This content was published: May 5, 2009. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
House: Governing in fast-forward
Story by Dana Haynes
On an average day, the 60 members of the Oregon House of Representatives debate, oh, five or six bills.
On Monday, they debated 26 bills. Twenty-freaking-six.
And not on tepid stuff, either. The update to the Oregon bottle bill; health care reform; mandated hearing-aid coverage for children; a farm bill.
The pace is picking up because the deadline for bills to pass their “chamber of origin” is here. That is: all House Bills need to be passed out of the House and on to the Senate, and the opposite for Senate Bills.
If you thought the recession and the 2009-11 budget was the only thing on the lawmakers’ plate, think again.
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About Dana Haynes
Dana Haynes, joined ±¬ÁÏÍøin 2007 as the manager of the Office of Public Affairs, directing the college's media and government relations. Haynes spent the previous 20 years as a reporter, columnist and editor for Oregon newspapers, including ... more »