SALEM -- Adding feistiness and heat to a tense hearing on the minimum wage in the Oregon House, protesters gathered outside Gov. Kate Brown's office on Thursday morning to demand a more aggressive increase -- $15 statewide by 2019 -- and stronger rental protections.

The action began in the House gallery when protesters took up chants of "emergency" just as House members began to take up a plan that would raise the wages over six years, with only the Portland area coming close to $15, at $14.75.

Protesters also unfurled a banner calling the state's housing crisis an emergency before they were escorted from the House.

By then, other demonstrators had sat themselves down in front of the main door to Brown's office. They chanted "Black lives matter," and "restore local control," a call for lawmakers to not only lift a ban on local minimum wage increases but also to approve rent control provisions. Current housing measures up for debate do not include explicit plans for limits on rents.

State police and legislative staffers all flocked to the scene, along with legal observers and Capitol visitors looking for photos.

Debate on Senate Bill 1532, the minimum wage plan up in the House, is expected to continue for at least a couple of hours. A vote on the bill in the Senate last week lasted nearly seven hours.

Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, apologized during the debate for the actions of other supporters, saying they "changed the tenor" of the discussion.

Later, as protesters moved from the governor's office toward the House chambers, banging on the walls with open palms and shoes, House leaders put the chamber at ease. They then called all members inside and barred them from leaving under a "call of the House" designed to preserve a quorum on the floor.

By noon, most of the protesters had moved outside the Capitol for a rally set for the afternoon. Their departure came as Oregon State Police officers made themselves conspicuously visible outside the House and Senate chambers. Troopers stood guard outside all of the public entrances to the House chambers.

Discussions resumed in the House about the same time.

"We're taking names and asking questions later," said Teressa Raiford, one of the organizers of the protest and a prominent activist on police accountability and racial justice issues.

She said protesters showed up in solidarity not only over the minimum wage and housing, but also on legislation that would allow police agencies to shield the names of officers who use deadly force if they face threats to their safety.

Raiford said protesters see a nexus between housing policy, economic measures and law enforcement, particularly for communities of color and Oregonians enduring poverty.

"These are root cause issues," she said. "We're trying to pull our issues together to take them up as a community."

-- Denis C. Theriault

503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX