A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly, a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, the "requirement for a quorum is protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by an unduly small number of persons." In contrast, a plenum is a meeting of the full body. A body, or a meeting or vote of it, is quorate if a quorum is present.
Jason Atkinson is an American politician in the US state of Oregon. The Republican grew up in the Southern Oregon city of Ashland. He served as a senator in the Oregon State Senate from 2001 to 2013. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Governor of Oregon in 2006. He stated his intention to run in the 2010 Oregon gubernatorial election, but withdrew from the race in 2009.
The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Senate, representing 30 districts across the state, each with a population of 141,242. The state Senate meets in the east wing of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.
Fred Frank Girod is an American politician and dentist from Oregon. He is a member of the Oregon State Senate representing the 9th district, which covers the mid-Willamette Valley, and previously served as the Senate minority leader. He was later succeeded by incumbent minority leader Tim Knopp.
Brian James Boquist is an American politician from Oregon. He currently serves in the Oregon Senate representing District 12. A member of the Republican Party, he briefly defected to the Independent Party from 2021 until 2023. He previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 23 in the mid-Willamette Valley, from 2005 to 2009.
Lona Kim Thatcher is an American politician currently serving as a member of the Oregon State Senate for the 11th district since 2023. She previously represented the 13th district from 2015 to 2023, and served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives for the 25th district from 2005 to 2015. She is a resident of Keizer.
Alan Randal Olsen is an American Republican politician who served in the Oregon State Senate from 2011 until 2021, representing Oregon's 20th Senate district in southeastern Clackamas County, including the cities of Barlow, Canby, Gladstone, Johnson City, Oregon City, and portions of Milwaukie. He defeated incumbent Democrat Martha Schrader in the 2010 election.
Charles William Thomsen is an American Republican politician from the US state of Oregon. From 2011 to 2023 he served in the Oregon Senate representing District 26, which includes all of Hood River County and parts of eastern Multnomah County and northeastern Clackamas County.
Cliff Stewart Bentz is an American lawyer, rancher, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Oregon's 2nd congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, he is the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife and sits on the House Judiciary Committee. He previously served in the Oregon Senate, representing the 30th district in Eastern Oregon. He also served in the Oregon House of Representatives, representing the 60th district, which encompasses Malheur, Baker, Harney, and Grant counties, and part of Lake County, and includes the cities of Baker City, Burns, and Ontario.
Tim Knopp is an American Republican politician from Oregon. He is a member of the Oregon State Senate and served as the senate minority leader from 2021 to 2024. He previously served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.
William S. Hansell is an American politician, farmer, and minister from Oregon. He served over four decades in local and state government positions including eight terms as an Umatilla County commissioner and three four-terms in the Oregon State Senate, representing a large rural district in eastern Oregon. As a young man, he spent twelve years as an evangelical Christian missionary in California and Australia.
Dennis Linthicum is an American politician serving in the Oregon Senate. A member of the Republican Party, he has served in the senate since 2017.
Dallas Heard is an American politician. He served as a Republican member of the Oregon Senate from 2018 to 2023. Heard had previously served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from District 2 from 2015 until 2018.
The 2020 United States Senate election in Oregon was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Oregon, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic senator Jeff Merkley won reelection to a third term in office. Although this Senate seat was largely expected to be one of the safest for the Democrats, the race received national attention due to the Republican nominee Jo Rae Perkins's promotion of the unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory. Furthermore, Perkins had flipped five counties that Merkley had won in 2014.
Alan W. DeBoer is an American businessman and Republican politician. He served as mayor of Ashland, Oregon from 2001 until 2004, and also served on the Ashland City Council and School Board.
The 80th Oregon Legislative Assembly convened for its first of two regular sessions on January 22, 2019, and met for three special sessions, the last of which concluded on December 21, 2020.
A series of Oregon Republican State Senator walkouts began in May 2019 when Republican members of the Oregon State Senate refused to attend floor sessions of the Oregon Senate in an effort to stymie Democratic efforts to pass House Bill 3427. Proposed during the 80th Oregon Legislative Assembly, the bill would have provided $2 billion for K-12 schools through a new tax package. The senators eventually returned after reaching a deal with Oregon Senate Democrats and Oregon Governor Kate Brown, but elected to "vanish" the following month over another bill, House Bill 2020. House Bill 2020 is designed to institute a carbon tax in Oregon. Republican senators argue that it would unduly burden their constituents, while Democrats argue it is necessary to place Oregon at the forefront of the fight against climate change.
Travis E. Nelson is an American politician and nurse serving as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 44th district. He assumed office on February 1, 2022. He is the first openly LGBTQ+ man of color and the first openly LGBTQ+ African American to ever serve in the Oregon Legislature.
Oregon Ballot Measure 113, the Exclusion from Re-election for Legislative Absenteeism Initiative, was approved by Oregon voters in the 2022 Oregon elections. Measure 113 amended the Constitution of Oregon to provided that members of the Oregon Legislature with ten unexcused absences from floor sessions are disqualified from serving in the legislature following their current term. It is codified as Article IV, Section 15 of the Oregon Constitution.
Justin Hwang is an American restaurateur and politician from Oregon serving as the chair of the Oregon Republican Party since 2022. He is the first Asian American and Korean American to serve in the position. He previously served briefly as the vice chair from May to July of the same year. Hwang previously made unsuccessful bids for election to the Oregon House of Representatives and Oregon State Senate in 2018 and 2020, respectively.
