Democrat state Senators failed spectacularly in their attempt to subvert thoughtful and deliberate governing by hauling computers to the floor to read a bill at speeds faster than the human ear can comprehend — 650 words a minute.
This is how Colorado Public Radio tried to explain away what Republicans aptly describe as an attempt to run roughshod over the state’s Constitution.
Eventually, Democrats transferred the reading of the bill from human staff to a bank of computers set to run several times faster than normal human speech. Senate rules do not say anything explicitly about whether a bill reading must be understandable.
Take a listen to this perverse stunt:
So far at #coleg today…
1) Senate Rs demand a 2000-page bill be read at length in order to slow down the D majority.
2) Ds respond by having ***five computers*** read it, cutting the time needed from days to hours.Here’s how that sounds. Brace yourself. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/7vWb5SDOG9
— Sam Brasch (@samuelbrasch) March 11, 2019
State Senate Republicans say they are trying to slow down the rapid-fire pace at which Democrats are pushing through legislation this session, to give members have time to digest and determine the merits.
The bill they tried to speed read was not controversial, however it numbered more than 2,000 pages.
Garcia maintains that Democrats’ bills are receiving plenty of fair hearings. But if this is an example of a how they’re doing business, Colorado is in worse shape under Democrat control than we thought.