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Senator Starr presses colleagues on referendum scheduling; Senate suspends section‑by‑section reading requirement
Summary
Senator Starr highlighted nearly 5,000 public submissions opposing a change to a referendum timeline and urged senators to respect voters; the Senate then voted to suspend the constitutional section‑by‑section reading rule for that day's third‑reading calendar (motion carried, 25 ayes recorded).
Senator Starr used floor time on Feb. 11 to urge colleagues to listen to constituents who, she said, overwhelmingly opposed changes to a referendum's schedule. "We'd have had over 4,000, actually, almost 5,000 Oregonians who have submitted testimony in opposition to senate bill 15 99," Starr said, urging senators to "pay attention to your constituents."
Senator Drazen later echoed Starr’s remarks, saying the referendum process belongs to voters and arguing the Senate should not move the question off the November ballot. "We must allow their voices to be heard," Drazen said on the floor.
Following those remarks, Senator Starr moved a procedural change: to suspend, for that day's third‑reading calendar, the constitutional requirement in Article IV, Section 19 that each bill be read section by section on its final passage. Starr's motion to suspend was called, the clerk conducted a roll call and the motion carried; the clerk recorded 25 ayes and the motion was declared carried on the floor. The transcript records Senator Gorsuch voting nay on the motion.
The suspension applies only to the reading requirement for that day's calendar; it does not itself change the substance of any bill or the schedule for a referendum. No formal floor action recorded in the transcript resolved the underlying dispute over changing a referendum's date during this session.
