she chaired.

“I always hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Knopp said. “In the end, it turned out OK.”

I asked Knopp in retrospect whether there was anything he wished had been different about this year’s session. He responded: “Yeah, I wish we had more Republican members. That would help.”

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