Oregon State Senate Explained

Oregon State Senate
Legislature:Oregon Legislative Assembly
Coa Pic:Seal of Oregon.svg
Term Limits:None
New Session:January 9, 2023
Session Room:OregonSenateChambersCenter.jpg
House Type:Upper house
Leader1 Type:President
Leader1:Rob Wagner (D)
Election1:January 9, 2023
Leader2 Type:President pro tempore
Leader2:James Manning Jr. (D)
Election2:January 11, 2021
Leader3 Type:Majority Leader
Leader3:Kathleen Taylor (D)
Election3:July 15, 2024
Leader4 Type:Minority Leader
Leader4:Daniel Bonham (R)
Election4:April 15, 2024
Term Length:4 years
Authority:Article IV, Oregon Constitution
Salary:$21,612/year + per diem
Members:30
Structure1:Oregon_Senate_(2023).svg
Structure1 Res:250px
Political Groups1:
Last Election1:November 8, 2022
(16 seats)
Next Election1:November 5, 2024
(15 seats)
Redistricting:Legislative Control
Meeting Place:State Senate Chamber
Oregon State Capitol
Salem, Oregon
Website:Oregon State Senate

The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Senate, representing 30 districts across the state, each with a population of 141,242.[2] The state Senate meets in the east wing of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.

Oregon, along with Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, and Wyoming, is one of the five U.S. states to not have the office of the lieutenant governor, a position which for most upper houses of state legislatures and for the United States Congress (with the vice president) is the head of the legislative body and holder of the casting vote in the event of a tie. Instead, a separate position of Senate president is in place, removed from the state executive branch. If the chamber is tied, legislators must devise their own methods of resolving the impasse. In the 72nd Oregon Legislative Assembly in 2003, for example, Oregon's state senators entered into a power sharing contract whereby Democratic senators nominated the Senate President while Republican senators chaired key committees.[3]

Like certain other upper houses of state and territorial legislatures and the United States Senate, the state Senate can confirm or reject the governor's appointments to state departments, commissions, boards, and other state governmental agencies.

The current Senate president is Rob Wagner of Lake Oswego.[4]

Membership and qualifications

Oregon state senators serve four-year terms without term limits. In 2002, the Oregon Supreme Court struck down the decade-old Oregon Ballot Measure 3, that had restricted state senators to two terms (eight years) on procedural grounds.[5]

According to the Oregon Constitution, two-thirds of senators are required to form a quorum. Republican senators have used this rule to block legislation by absenting themselves.[6] In response to this practice, Oregon Ballot Measure 113 was passed in 2022 to disqualify members with ten unexcused absences from serving in the legislature following their current term. However, a Republican walkout went for six weeks during the 82nd Assembly in May and June 2023, the longest ever.[7] [8]

Milestones

Kathryn Clarke was the first woman to serve in Oregon's Senate. Women became eligible to run for the Oregon state legislature in 1914 and later that year Clarke was appointed to fill a vacant seat in Douglas county by her cousin, governor Oswald West. Following some controversy concerning whether West had the authority to appoint someone to fill the vacancy, Clarke campaigned and was elected by voters in 1915. She took office five years before Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution protected the right of all American women to vote.

In 1982, Mae Yih became the first Chinese-American elected to a state senate in the United States.

Composition

AffiliationParty

(Shading indicates majority caucus)

Total
DemocraticRepublicanInd. Rep.Ind. PartyVacant
End of 75th Assembly (2010)181200300
76th Assembly (2011–2012)161400300
77th Assembly (2013–2014)161400300
78th Assembly (2015–2016)181200300
79th Assembly (2017–2018)171300300
80th Assembly (2019–2021)181200300
81st Assembly (2021–2023)18120300
January 15, 20211101
April 2021101
December 15, 202117291
Begin 82nd (2023–present)171111300
January 1, 202310291
January 11, 202311300
Latest voting share

82nd Senate

See main article: 82nd Oregon Legislative Assembly. The 82nd Oregon Legislative Assembly, which holds its regular session from 2023 to 2025, has the following leadership:

Senate President: Rob Wagner (D-19 Lake Oswego)
President Pro Tempore: James Manning Jr. (D–7 Eugene)
Majority Leader: Kathleen Taylor (D-21 Portland)
Minority Leader: Daniel Bonham (R-26 The Dalles)

District Senator Party Residence Assumed office
Republican 2023
Republican 2021
Democratic 2019
Democratic 2003
Republican 2021
Republican Fall Creek 2023
Democratic Eugene 2017
Democratic 2015
Republican 2008
Democratic 2021
Republican 2015
Independent 2009
Democratic 2023
Democratic 2021
Democratic 2022
16Republican Tillamook2023
17Democratic Portland2012
18Democratic 2023
19Rob WagnerDemocratic Lake Oswego2018
20Mark MeekDemocratic 2023
Democratic Portland 2017
Democratic 2017
Democratic 2013
Democratic 2021
Democratic 2021
Republican 2023
Republican 2013
Republican 2017
Republican 2013
Republican 2020

82nd Senate Committee Assignments

Senators are each assigned to one or more committees.[9]

Conduct

Education

Energy and Environment

Finance and Revenue

Health Care

Housing and Development

Human Services

Judiciary

Labor and Business

Natural Resources

Rules

Veterans, Emergency Management, Federal and World Affairs

Past composition of the Senate

See main article: Political party strength in Oregon.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Oregon Senate GOP tensions are front and center with new bill.
  2. Web site: Senate Home. 2021-03-13. www.oregonlegislature.gov.
  3. Web site: In Case of a Tie....... National Conference of State Legislatures. November 3, 2010.
  4. https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/state/legislative/senate-images.aspx Oregon Blue Book: Senate Presidents of Oregon
  5. News: Green . Ashbel S. . Lisa Grace Lednicer . State high court strikes term limits . Oregonian . A1 . Portland, Oregon: Oregonian Publishing . January 17, 2006.
  6. News: Republican Oregon state senators boycott for a 2nd day, preventing quorum . 7 June 2023 . . 4 May 2023.
  7. News: Giardinelli . Christina . Oregon Republicans say ballot measure barring absent lawmakers has loophole . 7 June 2023 . . 5 June 2023.
  8. News: Lugo . Dianne . Oregon lawmakers make deal on gun, abortion, LGBTQ bills to end longest walkout in state history . 16 June 2023 . . 15 June 2023.
  9. Web site: Senate Committee Selection. OregonLegislature.gov.