Oregon lawmakers are trying to get bills past the finish line with just over a week left in the 35-day short session.
In fact, last week, many bills did clear their first chamber vote, with legislation relating to voting rights, housing, worker compensation, and wildfires moving forward.
Also, the legislature did see similar tactics between the Republicans and Democrats as the GOP has continued to push back on the legislation mandating overtime pay for agricultural workers.
Oregon Lawmakers and House Bill
Moreover, the House bill is to give farmworkers overtime pay this session’s most controversial bill.
On Monday, lawmakers did vote along party lines to move the bill out of the committee. Soon it will go to the House floor for a vote. It is after a brief pit stop in the House Revenue Committee.
Also, Republicans do continue to push back against the bill. They say giving employees overtime pay could, in fact, further burden farm owners.
Republicans brought back a tactic they have used in prior sessions. This is a quirk in the Oregon constitution that requires all bills to be read in their entirety before any floor votes.
Also, the bills are around twenty pages long. Last week, it took lawmakers an hour and a half to get through one technical bill. In fact, that would replace the word “alien” with the less derogatory term, “non-citizen,’ in the statute.
There are slowdown tactic limits. It is the time that lawmakers can spend passing other legislation. Therefore, it is notable when the lawmakers already have limited time to get bills to the finish line. It would be in a short session. Now, Democrats are having “Reada,” which is a speed-reading female robot, read all bills. This would be to keep the process moving as swiftly as possible.
The republicans would in fact be willing to suspend the bill-reading requirement if there’s a “constructive discussion” over the overtime bill. Also, they are calling for an “Oregon Solution.” It would give farm owners more flexibility in when they need to give the give workers overtime pay. This would include peak harvest hours.