Oregon Public Broadcasting

Monday was the first day of an unprecedented special session of the Oregon Legislature.

The month-long gathering is billed as a trial run of annual sessions.  But as Salem correspondent Chris Lehman reports, this experiment is starting to look a lot like business as usual in the Legislature.

It didn’t take long for Democrats and Republicans to start squabbling.  

House Republicans complained about not being allowed to submit competing versions of bills called minority reports. The procedure isn’t normally allowed during whirlwind special sessions. But Republicans like Representative Vicki Berger said normal special session rules shouldn’t apply, since lawmakers will be in town for a month.

Vicki Berger:  “To basically shut off any kind of respectful dissent is a precedent that we cannot and should not set going into this particular very special session.  And I mean special in the sense that we have not done this before.”

Democrats said they would allow minority reports, but only under strict limitations.

Republicans also accused House Speaker Jeff Merkley of side-stepping rules that prevent lawmakers from accepting campaign contributions during a legislative session.

Merkley is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.  He says he was under the impression that those rules only applied to races for state office.

Jeff Merkley:  “But I wasn’t sure of that so I did ask for a ruling from Legislative Counsel for clarity.”

They told him he could go ahead with fundraising during the session, but Merkley says he still won’t take money from lobbyists or anyone else with an interest in legislative business.  

Outside the capitol it was also business as usual, in the form of protest rallies.  The issue -- immigration.  Groups on opposite sides held dueling protests.

Salem construction worker Dan Linebaugh wants the government to crack down on illegal immigration.

Dan Linebaugh:  “I’m out here because I want them to become legal like we’re supposed to be. Illegal immigrants shouldn’t have the rights.”

The legislature will take up a proposal to require people to prove they’re in the country legally before they get a drivers license.

That’s one of dozens of issues lawmakers will tackle  this month.  But with a very tight schedule it’s not clear how many bills will actually come to a vote.