Republicans blocking votes on bills about abortion, gun control and gender-affirming health care in Oregon this week have based their boycott on an obscure, 44-year-old state law that requires bill summaries to be written at the reading level of an eighth- or ninth-grader.
GOP leadership says their walkout — now entering day three — is about “every bill” but that two bills that would expand protections for abortions and transgender health care and place more limitations on gun ownership “specifically don’t qualify” under the 1979 law.
Democrats say Republicans didn’t take issue with the writing style of bipartisan bills they backed earlier in the session until hot button issues were on the table.
The fate of the contested bills is now unclear; under a new voter-approved law, Oregon legislators who have 10 unexcused absences are banned from reelection.
“This is about abortion, guns and transgender rights,” said Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber. “The timing of this is such that they’re walking out on important legislation that Oregonians sent us here to do.”
The 1979 law in question specifically requires bill summaries to have an eighth- or ninth-grade reading level — measured by a score of at least 60 on something called the Flesch readability test.
It’s unclear if it was ever followed or consulted for past bill summaries, but it was dusted off recently by a Republican Senate employee who dug it out the Capitol archives.
“It’s important that we follow the law because, if we’re passing laws today, are we just expecting in, you know, 20, 30, 40 years that people are just going to ignore the laws that we have on the books that we all passed? I don’t think we would appreciate that,” said Senate Republican leader Sen. Tim Knopp.
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