[PLUG] Oregon Open Source bill 941 hearing summary

[John Todd]

>John Todd wrote:
>>
>>I was not very impressed with the people who spoke for the 941 
>>bill, though they gave some good points.
>
>You weren't the target audience. But thanks for your support.

Right, I'm not the target audience, but that does not eliminate me as 
a person who can see the effect on the target audience.  The target 
audience was the senators, who were considering why this 
exactly-worded bill should be made a law, and not considering the 
larger issues of closed v. open source, etc.  The only person to 
substantively bring the concept of "why is this being made a law" up 
was the opposition, and there was no prior discussion of that exact 
phrasing or reasons given by the supporters.  The opposition also 
brought focus upon the possible perception that the supporters were 
advocating one way of software design over the other, which is also 
not the point of the legislation, and there was too much advocacy in 
the supporters (which is understandable) for the larger issues of why 
open source is better, cheaper, etc.  Those points were not, as best 
as I am able to tell, what the legislators should be considering in 
the decision to make this a legal requirement in the State of 
Oregon's decision process for IT purchases.

The supporters were very well-worded in their descriptions of why 
open source is a better idea for software development.  They 
championed that point exceedingly accurately.  That was not the 
question, though, and they missed the concepts that would stick in 
the heads of the Senators at the time when a decision needs to be 
made about enacting of a law.

And yes, I am quite a supporter of the bill, and would have been 
there to speak if I had known earlier that it was that morning.  It 
directly effects my work, and I am frustrated that it appears (from 
comments elsewhere) that this version will also die without seeing 
approval.  As it was, I learned about it the prior evening from the 
PLUG list and was unable to make it to session due to time 
constraints, but was able to watch on cable.

>Epilogue: Plus, while this may not have been their choice, the 
>pro-941 speakers let the opposition speak last, which allowed the 
>Fear Uncertainty and Doubt creep into the discussion. 
>
>No actually that is just the way Senate hearings work, the 
>opposition gets to go last.
>
>david pool

As I said, that may not have been their choice.  I am unfamiliar with 
what version of the RRoO the Senate uses, but it does make sense that 
status quo gets last word.

Hopefully this experience will be material for future debates.  Is 
anyone aware of a nationwide mailing list or repository for activists 
pushing for this type of legislation?

JT