House Republican Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby) made the following remarks during Tuesday’s floor session regarding the Capitol building’s public access restrictions and attempts by House Majority Leader Barbara Smith Warner (D-Portland) to marginalize the participation of Republican members:

“We are not here to facilitate the ease of the passage of someone else’s agenda that harms my community and my state long-term.”

The statement was made following a decision by Republicans not to dispense with Article IV, Section 19 of the Oregon State Constitution, which requires that all bills be read aloud. Ordinarily, because of the length of the bills, the chamber is able to get a two-thirds majority and merely read the title of the bill. The operative section of the Oregon Constitution reads:

Every bill shall be read by title only on three several days, in each house, unless in case of emergency two-thirds of the house where such bill may be pending shall, by a vote of yeas and nays, deem it expedient to dispense with this rule; provided, however, on its final passage such bill shall be read section by section unless such requirement be suspended by a vote of two-thirds of the house where such bill may be pending, and the vote on the final passage of every bill or joint resolution shall be taken by yeas and nays.

View Leader Drazan’s full remarks in the video below.




--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-03-09 16:49:57

Last Update: 2021-03-09 16:58:58