Redistricting: House Republicans boycott session to deny passage of maps

Only one Republican lawmaker showed up for a scheduled floor session of the Oregon House of Representatives Saturday as the minority party denied quorum to prevent the passage of new state legislative and congressional district maps.

The boycott came after a new congressional map was proposed Saturday morning that was not as heavily slanted toward Democrats as the previous version, but could still result in a 5-1 Democratic congressional delegation.

Maps can be viewed at oregonlegislature.gov/redistricting.

The Legislature was scheduled to meet Saturday morning to consider the proposed maps, but the floor session was repeatedly delayed as discussions continued behind the scenes.

The House convened at 1 p.m. but did not achieve the two-thirds quorum it needed to perform any business. With Democrats still waiting on the House floor, the session was adjourned at 5 p.m.

The House is scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. Monday.

"If there is not quorum by 9:30, we will be finished and the session will be over," House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said. "I look forward to seeing all of our members here that can make it on Monday morning to be part of the work of this special session."

Monday, Sept. 27 is the Legislature's deadline to approve and submit new state legislative and district maps to the courts. Oregon's redistricting process is getting national attention, as it is one of the states adding a U.S. House seat due to population growth determined by the latest U.S. Census data.

If the Legislature fails to pass finalized maps that receive Gov. Kate Brown's signature by its court-appointed deadline, the job of drafting state legislative maps would go to Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a Democrat.

A five-judge panel created by the Oregon Supreme Court would handle congressional maps.

Republicans pan latest maps

House Republicans and Democrats have negotiated the congressional maps over the past several days. GOP lawmakers criticized the initial proposal as gerrymandered toward Democrats and unresponsive to the public, noting it was unchanged after hours of public testimony in September.

Independent analyses indicated the previously proposed map virtually guaranteed Democrats a 5-1 advantage in the state's congressional delegation.

The latest proposal would create three safe Democratic seats, one safe Republican seat and two relative toss-ups, according to similar analyses.

A top House Republican still panned the map.

"At the end of the day, this is the same outcome, maybe just a little bit more dressed up than the previous, blatantly gerrymandered map," Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, said. "This map technically moves things around, but analysis has already shown that this is an overwhelmingly Democrat-majority map that doesn't serve Oregonians."

Democrats would have an advantage in voter registration in Congressional District 6, which would include Salem, and Congressional District 5 would be split almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

However, Congressional District 5 would now include Bend, which has trended Democrat over the past few decades and could turn the district into a safe Democratic seat in the near future.

In short, the new proposal could still lead to a 5-1 Democrat map.

Rep. Ron Noble, R-McMinnville, the only Republican who arrived in the House chamber Saturday, said a concept for a congressional map that was acceptable to House Republicans was presented to the caucus Friday morning.

While the map still had Portland split into several districts — which Republicans say gives the metro area outsized influence in the state — the map contained a true swing district with voter registration split nearly evenly, Noble said.

However, after the map was "cleaned up" to account for population shifts, that swing district shifted toward Democrats by a couple percentage points, he said.

Democratic leadership was informed yesterday that Republicans would not be providing a quorum at Saturday's floor session, Noble said. He came to the Capitol to act as the eyes and ears for his caucus and to be a potential conduit between Democrats and Republicans should that become necessary.

Conversations between Democratic and Republican leadership continued sporadically Saturday.

“Discussions are still ongoing. There’s still behind-the-scenes negotiations,” Noble said. “We haven’t reached that point of no return. We’re getting close, because we have a deadline of Monday."

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Procedural starts and stalls

The Oregon Senate passed the original proposals for new state legislative and congressional maps Monday, but the maps had stalled in the House where Republicans had an even representation on the redistricting committee.

They were originally given equal representation after Kotek struck a deal with Republican leadership in April. In exchange, Republicans agreed to stop delay tactics that were slowing the legislative session.

House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, changed the committee makeup Monday to put Democrats in the majority despite Republican cries of unfairness.

Efforts were further delayed Tuesday after House Republicans continued to internally debate staging a walkout and a confirmed case of COVID-19 sent everyone home in the early afternoon.

The House was scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Saturday but was repeatedly recessed so lawmakers could have more time to review the new map and have internal conversations.

“House and Senate leadership from both parties have worked very hard to craft a fair compromise," Kotek said. "I want to praise everyone who have been working over the past 24 hours to come to a fair compromise."

The maps must be approved by a simple majority of members in the House and Senate, meaning Democrats can pass the maps without Republican support. But Republican attendance is needed to reach the quorum required to begin the floor session for the vote.

Only 34 of 60 House members were present for the 1 p.m. floor session. Kotek was still issuing a "quorum call" as of shortly after 5 p.m. when she adjourned for the day. 

A walkout or boycott of a floor session denies the chamber a quorum; Republicans have used the tactic six times in the past three years.

Special session rules give Kotek the authority to fine House members $500 per day for unexcused absences that prevent the establishment of a quorum.

In addition to the five unexcused absences Saturday, 21 lawmakers were excused from Saturday's floor session for a variety of reasons, from family emergencies to COVID-19 quarantine. 

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There is precedent for lawmakers to deny quorum during a redistricting fight.

In 2001, House Democrats refused to return to the Capitol for five days, forcing the Legislature to miss its redistricting deadline and allowing Democratic Secretary of State Bill Bradbury to draw new legislative maps.

Requirements for new maps

Legislative and congressional district maps are redrawn once per decade after the Census numbers are released. It is an opportunity for districts to be evenly rebalanced after population shifts and demographic changes over the past 10 years.

There are several state statutory requirements that guide map drawing.

By Oregon law, each district should:

• Be contiguous.
• Be of equal population.
• Utilize existing geographic or political boundaries.
• Not divide communities of common interest (groups with common social, political or economic interests).
• Be connected by transportation links.

While these all must be considered, it is up to the Legislature to determine the order of priority. Not each criterion needs to be weighed evenly.

Additionally, districts cannot be drawn for the purpose of favoring a political party or incumbent or for the purpose of diluting the voting strength of any "language or ethnic minority group."

Reporter Connor Radnovich covers the Oregon Legislature and state government. Contact him at cradnovich@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich.

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