SALEM -- In a party-line vote that followed pleas for calm, the Oregon House on Thursday scratched off one of the most contentious measures left on its docket, approving legislation that would expand state college aid to undocumented students.
Senate Bill 932, which passed 34-25, marks another step toward "tuition equity" in Oregon after a 2013 law allowed certain immigrants brought to the United States by their parents to pay in-state tuition rates when attending Oregon colleges and universities.
Under SB 932, those students would also be eligible for state tuition grants worth about $2,000 a year. So far, it's estimated just 75 students have availed themselves of the in-state tuition rates offered in the 2013 "tuition equity" law.
State officials estimate up 350 undocumented students, often from low-income families, will be able to receive grants and attend college. Lawmakers have added funding to help 13,000 more students overall qualify for state tuition grants.
"This bill is the next step," Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, said of SB 932. "It's something that is going to be good for this very small number of students."
But the debate that led to the vote was acrimonious -- with tensions boiling over so badly at one point that lawmakers had to call a quick break to cool off, with House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, forced to remind her colleagues about the need for "decorum."
The eruption highlighted just how much immigration still looms as a fault line -- for a state whose immigrant heritage now stretches back generations and in a Legislature that seems to have otherwise moved past debates on other social divides, including LGBT rights and women's issues.
Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn, acknowledged her support for the 2013 tuition bill but argued its proponents had promised they wouldn't come back and ask for financial aid.
She then pointed to last year's ballot referendum on another 2013 measure that would have issued driver's cards to residents who either wouldn't or couldn't provide proof of their immigration status. Oregonians voted down the measure in droves, responding to a modest campaign led by the group Oregonians for Immigration Reform.
"We're thinning the soup," she said, calling the issue one of "the hard ones" lawmakers must decide. "Let voters vote."
She was tapping into tension that had been building for days, after word came that Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, seen by some as promoting anti-immigrant policies, would appear at a Oregonians for Immigration Reform rally last weekend on the Capitol steps.
Rep. Vic Gilliam, R-Silverton, had complained on the House floor earlier this session about how the group had targeted him in a hard-fought primary last year over his support for the driver's card measure.
Later in Thursday's hearing, it all came to a head.
Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Polk County, said he realized he "lucked out in life's lottery" because his parents were American citizens. "You don't get to pick your parents," he said.
But he wondered how he'd explain to a student whose citizenship was documented why a student without those papers might have been picked for a grant instead?
"What do you say to that kid?" Nearman said.
Then Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford, spoke and asked House members if they were abrogating their oath to uphold the law by giving aid to undocumented immigrants.
"Without borders, we don't have a country," he said. "Folks, we're turning our citizens into second rate citizens at the expense of someone else."
Those comments drew the ire of Rep. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, who felt like his colleagues were talking about students "as if they're from Mars. They're from here."
Gorsek followed by declaring it was "horrible" that some of his colleagues were considering voting against SB 932.
"Imagine being told by the Legislature of this state that you don't belong even though you've lived in this culture almost all of your life," he said.
Soon after, Rep. Jodi Hack, R-Salem, stood up to say she felt Gorsek had impugned her motives, something the House rules of order don't allow.
Told by Speaker pro Tempore Tobias Read, D-Beaverton, to be careful, Gorsek amended -- but not enough to calm things down. He changed his comments to "in my opinion, we are telling people they don't belong here."
While Hack and others fumed, Esquivel asked to speak again and fired back.
"Your opinion doesn't apply to all of us," he told Gorsek, "so keep it to yourself."
The next person to grab the floor was House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, who called for a quick break and had to hustle Gorsek to the front of the House chambers while he and Hack continued to shout at one another.
Privately, some Democrats cheered Gorsek among themselves for the comments he gave. But when the debate resumed a few minutes later, Kotek was presiding, and issuing a stern reminder to both sides of the debate.
"We handle issues big and small and there's a lot of passion on this floor about issues both big and small," she said, allowing that people are "human" and that "we all make mistakes." "But order and decorum are absolutely essential to maintain the effectiveness of this chamber and to do the people's business."
Gorsek spoke again, apologizing and saying he was embarrassed his passion had gotten the best of him. When he finished the room filled with applause.
The vote on SB 932 came soon after, this time without any drama. The measure now returns to the Senate, where it passed 17-11, for a vote on technical changes before heading to Gov. Kate Brown.
-- Denis C. Theriault
503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX