As hinted at in last week’s column, Senate Bill 916 gets one more week of coverage. Things evolved quickly – sometimes hour-to-hour – since my last update.
After passing the House 33-23 on June 4, SB 916 came back to the Senate for concurrence.
In a bold and principled move, four Democratic senators joined their Republican colleagues in voting no on concurrence on Tuesday, June 10. That move forced the bill to a conference committee, which was quickly appointed. Members included Sens. Kathleen Taylor, Deb Patterson and Daniel Bonham and Reps. Dacia Grayber, Lisa Fragala and Lucetta Elmer.
Not only was the committee quickly appointed, but it met for the first (of many) times just a few hours after the failed vote on the Senate floor. The committee gathered at 3 p.m. Tuesday, at which point a single set of amendments, already drafted on Monday, were posted for consideration. Those amendments would have added a 12-week cap in unemployment insurance benefits for striking workers.
Lacking a combination of paperwork and/or support within the Democratic caucus, the committee adjourned with the promise of returning at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. The committee gaveled in just long enough to state that Sen. Bonham was having additional amendments drafted and they hadn’t yet posted to the Legislature’s website. The committee adjourned until 2 p.m.
That gave advocates time to plead their cases a close-to-final time. There were four potential amendments on the table by the time the committee came back in the afternoon, all dealing with caps on benefits and/or disqualifying periods. Rather than go in depth on the amendments, the committee spent the bulk of the time hearing from the secretary of the senate for clarity on the parameters of what could be amended via the conference committee.
The parliamentarian’s strict read is that only sections of the bill that differ between the A-Engrossed and B-Engrossed versions are within the conference committee’s scope. However, he also said that his guidance was just that. He shared that his role is to advise, and any rules or interpretations are ultimately up to the full chamber membership.
Essentially it was suggested that the conference committee could adopt any of the amendments, and there would only be an issue if someone objected on the chamber floor. At that point, the Senate president would issue a ruling that would either stand or that could be overridden by some majority of members.
Chair Taylor stated she was not interested in a process that would include overriding the parliamentarian’s guidance (which might be required if the amendments addressed the disqualifying period), and additional amendments were being drafted. The conference committee closed and then returned at 6 p.m. Wednesday. In a relatively quick move, the committee adopted the -34 amendments, which would change the cap on benefits to 10 weeks.
Apparently, that was enough to secure the votes needed within the Democratic caucus. The bill passed on the Senate floor Thursday morning in a 16-12 vote, with Sen. Mark Meek and Courtney Neron Misslin joining the majority. The bill then passed the House on a party-line 35-22 vote. It will now go to Gov. Tina Kotek for signing.
The bill takes effect Jan. 1, 2026.
– Stacy Michaelson
OSBA Government Relations and Communications Director
