For the second consecutive legislative session, Senate Republicans have walked out of the Oregon Capitol to block passage of a greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade bill.

"The Senate Republicans who walked out are not against climate policy, they are against the democratic process,” Gov. Kate Brown said. “Oregonians should be outraged and I am, too.”

Senate Republicans say they are facing a Democratic majority unwilling to compromise and intent on pushing a bill through the Legislature that will harm rural Oregonians.

Democrats say they have been responsive to Republican's concerns over Senate Bill 1530 and were given a mandate by a majority of voters to pursue climate change legislation.

Hanging in the balance are dozens of bills, including funding appropriations for mental health services, homelessness and combating wildfires. There also are policy bills on issues from education to gun control.

The walkout was triggered Monday morning when the budget writing Ways and Means Committee sent SB 1530 to the Senate floor as Timber Unity truck horns blared from the streets outside.

When the Senate floor session began 30 minutes later, only one Republican arrived.

The other 11 were gone.

Democrats hold a supermajority of 18 members, but a walkout denies the Senate a two-thirds quorum of 20 needed to conduct any business on the floor. Senate Republicans deployed this tactic twice during the 2019 session — first in protest of a multibillion dollar education revenue package and then against House Bill 2020, the previous cap-and-trade bill.

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The biggest difference between this session and 2019 is that the bill has enough support to pass the full Senate and "that will not change," according to Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem.

Democratic staffers said the bill also has at least the 31 votes needed to pass the House of Representatives, were it to reach that chamber.

Senate Republican spokeswoman Kate Gillem said the senators decided this weekend that for those walking out, only the members of the Ways and Means Committee should come into the Capitol on Monday. The rest should stay away and be ready to leave.

Gillem described it as a precautionary measure.

Minutes after the bill was voted on, Republicans began leaving.

Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, was the only Republican senator present at the 11 a.m. floor session. The other eleven members were absent, though Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, and Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr., R-Grants Pass, were excused by the Senate President's Office.

After having Senate staff search the building, Courtney announced the Senate did not have enough members for a quorum and they could not proceed with a floor session. The upper gallery erupted in applause, which Courtney quickly quieted.

Courtney gave a short statement and then adjourned the floor session until 11 a.m. Tuesday.

"We need to continue to work very hard and be prepared should we find a way to have another member come here," Courtney said.

Knopp said after the floor session that he decided to stay because there are bills he wants to continue working on. He said he was not in contact with his Republican colleagues and that his presence at the Capitol was "day-by-day."

Gillem said Republican senators are prepared to deny quorum for the remainder of the session — which under statute has to end no later than midnight March 8.

"I can no longer stand by and watch this poorly crafted cap and trade legislation get steamrolled through the capitol,” Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, said in a statement. "Sometimes a boycott is the best way to stop bad laws from happening to good people."

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Unlike during last year's cap-and-trade walkout, Courtney said he would not ask Brown to direct Oregon State Police officers to locate missing Republicans.

SB 1530 never would have had a chance to reach the Senate floor had Courtney not used a long-standing Senate rule to join the Ways and Means committee and vote in support of the bill.

This was necessary because co-chair Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, opposes SB 1530.

There are 12 senators on the Ways and Means Committee — seven Democrats and five Republicans.

Johnson's "no" tied the vote 6-6 on the Senate side of the joint committee.

Courtney's vote broke the tie. Without it, Johnson's opposition would have been enough to keep the bill in committee.

“Sen. Courtney’s actions leave no other option for Senate Republicans but to boycott and deny quorum because cap and trade is on the way to the Senate floor," Baertschiger said in a statement.

What the contentious bill is about

SB 1530 would set gradually declining limits on statewide carbon emissions and create a marketplace for polluters to buy credits, or allowances, for each ton of emissions they release annually.

The major target of the program is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2035, and 80 percent below by 2050.

Climate activists praised lawmakers for passing the legislation out of Ways and Means. HB 2020 from last session died in the Senate after the bill lost Democratic support amid a nine-day Republican walkout.

"It’s impossible to turn your back or run away from the climate crisis," said Tera Hurst, executive director of Renew Oregon. "From wildfires to water shortages to food sources dying off, Oregon will face devastation if business as usual is allowed to continue."

Republicans say SB 1530 would increase the cost of living in rural Oregon and do little to combat climate change. Democrats say cap-and-trade is the only way to reduce the state's carbon emissions and the bill has protections for rural Oregon.

Republicans want bill sent to voters

Throughout session, Republicans have called for SB 1530 to be referred to voters because they contend that the state and the Capitol are too divided for lawmakers to vote on this issue.

Democrats are not in support of that proposal. They say Oregonians sent lawmakers to the Capitol precisely so they could make hard decisions on complicated issues.

“We are not interested in referring the bill because we have the votes in the building to pass it outright,” Brown said. “Our environment, our children, demand that we take action now.”

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Gillem said that if Republicans were to return to the Capitol, Democrats would need to agree to send the bill to voters.

“I cannot in good conscience represent the citizens and constituents of Senate District 30 or the 2 million other Oregonians who have rightfully opposed this legislation and allow it to go through," Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, said in a statement. "If my colleagues will not allow for a fair process in the building, then I will represent my constituents from outside the building."

Despite Senate Republicans' absence, work at the Capitol building will not completely cease.

The House of Representatives passed a pair of bipartisan bills Monday and is scheduled to consider bills throughout the week.

Committees will also continue to meet, albeit without their Republican members. A simple majority quorum is all that is required for committees to conduct business.

"Committees can still meet, committees can still move bills forward and we're going to continue to do the people's work," said Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland. "If we can't go any further than getting them out of committee without our Republican colleagues being here ... then we'll just do what we can do, just like we did last year."

Contact reporter Connor Radnovich at cradnovich@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich