[luau] Oregon Open Source bill blocked by lobbyists

[Warren Togami]

Bi-partisan support, and the bill is shot down by the Speaker of the
House.  That's fair.

http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1051876782142831.xml

"If a school district as small as Riverdale can save three-fourths of a
position by switching to open source software, how much could the
government of the state of Oregon, which owns more than 50,000
computers, save?

"The answer: tens of millions of dollars, every year. 

One would think that a legislative measure giving state government's
computer techs a green light to deploy such software would be a
no-brainer. Indeed, this is exactly what House Bill 2892, commonly known
as the "Open Source Software for Oregon Bill," does. It enjoys wide
support from both Democrats and Republicans and had even gained the
support of the state's computer administrators. But hours before the
bill's committee vote the week before last (where it was expected to
pass), it was killed by Speaker of the House Karen Minnis, R-Wood
Village, after powerful out-of-state corporate interests showed up at
the Oregon Capitol, seeking to make the bill go away."

(continued in article)