There’s one state where the legislature cannot impeach the governor — Oregon. That could change on Nov. 5, 2024, when voters will decide on a constitutional amendment to empower the Oregon State Legislature to impeach and remove elected state executives, including the governor. The constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds vote in the House to impeach an elected state executive, and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict and remove the official from office. The House could initiate an impeachment for “malfeasance or corrupt conduct in office, willful neglect of statutory or constitutional duty or other felony or high crime.”
The constitutional amendment was introduced into the Legislature as House Joint Resolution 16 (HJR 16), and the amendment received unanimous support from Democrats and Republicans, minus absent members, in the House and Senate. Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp (R-27) said, “It is necessary for us to have this available. You can get into a situation where someone decides they don’t want to leave or they want to leverage the office when they should leave. That shouldn’t happen.”
There have been 16 impeachments carried out against governors since 1862. The most recent impeachment was of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) who was impeached, convicted, and removed from office in 2009. In 2016, the Oregon State Legislature considered a constitutional amendment to impeach the governor after Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) resigned following allegations of conflicts of interest and ethics complaints. That amendment passed the House but did not receive a vote in the Senate. Then-Senate President Peter Courtney (D-11) said an impeachment amendment wasn’t needed as voters could initiate recalls against elected executives. “Oregon voters have the ultimate right of impeachment through the recall process and they aren’t shy about using it,” said Sen. Courtney.
