Speaker of the Legislature John Arch has announced changes to the schedule to give more bills a chance to pass this year. He’s starting evening sessions two weeks earlier than he had planned.
Arch says while good legislation will carry over to next year, “changes are clearly needed given the recent trend of discourse and filibuster on the floor.”
Both sides of difficult social issues have made it clear there’s little to no room for compromise, so the Speaker is assuming every bill will be filibustered – leaving less and less time for debate on other bills.
Arch says adding floor debate time is the most appropriate option available to him as Speaker and the best way to do that is to meet longer each day.
Accordingly, evening debate will be added to all-day floor sessions starting later this month on the 28th, the 51st day of the 90-day session, instead of April 11 as originally scheduled.