So far today, House Democrats have forced the full reading of numerous bills in the House chamber, but not of a few appropriations bills that came up. Asked why, Minority Leader John Rusche said in an email, "It might be deemed cruel to have the clerk try to read those columns and charts.  We thought we could get nearly the same effect reading the bills." He said that decision might change if it comes to the biggest budgets - those for public schools and Medicaid. "But it appears that they are unwilling to yield to questions on those bills that are read," he said. "We can have legitimate questions that need to be answered in order for us to have a good vote."

Among the bills that were read in full and then passed this evening were HB 328, on public records, which passed on a unanimous 67-0 vote; and HB 231a, on hunting and aircraft use, which passed on a unanimous 64-0 vote.