To Tallahassee and Back: Auto Reader? What’s an Auto Reader?

I had intended to do a week 9 wrap-up, given that this is the final week of the legislative session after all.  However, circumstances on Tuesday, April 30th, brought back memories of something that hardly ever happens in Tallahassee but is not without precedent.  A rarely used procedural measure was enacted by the House minority party, unhappy that their vision for healthcare reform was not being given enough attention.  The Florida Constitution requires that all bills be read in full but allows for a reading by title to meet that requirement (bills must be read three times before they can be voted on by the respective chambers).  The Constitution also allows 1/3 of the membership of each chamber to request that a bill be read in full.  It was that provision that introduced the auto-reader to the 2013 legislature.

Unlike the accompanying photo, an auto reader is not an actual robot holding a microphone. However, it is a software program that translates the written word into the spoken word at a pace and clarity that few humans could accomplish for extended periods of time.  Like self-serve check-out lines in grocery stores and automated teller machines, the auto reader highlighted that human beings could, potentially, be replaced by sophisticated computer programs.  The auto reader even has a name.  The Beatles' song "let it Be" was the song of the day in the House on Wednesday.  The line "Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom..." The "Mother" title was dropped and the auto reader simply became Mary.

As I mentioned, the move to have bills read in full is not without precedent.  In my 19 years in this process it has occurred at least twice before.   Under a former House speaker a motion was made to have the state budget read in full.  Back at the turn of the last century we did not have auto-reading software.  To meet the requirement of the motion, human bill readers were assigned to stand at the podium and literally read the bill line by line.  Since this is a very lengthy piece of legislation it took a very long time, and a team of readers traded off sections to accomplish the task.  If memory serves me correctly the House members were forced to sit in their seats while the reading took place.  I don’t believe that motion was made again that session!

Once Representative Fasano moved to the Senate there was a session during which House members made the motion to request the bills be read in full (2008, I believe).  Again, bill readers were employed to read the legislation from start to finish.  At some point after human readers did their work, an auto reader was introduced, but it was technology in its infancy.  In both events, a message was being sent by the maker of the motion. Only history can say if those messages were effective or not.  What makes this year’s request unique is that in response to the motion the House unveiled an electronic auto-reader.  Rather than having a person stand at the podium and read the bills in full, a button was pushed and a Siri-like voice was broadcast out of the House chamber speakers.  What was most interesting is that the first bill read this way sounded quite normal.  However, subsequent readings were done at a slightly higher speed which not only cut down on the reading time, but which lent the auto reader’s “voice” an almost Chipmunk-like sound.

The great thing about this process is that it is, just that, a process.  The Constitution lays out the framework for how Florida’s government is to be run, in this case the legislative branch.  The process was utilized by members of the minority party for their purposes and it was fulfilled by the majority in a unique and very “future-is-now” fashion.  Whether the ultimate intent of the minority to bring attention to healthcare is effective or not is not something I will speculate on.  What I will say is that the Florida House responded to a rarely used motion and moved forward in an orderly manner with the latest technology available.  If nothing else, one can take away from this event is the fact that human beings can be replaced by machines, at least when it comes to auto-readers!  I admit, I still like to hear an actual human voice when a bill is being read.  I trust that most people do as well. 

Oh, by the way, the state budget is poised to be considered any time after 1:37 PM on May 2.   I trust there will be enough material in that one bill alone to fill a future blog post or two.  Check back next week!  If you have any questions about auto-reading or any other topic of interest please do not hesitate to leave me a comment below.  I will gladly respond as soon as possible. 

NOTE: this blog post was written by an actual person, although I did utilize a computerized word processing program to transmit my thoughts to you in the most efficient manner possible!