More than a few Democrats might be regretting their success last year in winning Oregon legislative supermajorities.

Such dominant control can be hard to manage well, much harder than working in the minority and more than working with a modest majority. Why? The lack of a brake often results in an almost irresistible attraction to doing too much and going too far.

As this year’s regular legislative session reaches its end, consider two of the key bills for which this session will be most identified. They concern the unlikely topics of unemployment insurance and transportation funding, neither of which likely would have been front of mind in a more closely-divided legislature.

They may become a problem for Oregon Democrats in the coming election cycle, which because of the Senate seats up for grabs already, is likely to help Republicans. Democrats this session have been handing them juicy campaign material.

The measure on unemployment and worker strikes, Senate Bill 916, did not need a supermajority to pass, but the large Democratic edge probably gave additional impetus to it. The bill, which Gov. Tina Kotek signed Tuesday, is expected to make Oregon the first state in the nation to allow striking workers to apply for unemployment insurance while on strike.

Of the more than 1,000 pieces of testimony that poured in, many came from labor unions or supporters, but the wide-ranging opposition pointed out serious issues.

The Oregon State Chamber of Commerce, for example, pointed out that, “the Unemployment Trust Fund has always been intended to support workers who lose their job through no fault of their own,” and that the bill “does not meet this simple litmus test.”

Stress on the fund is one issue, but one not immediately obvious to most of the public. More visible is what may happen when a strike by, for example, teachers takes place and strikers are in effect paid for an extended period. Public employees, including teachers, may find themselves rapidly losing public support.

The Oregon School Boards Association argued that if this bill had been in place during a recent month-long teacher strike at Portland Public Schools, the district (which this year is dealing with a large budget deficit) would have been on the hook for $8.7 million.

Now that it’s been signed, you can expect a referendum effort which could easily damage a number of Democratic legislative candidates next year.

The second supermajority-fueled bill is even higher profile: House Bill 2025, the transportation funding bill to raise billions in taxes and fees. It does need a supermajority to pass, and as this is written its future is unclear.

On Wednesday, House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, introduced a 155-page amendment that reduces the amount expected to be raised from $14.6 billion to $11.7 billion over the next 10 years.

The problem of funding for transportation systems, especially roads and bridges, is serious and getting more so as traditional sources of revenue (notably the gas tax) have softened because of electric vehicle use and other factors, and as construction costs have risen. That much isn’t in serious dispute.

Finding new money for the work is difficult, however, and its path through the legislature all year, leading up to the current bill, has been public but rocky and unpredictable.

Legislative Republicans have locked in against it and some Democrats have been critical. The difficulty has been so rough that on June 20 Senate President Rob Wagner bounced a Democrat (Sen. Mark Meek of Gladstone) from his seat on the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment. Meek had expressed issues with the bill, so Wagner personally took his place to ensure the bill would be advanced.

That’s the kind of highly unusual move that should send up a red flag: If a measure has little enough support that it cannot advance under usual conditions, second thoughts are in order. Certainly, this bill has generated massive opposition, both in formal testimony and elsewhere. A website called notaxor.com outlines the contours of it on its home page: “Stop the Largest Tax Increase in Oregon History. HB2025 — the so-called Transportation Reinvestment Package — will cost taxpayers $2 BILLION in NEW TAXES. Working families will be hit the hardest.”

Polling has shown limited public concern for increasing transportation funding and strong opposition to a number of its funding elements. Organization of a ballot issue to reverse it already is underway, and it could succeed. (Will Oregon get a special legislative session this year on the subject? Maybe.)

Beyond that, the Republican legislative campaign ads for next year, alongside those for striker unemployment pay, almost write themselves.

Because you can doesn’t mean you should. Sometimes the large legislative majority either party might win — the kind of majorities each party has in most states these days — can be more a curse than a blessing.

 

Randy Stapilus has researched and written about Northwest politics and issues since 1976 for a long list of newspapers and other publications. A former newspaper reporter and editor, and more recently an author and book publisher, he lives in Carlton.