Oregon Republican lawmakers to waive full reading of budget bills

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — This week’s House floor sessions in Oregon have been spent listening to a computer program read hundreds of pages of proposed bills aloud after Republican lawmakers refused to accelerate the process.

But, on Thursday, House Republican Leader Christine Drazan announced that GOP lawmakers will vote to waive the full reading requirement, specifically, for budget bills.

Republicans have not said if they will suspend reading other, non-budget, bills in full.

During Tuesday and Wednesday, about nine hours were spent reading one proposed bill.

In years past, both political parties have agreed to skip bill-reading — but the action requires two-thirds approval, which has been denied by Republicans this session.