House Republicans Want to See a Copy of the Carbon Reduction Bill

File Photo, Oregon House of Representatives Chamber, Oregon Capitol. (Brian Gailey)

Committee set to begin work on bill with far-reaching impact, but it hasn’t been made available

SALEM, Ore. – The majority party has kept a carbon reduction bill with far-reaching consequences for every Oregonian out of sight from Republicans and the public. The bill will get its first reading Thursday with the Joint Legislative Carbon Reduction Committee beginning deliberations Friday. Yet a copy of the bill hasn’t been made available to anyone but Democrats, who are poised to ram it through the process without careful consideration of its impact on Oregon’s families, who will bear the brunt of the bill, or employees whose jobs may be endangered.

In the opening hours of the legislative session, Democrats publicly expressed a desire to work in bipartisan fashion. However, on a signature piece of legislation that will change the way Oregonians live, they’re excluding everyone – the press, workers, employers, seniors, students, and their fellow legislators.

“The Republican Vice Chairs and Democrat Chairs of the Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction spent months and countless hours discussing conceptual ideas surrounding legislation during the interim prior to Christmas,” said Co-Vice Chair David Brock Smith, (R-Port Offord). “However, I have not been privy to any legislative language since.”

Major policy action has usually required careful observation and discussion, not a hurried piece of legislation rushed through the Capitol.”

“When we worked on the transportation package passed in 2017, we traveled the state. The Joint Committee on Student Success, which I was a member of, traveled around the state as well,” said House Republican Leader Rep. Carl Wilson (R-Grants Pass). “They were both instances of huge policy decisions. This bill has the potential to have a far greater cost. Yet carbon has only been discussed in Salem in a back room, and no one has seen any language.”

"From what I have heard from many people is that bipartisan ideas are the best," said Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany). "This should be a bill that is bipartisan for all Oregonians. Yet, the fact is, the bill has only been seen and written by one party. I think that one might need to simply say we don’t want your help in this bill.”

Press release provided from Oregon House Republican Office.