Oregon lawmakers are heading into the second week of the short session with tensions between the two parties running high over the undercurrent of a possible Republican walkout.

As semis and log trucks circled the Capitol as part of a rally Thursday morning, that stress erupted in a meeting of the Senate Committee On Housing and Development. By the end of the exchange, both Republican members had stormed out of the meeting, leaving the three Democrats to hear public testimony.

The housing committee typically meets at 8 a.m. but did not assemble until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. Committee Chair Sen. Shemia Fagan, D-Portland, opened the meeting by blaming the delay on traffic from a rally by the rural advocacy group Timber Unity, which formed last year to oppose Democrats’ climate change bill.

“Given the chaos happening at the Capitol this morning and the ability to not start on time today, we’re gonna each give your testimony three minutes,” Fagan said, as trucks sounded their horns in the background.

Most seats in the hearing room were empty and just two people were there to testify in support of the bill to make it easier for religious officials to build homes near their places of worship. But Fagan pressed on.

“So please keep your testimony to three minutes so we can actually get through everyone,” Fagan said. “And so sorry. It’s frustrating when people try to shut down the Capitol. It makes it where folks like you who came to be heard don’t get to be heard all the time. So on behalf of Oregon state Capitol, apologize for the chaos this morning.”

Watch the hearing video here.

At that point, one of the two Republicans on the committee, Sen. Denyc Boles of Salem, stood up, said something that is inaudible in the video of the hearing, and walked out of the meeting.

Fagan asked Rep. Dallas Heard, R-Roseburg, also a member of the committee, if he was going to begin testifying on his bill.

“Wow,” Heard said. He sat silently at the table reserved for people testifying, then shook his head.

Fagan told Heard the clock was running on his three minutes of testimony and again asked if he wanted to testify.

“There’s no respect in this building,” Heard finally said. “That does not apply to you or you,” he said, pointing to the two other Democratic senators on the committee, Sen. Jeff Golden of Ashland and Sen. Rob Wagner of Lake Oswego.

“So I guess there are no proponents for the bill,” Fagan said, before inviting opponents to begin their testimony. Heard went to his seat on the committee dais and gathered his things. “Apparently the First Amendment only applies to one party,” Heard said, before heading out the door.

Fagan fired back, “You are the government Sen. Heard.” She urged the next witness to “speak up … just so we could hear you over the (truck) honking.”

Democrats are hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2019, when Senate Republicans twice fled the Capitol to deny the chamber a quorum to vote, first on a big business tax hike, then on a climate bill.

The latter bill, a Democrat-backed package to cap greenhouse gas emissions and force fuel suppliers and other large polluters to buy “allowances,” died after the walkout and is back as Democrat’s top priority in this 35-day session.

Fagan declined to be interviewed Friday evening so it was unclear why the traffic from the Timber Unity rally was unusually difficult for lawmakers to navigate on their commute to the Capitol. There are regularly large rallies at the Capitol that can limit parking in the area for members of the public, but at least one senator noted that the trucks and other vehicles participating in the Timber Unity rally made it difficult for lawmakers to access their parking garage under the Capitol Mall.

In an emailed statement, Fagan said she has attempted to smooth over the incident. “After the committee ended, I immediately reached out to Senators Heard and Boyles and extended olive branches,” Fagan wrote. “Senators Heard and Boyles are passionate, smart, and thorough members of the Housing Committee. I look forward to working with them in the coming weeks to address Oregon’s housing crisis.”

Boles could not be reached to discuss the exchange Friday evening. Heard said he was not yet ready to comment on what happened. “I’m still just trying to digest what happened,” he said.

— Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud

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