SALEM — The 78th Oregon Legislative Assembly will be just hours old after it convenes Monday when controversial bills from the last session will begin moving.

It will mark a quick start on pieces of legislation that were considered by both sides last session to be some of the biggest non-budgetary issues. Two failed by a single vote in the Senate. Another that would lower the carbon content of Oregon fuels could imperil other proposals. With strong Democratic majorities in both chambers, Oregonians are poised to see what happens when one party holds enough power to pass nearly all its priorities alone, while the other does what it can to affect controversial pieces of legislation. Democrats need one House Republican to join them on any bill that would raise tax revenue.

“What’s kind of unprecedented in recent times is the mathematics inside the building,” said longtime Oregon political insider Len Bergstein, referring to the Democrats’ 18-12 supermajority in the Senate and 35-25 lead in the House. “With some discipline, (Democrats) can move a lot.”

It’s not uncommon for Democrats to move on past issues early, Bergstein said.

Decisions on issues that will define this Legislature, such as minimum wage, sick leave and transportation funding, will come later in the 180-day session. Here’s a look at what that might look like.

Wages

Despite an impressive economic rebound, Oregon’s per capita income lags behind neighboring states and is around 90 percent of the national average, according to state data.

Both sides agree this is a problem. They diverge on how to fix it.

State Democrats such as House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, want to look at the state’s minimum wage, which is second highest in the nation, and consider increasing it statewide. Kotek stopped short of calling for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, as some groups are advocating.

“I believe that if you work full time you shouldn’t live in poverty. If you believe that, then you need to have a discussion about the minimum wage,” Kotek said last week. “Because when you work full time at minimum wage in this state, you are living below the poverty line.”

Gov. John Kitzhaber and other prominent Democrats say they’re not sure businesses can support a $15 minimum. The governor also warns of what’s known as the “benefits cliff,” or the point where people with low income lose benefits as their income rises.

A study by the Legislative Revenue Office found a single parent with two kids would make about $49 more a month working full time at $15.10 an hour after losing benefits such as food stamps and other tax credits.

When talking about income inequality, Republicans say they want private industry setting wage levels.

“Ultimately, the private sector is the one that drives the incomes in this state, drives the tax revenues in this state,” House Republican Leader Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, said last week. “And instead of making excuses I think we have to sit down and ask what is the state from a policy (standpoint) doing that has led to this income decline?”

Environment

Democrats are coming out of the gate strong on a proposal that originated in 2009 to lower by 10 percent the greenhouse gas emissions from fuels used in Oregon. The original bill included a sunset provision for this year that would prevent the standards from taking effect.

The work since the bill has passed has included studying the standards’ potential impact on fuel costs. The actual changes would begin next year if lawmakers remove the sunset.

Lawmakers on Day One will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 324 in the Senate environment committee to discuss removing the sunset and allowing the standards to move forward.

Democrats say voters in November gave them the green light to lower emissions by handing them big wins in contentious House and Senate seats.

Republicans say the standards would increase the cost per gallon of gas, likening the low-carbon standards to a “hidden gas tax.” They threaten to hold up an important transportation package that would likely include a higher gas tax as a short-term solution to fixing roads and other infrastructure.

Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, summed up the Republican opposition to the low-carbon standards by calling them a “symbolic contribution to the issue of global warming.”

Republicans are also trying to block the legislation in part because of revelations that Kitzhaber’s fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, received $118,000 for consulting work from a group that was also pushing for low-carbon fuels. The governor said Hayes’ work for the group and his support of the bill is due to a “convergence of interests” on the environment.

Rural Oregon

Republicans say Oregon’s rural communities don’t share the upbeat outlook on the economy that Portland residents do. Given that most Republican lawmakers in Oregon are from rural areas, this is an issue on which they can drive the conversation on what rural support looks like.

At 10.5 percent, unemployment in Crook County is the highest in the state. The county gained just 30 jobs in 2014 as other areas of the state added them at a steady clip.

Democrats share the Republicans’ concerns that focus needs to stay on helping rural Oregon.

Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, which doubled as his inaugural speech, focused on regional economic equality. He has said the state needs to visit areas of the state and find solutions while working directly with rural residents rather than trying to send help from Salem in the form of new legislation.

McLane said Kitzhaber’s budget included $50 million for irrigation projects that would help farmers. He also said the state needs to thin forests as a way to create jobs and prevent wildfires that have grown in size and cost.

Kotek agrees, saying there is bipartisan support on those types of issues.

Education

Both sides in the Legislature say their No. 1 priority is education. It’s now a matter of who wants to spend most and where that money would come from.

The governor recommended in his $18.6 billion budget proposal putting $6.9 billion in the State School Fund. Two Democratic lawmakers in charge of writing the state’s budget upped the ante, pushing that funding to $7.2 billion in a budget framework released in January.

Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, said during the unveiling of his proposal that the $7.2 billion would “continue the directions that we have put forward in the last biennium when we made a major investment in our public schools. We do not want to at all retreat from that investment.”

Republican Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend says he wants the state to push the total to $8 billion for the fund, and that the state would find that money by prioritizing.

“Either we’re serious about it or we’re not,” Knopp said. “I think a 69 percent graduation rate is unacceptable and is in fact a crisis,” he said, referring to the state’s worst-in-the-nation graduation rate for 2013.

Knopp called for a more “individualized” educational system, including more shop classes that were lost during budget cuts in the recession.

Marijuana

A joint committee will act as the primary sounding board for ideas on marijuana regulation after possession becomes legal in July. And there’s no shortage of opinions on how to get the law right.

Lawmakers have already filed dozens of bills related to marijuana and another related to growing hemp in Oregon. Kitzhaber also penned his own principles for the program in a letter to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which will regulate marijuana starting in 2016.

Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, is co-chair of the committee. She said she’s focused on making sure rules are in place regarding edible marijuana, which has a delayed impact and can be intense if users take the wrong dosage.

Other primary questions include taxation, labeling and the future of the state’s medical marijuana industry. Kitzhaber believes the state can fold the program. Burdick wants to keep it around “at least in the short term.”

“Everyone knows there are a lot of recreational users in the medical marijuana program,” she said, adding she wants to “focus our attention on protecting a pretty vulnerable population of people who really do depend on this as an alternative medicine.” That includes medical marijuana users younger than 21, who wouldn’t be allowed the product under Measure 91.

As they work through all these issues and others, Democrats say they aren’t looking to run over Republicans without input on any legislation. Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, has said he thinks the caucuses need to be cautious and not overzealous on their proposals.

House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, said the Democrats’ having majorities isn’t a be-all end-all for what legislation will make it out of Salem this session.

“There are 35 House Democrats,” Hoyle said. “I’m not going to say I’m in charge of the House Democrats because you can’t really be in charge of Democrats.”

— Reporter: 406-589-4347, tanderson@bendbulletin.com