Oregon GOP senators face $3,500 invoices for their walkout

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Senate leaders say they are preparing to invoice 11 Republican senators for fines associated with a June walkout.

An initial plan to dock their pay was determined to be illegal.

The invoices would total $3,500 for each senator. The total includes $500 per day for seven of the days Republicans refused to show up for a floor session, Oregon Public Media reported.

Carol McAlice Currie, a spokeswoman for Democratic Senate President Peter Courtney, said this week that bills will be sent to each senator who missed work.

“If they refuse to pay, they will be sent through the regular debt collection process,” she said.

Dallas Republican Sen. Brian Boquist, who believes the fines are illegal, already sent a check to Courtney for $3,500 along with a letter indicating that he was paying to allow him to “seek remedy in state and federal court.”

The walkout was a way to halt a vote on climate legislation. The measure aimed to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases by 2050 by capping carbon emissions and requiring businesses to buy or trade for an ever-dwindling pool of pollution “allowances.”

The Office of the Legislative Counsel, which provides legal advice to lawmakers, declined to discuss what mechanism allows Senate leadership in general to fine lawmakers.

Democrats have suggested that there is precedent in other states for such fines.

GOP senators’ departure from the Capitol denied the Senate the quorum needed to conduct business. The 11 senators were not fined for the first floor session they missed, and Democrats canceled one planned session after they received threats from militia members, so the fines were for only seven days.

Republicans have also received scrutiny over how they plan to pay those fines.

On June 26, a coalition including labor unions, Basic Rights Oregon and Planned Parenthood, filed complaints with the secretary of state’s office and Oregon Government Ethics Commission.

The complaints sought formal rulings that Republicans could not pay their fines using campaign money or a crowdfunding effort that raised more than $40,000.

State officials said this week that the complaints are still under review.