Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger said Wednesday that another walkout to deny Democrats a quorum on their climate change vote remains a possibility, and that he would prefer to see the policy referred to voters.

It was the first statement from Republican leadership since Democrats unveiled a new version of their carbon cap and trade legislation at an informational pre-session meeting of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Monday.

In a news conference Wednesday, Baertschiger, R- Grants Pass, said lawmakers were abusing the intent of the short 35-day legislative sessions in even numbered years by trying to pass expansive bills like the carbon policy and revamping the Department of Forestry’s wildfire program.

Despite Democrats’ concessions to make the climate policy more palatable to rural Oregonians, Beartschiger said he felt the bill hadn’t changed much from House Bill 2020, which was the version that died at the end of last session amid a walkout by Senate Republicans and last-minute flip-flopping on the bill by a few Democrats.

“What’s changed?” he asked. “What has really changed in the bill? Not a lot up to now. That doesn’t mean there won’t be amendments. Republicans have been out of the room. They tried to interject some ideas, but none have them have really stuck.”

The bill does, in fact, contain some significant changes designed to protect rural Oregonians from increases in fuel prices, and shield many industrial companies from compliance and increased natural gas costs. The Republican ideas, which were largely communicated to Democrats through Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton, centered on incentivizing clean energy and transportation electrification through the use of tax credits, and avoiding any onerous new regulatory scheme.

Democrats largely stuck to their existing framework, and Girod said he left those discussions in disgust – another Republican who appears dead set against the policy.

Baertschiger said he was skeptical Democrats’ concessions would have the desired impact, and worried that companies and individuals could game the system. Even if rural Oregonians did get cheaper fuel, he said, the cost of the cap and trade program would flow through in many of the other goods and services they consume.

Baertschiger said his opposition ultimately boils down to the costs that will be borne by Oregon households. Though disputed by experts, he contends that corporations will pass on the entirety of the new gross receipts tax to individual taxpayers, and that will end up costing the average family of four $1,100 a year. The climate policy, he maintains, will tack on another $650 in annual costs, though he acknowledged that was a rough calculation based on last year’s legislation, derived by dividing the total revenues expected from that legislation by Oregon’s population. It is far from clear that regulated entities will pass along all the costs, and the legislation includes specific provisions to protect low-income households, rural residents and various industries.

But Baertschiger said, “It always gets passed down to the average working family. They don’t have any way to deflect it. So they have to figure out how to pay for it.”

He added that the state has never been more starkly divided on partisan lines and that each party was playing to its base.

“I don’t see that ending, he said. “We see it at the federal level and we’re certainly seeing it in Oregon. As we look at this bill, that’s what has happened over the last two years.”

Because of the Oregon’s increasing political polarization, and lawmakers’ inability to come to an agreement on the policy, he mused that the best resolution might be a direct referral of the legislation to voters. He added that there may be Republican votes if Democrats decide to go that direction.

“Maybe it’s just time to let the voters make the decision,” he said. “We can’t seem to come to an agreement. Maybe the voters can. I think that’s the right solution for this legislation.”