SALEM — Oregon Senate Republicans plan to return to the state Capitol and resume voting on bills Saturday morning, caucus leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. said on Friday.

Baertschiger, of Grants Pass, said lawmakers have an obligation to pass budget bills, and he believes lawmakers can complete that work by the midnight Sunday deadline for lawmakers to adjourn. Democrats have a slate of other policy bills they also want to pass, and Baertschiger would not say whether Republicans would waive procedural rules to allow votes on that legislation in the waning hours of the legislative session.

Altogether, more than a hundred bills and resolutions are still pending in the Legislature and need Senate approval.

"There’s no reason to have a special session,” Baertschiger said in a press conference at the Capitol. "If we have a special session, it’s because (Democratic) leadership chose to have a special session.”

Republicans have shut down the Oregon Senate for more than a week, by walking out and denying Democrats the 20-member quorum they need to conduct business. They did so with the stated purpose of blocking a climate change bill, but have given mixed public messages that they might also be trying to stop various other bills. There are 18 Democrats and 12 Republicans in the Oregon Senate.

In a meeting with reporters Friday afternoon, Senate President Peter Courtney said he expects one of the first orders of business when the Senate convenes on Saturday will be to dispatch House Bill 2020 to its death.

From there, Courtney said Senators can expect a long day as they work through the bills that have piled up over the last week.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time on the floor,” Courtney said. Although he implied the Senate would not work overnight, he said, “I’ll stay there until the very last. Hopefully most of my members will. I just think we’re about to get into a physical ordeal that is going to be remarkable for individuals who are here.”

“Bring a sleeping bag, bring an indoor tent, whatever,” Courtney added.

Baertschiger told reporters that although the state’s founders created the option of denying a quorum by putting the attendance requirement in the Constitution, the strategy should be used sparingly. "Denying a quorum is something that should never be used until we get to a point where we will no longer talk,” he said, and it was a tough decision for him to make.

With Republicans on the lam, Gov. Kate Brown and House Speaker Tina Kotek, of Portland, threatened to withhold special appropriations from Republican senators’ districts. Those are usually included in an appropriations measure known as the “Christmas tree bill,” passed at the end of the session. Baertschiger said Brown personally called leaders in Republicans’ districts to voice that threat.

In contrast, Baertschiger said, “I had no threats from the Senate President."

The Senate Republican leader said he returned to Oregon on Wednesday and met with Brown and Courtney. That was a day after Courtney announced on the Senate floor, apparently without forewarning fellow Democratic lawmakers and the governor, that there were not enough Democratic votes in the senate to pass the carbon capping bill.

“Finally this week, the governor called me, said she wants to talk to me, we have to resolve this,” Baertschiger said. "And I came back to Oregon by myself.”

Baertschiger said he also spoke individually with Senate Democrats opposed to the climate bill, to confirm they opposed it. "So here we are,” he said.

Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, Senate Democrats’ deputy majority leader, called for members of both parties to be on their best behavior this weekend, given the heated political rhetoric throughout the walkout.

"I hope that everybody, Democrats and Republicans alike, chooses to be on their most professional, civilized behavior over the next couple days, so we can get the people’s work done,” Steiner Hayward said.

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

— Chris Lehman

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