The battle over whether to ban destination resorts from the Metolius River Basin is coming to a head, with a vote expected in the next few weeks.
The House Rules Committee could vote on the bill as soon as Monday. If approved, the legislation would go to a vote in the full House of Representatives. The Senate must also vote on it.
SALEM — Is the number 30 — or is it 31?
Lawmakers and lobbyists are feverishly counting and recounting votes in the Capitol as, in the final weeks of the legislative session, the duel over the Metolius River Basin is nearing a climax.
At issue: whether a long-debated ban on destination resorts in the scenic and largely pristine area becomes law.
For weeks now, the legislation carrying the ban, House Bill 3100, has been stuck in committee while people figure out whether the bill has the necessary majority to pass the 60-member state House of Representatives.
“There is a difference of opinion over whether it’s got the votes,” said Geoff Sugerman, a House Democratic spokesman. “It’s going to be very close.”
Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles, has been watching the debate closely since the basin is in his district. He opposes the resort ban as overturning Jefferson County’s support of siting two resorts in and around the basin.
“Everyone is lobbying everyone,” he said.
The bill could be sent to the House floor for a vote as early as this week. If so, it would be a major test for a proposal that has been years in the making.
Two years ago, a similar proposal died in the Legislature, as Gov. Ted Kulongoski, facing what was expected to be a close ballot fight over the property rights-oriented Measure 49, threatened to veto the resort ban.
However, last December, Kulongoski formally proposed a ban, and the state Land Conservation and Development Commission formally recommended it in April.
Until just recently, however, legislative leaders did not think there were enough votes to pass it. That’s because of a joint lobbying effort by Jefferson County, which says it would lose needed property tax revenue due to the bill, as well as the would-be developers of the 630-unit Metolian “eco-resort,” which is proposed for the heart of the basin.
Two weeks ago, Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, a supporter of the bill who owns a cabin in the basin, likened the situation to some of her daughter’s first words; lamenting that the bill was “stuck, stuck, stuck!”
Rumors were circulating that the bill might have been taken hostage by House Democrats in return for votes on other bills from the Senate. Asked about them, Burdick said that while she is “not involved in any hostage activity myself, I can only speak for myself.” Given the widespread support of the resort ban, she said, “to see this kind of game playing going on, if that’s what it is, it’s what gives the Legislature a bad name.”
To get the bill unstuck, its supporters, including another powerful senator, Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, have been lobbying fiercely. Johnson, whose family owns 130 acres in the basin, earlier this year told The Oregonian newspaper that she would stay out of the debate to avoid “inferences” about her agenda. But of late she’s been actively lobbying other lawmakers in the house.
Rep. Bill Garrard, R-Klamath Falls, said he has been approached twice by Johnson. “She became tearful,” he recalled, adding that he respects her family’s efforts to preserve the basin. “I expect it was emotionally upsetting to her to consider what happens if the bill doesn’t pass.”
Rep. Jeff Barker, D-Aloha, who like Garrard is an opponent of the bill, said Johnson also approached him, but he was not convinced.
“It seems like if you built a cabin there last year, you’re an environmentalist,” he said. “But if you want to build there next year, you’re a terrorist.”
Johnson declined a request for an interview.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem, has reached a compromise with one of the would-be resort developers, Ponderosa Land and Cattle Co., in which the firm is allowed to build, instead of a resort, just 100 homes and a 20-unit lodge.
With the Metolian, however, he wants the company to be able to build only two homes in the heart of the basin, as long as it is granted development rights to build a resort elsewhere in the state.
The Metolian’s representatives say they still want to build a resort in the basin, but at a minimum would like 35 dwellings there.
Something changed last week, when Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay and chair of the House Rules Committee, scheduled a hearing on the bill, held Friday. Formerly, he was publicly undecided on the bill, but now says he supports it.
“The biggest issue for me is does it have 31 (votes)?” he said. “In my opinion, it has a really good chance of passing. I’m a pretty good vote counter.”
House Majority Leader Mary Nolan, D-Portland, a supporter of the bill, agreed, saying “I think we’re there. We’re double- checking.”
Clem, the bill’s sponsor, says he has 31 votes but is keeping the identity of the 31st vote a secret.
However, Rick Allen, a lobbyist for the Ponderosa, echoed rumors in the building that the vote may actually be 30-30.
“I think it’s a split,” he said, adding that in the end it will be close. “You’re within a vote either way.”
He also predicted that the final outcome of the battle may not be decided until the final days.
“This becomes a trading card,” he said. “It’s (an issue) that has enough emotion and high drama that people aren’t going to give up their vote without getting something.”
The bill did not receive a vote Friday in the Rules Committee but could get one in another hearing Monday, after which it could go to the full House for a vote. It still would require a vote in the Senate, as well as the governor’s signature. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn by June 30.
Nick Budnick can be reached at 503-566-2839 or at nbudnick@bendbulletin.com.