Oregon House floor sessions canceled after COVID case confirmed at the Capitol

Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek, pictured here at a swearing in ceremony on Jan. 11, 2021, on Monday canceled several floor sessions early this week after learning of a confirmed COVID case in the Capitol.Brooke Herbert/The Oregonian

Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek abruptly canceled several floor sessions in the chamber early Monday afternoon, after learning that someone who was in the chamber during sessions last week was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Initially, Kotek left open the possibility the House might resume floor sessions on Wednesday. But around 4 p.m., the speaker’s office announced lawmakers would cancel the in-person meetings for the rest of the week and return March 29 “at the earliest.”

An unidentified individual who was subsequently diagnosed with the virus was present on the House floor last week and might have exposed others on March 15 and March 16, according to a news release from the speaker’s office.

On advice from the Marion County Public Health Division, the Legislature is advising all symptom-free people who might have been exposed to quarantine for 10 days and anyone with symptoms to get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine for at least 14 days. Others who were on the House floor should also get tested, the speaker’s staff said. Committee meetings will continue to be held online.

The House was scheduled to hold morning and evening floor sessions for most of the week, in order to make headway on a backlog of mostly uncontroversial bills that Republicans have insisted be read aloud before final votes. The delay tactic means a clerk must spend hours reading the lengthier bills on the House floor.

Around 1 p.m., Kotek announced from the House dais that the chamber would adjourn until Wednesday morning. She did not explain her decision at the time, only cryptically asked her colleagues to think about why they are at the Capitol.

In a meeting with reporters later Monday afternoon, Kotek said she was notified while still on the House floor that “there was a possibility” House members had come in contact with a colleague who had tested positive for the virus. Kotek told reporters that lawmakers and staff had since been informed that a person who was on the House floor during a session last week had indeed tested positive.

“One of the reasons that it was important to adjourn our floor (session) ... is we now have a reported case of someone who was interacting on the House floor last week that has been confirmed tested positive for COVID,” Kotek said. “We are still trying to figure out all the details.”

Oregon House and Senate lawmakers and staff are required to wear face coverings at the Capitol and the Legislature has so far avoided outbreaks that interfered with business or even shut down other statehouses, including in Idaho. The Capitol remains closed to the public and legislative committees continue to hold online meetings only. Republicans in both chambers have pushed for Democratic leaders to reopen the Capitol to the public and conduct more business in person.

Kotek, a Democrat from Portland, told reporters her top priority is to keep lawmakers and legislative employees safe and she pointedly questioned why minority Republicans are forcing lawmakers and staff to spend hours in the House chamber to read aloud uncontroversial bills. As an example, she pointed to House Bill 2111 which would change the name of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission in recognition of the agency’s oversight of the recreational marijuana industry. Since the agency is referred to many, many times in state statutes, the bill is 170 pages long, and Kotek estimated it would take 10 hours for a clerk to read it. She asked to postpone a vote and associated reading of the bill on Monday but Republicans declined.

In recognition of the dangers the coronavirus poses, House Republican Leader Christine Drazan of Canby expressed support for canceling floor sessions for at least the rest of the week, if not longer.

“Out of an abundance of caution, my immediate recommendation is for legislators and staff to minimize the risk of an outbreak in Oregon’s Capitol by returning home and quarantining for 10 to 14 days from the date of possible exposure per (Oregon Health Authority)’s recommended guidelines and schedule testing,” Drazan said in a statement. “There are several elected members from the House with underlying conditions who have not had the opportunity to vaccinate yet. We need to do everything we can to keep everyone in the building safe.”

-- Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com; @hborrud

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