SALEM — Eastern Oregon lawmakers remain perplexed over the Democrats refusal to allow the voters to decide the fate of controversial climate legislation. The majority party’s political calculus, they said, does not pencil out.

Republican legislators remain absent from the Oregon Capitol heading into the weekend over a proposal to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, while Democrats in the House and Senate say they are determined to stand against demands to refer the proposal to voters.

Republican Rep. Greg Smith of Hepper said emotions are running high and leadership on the two sides are talking. To Smith and his fellow Republicans, the solution to the stalemate is clear.

“In the end, Oregonians need to have a say on this issue,” Smith said. “They need to be able to vote yes or no on it.”

Republican Sen. Bill Hansell of Athena said he has heard from constituents of his district, which includes Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties, and they oppose cap and trade for good reasons. Oregon emits 65 million metric tons of carbon each year, he said, while the Unites States as a whole contributes 6.5 billion tons.

“We have 1% of the total U.S. emissions,” he said, and on the global scale, Oregon is a tenth of 1%. On that front, he said, the Democrats don’t have the argument to support the need for the policy.

“This will not reduce carbon, but only raise taxes,” Hansell said. “It does not make sense.”

Why the Democrats won’t budge, Smith said, is a head scratcher.

“I think those who are in the majority believe it is their responsibility to handle this. They believe they have the staff and technical assistance to handle this,” he said.

But if the proposal is so good for Oregon, the pair of legislators said, Democrats should have the confidence Oregon voters will deliver. The voting math tends to favor the Democrats, with almost 974,000 registered voters, according to the January registration data from the Oregon Secretary of State, a bump from December 2019 of nearly 3,500.

Republicans are verging on 702,000 voters in Oregon, but they dropped 92 voters from December 2019. Nonaffiliated voters remain the second largest registration block with a little more than 960,000, an increase of more than 4,200 from the end of 2019.

If voters were to approve cap and trade, Smith and Hansell said the Democrats would come out looking good.

But, they contended, Democrats also would look good if they refer the measure to the public and it fails. In that outcome, Democrats could at least say the will of the people prevailed and democracy in Oregon is strong.

Democrats in the Oregon House moved Thursday to force Republicans back to the Capitol, issuing subpoenas to 21 state representatives that would compel them to explain their disappearing act from Salem.

House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said a process server has been hired to chase down wayward Republicans, although they may be out of state. If they obeyed, the representatives would have to appear before the Democratic-controlled House Rules Committee on Thursday, March 5.

“Be prepared to testify about your unexcused absences during the 2020 regular session of the Legislative Assembly, the need for members to fulfill their oaths of office and constitutional duties,” the subpoena states.

The move showed that Kotek is determined to stand against Republican demands to kill the greenhouse gas legislation or send it to Oregon voters.

The absence of Republicans in the House and Senate has largely stopped action on legislation this week because there is no quorum. The House needs at least one more Republican to show up to advance legislation on the floor and the Senate needs two.

“We feel like it is within our legal right to ask our colleagues to come back and explain before a committee why they believe it’s OK for them not to do their job,” Kotek told reporters late Thursday.

Legislative committees, minus Republican members, have continued working on bills and policy discussions. But it’s unclear if their legislative work will result in new laws.

Smith said the bills coming out of House committees are stacking up. Were Republicans to return, Smith said their first motion should be to kick those bills back to committee for review.

“It would be extremely incompetent of me to vote on those bills without reviewing them,” Smith said. “We need to make sure what is in the legislation.”

The House also would need to prioritize the bills, he said, starting with the budget and related polices.

To date, just three bills have passed both chambers and been sent to Gov. Kate Brown to sign into law.

Both chambers, in a formality, convened for less than 15 minutes Wednesday and adjourned.

“I wish the Republicans would understand the importance of their being here,” Senate President Peter Courtney told the Senate.

Courtney listed multiple bills passed by the House with bipartisan support that the Senate could be considering — if only Republicans would show up.

One bill is aimed at honoring deceased veterans. Another would protect water rights in Southern Oregon. Others would reform the state’s public defense system, boost affordable housing in Pendleton, address school bullying, require building standards in tsunami zones and make insulin more affordable.

“So wherever you are out there, will you please come back?” pleaded Courtney.

More than 40 bills await a vote in the Senate, 38 of which the House has passed. The Senate has passed 14 bills now waiting a final vote in the House.

In the House, 118 measures await action, of which seven are ready for a third reading and a vote. Another seven Senate bills are ready to come before the House for a vote as well.

Smith said the bills that need approval “weigh heavily on my shoulders.” As a senior member of the budget process, he said, he knows Oregonians have needs the Legislature must address. Hansell, too, said he lamented the hold up of legislation that helps everyday Oregonians.

But the two Republicans also said the people of their districts have been clear that cap and trade is the highest legislative priority.

Republican Rep. Greg Barreto of Cove did not return calls for comment.

It’s not clear whether the Republican representatives would be required to obey the subpoenas. In civil court cases, those who defy subpoenas can face sanctions from a state judge.

Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, said, “You know, I’m not an attorney. I can’t provide legal advice (or) speculate on exactly what kind of penalties might be levied. Certainly a subpoena is a legal document. So, people will have to figure that out for themselves.”

Smith cautioned for judicious use of subpoena power.

“The consequences of misusing it are great,” he said.

The Oregon Constitution, however, states that legislators “shall not be subject to any civil process” during the legislative session. The current one ends March 8.

“There is, I believe, some immunity,” Holvey said. “But I can’t tell you how far it goes or where the line is drawn.”

“Maybe we don’t have this all perfectly executed,” Kotek said. “We just know this was an option that we should try. And the sooner we started the better because we need to do the work of the people within the constitutional timeline that we have.”

Holvey, whom Kotek describes as the House’s resident rule expert and parliamentarian, approached the speaker Wednesday night about the tactic of employing subpoenas.

“You can’t negotiate with ghosts,” said Holvey. “They need to be here in a transparent setting so we can work together.”

Kotek has demonstrated a willingness to take brisk, punitive measures, taking away the chairmanship of a budget subcommittee from Smith when Republicans skipped an evening floor session last week.

House Republican Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, said in a statement late Thursday the subpoenas were “just the latest example of the majority party’s strong-arm tactics designed to end negotiations.”

“We will not be intimidated,” Drazan said. “We remain resolved to serve the hardworking families of Oregon who have asked for the abuse of power to end and for cap and trade to be referred to the people.”

A spokesperson for Courtney said the he has no plans to issue subpoenas to the 11 Republican senators who have been missing since Monday in an identical protest against climate legislation.

Kotek could ask the governor to call the Oregon State Police to compel absent Republicans to attend floor sessions, but she said she prefers to keep troopers performing their normal policing duties.

Smith said climate policy “becomes religion on both sides of the aisle, and leadership on both sides needs to work toward middle ground.”

He suggested Republican and Democrat leaders find three or four members of each party who are not overly invested in cap and trade, put them in a room together and see what deal they could produce to bring the sides closer.

However, the likelihood of that, he said, is slim to none.

— Observer editor Phil Wright contributed to the report.