Session begins Monday
The off-season is over and now lawmakers will be working to get their Legislation through the hurdles.
The House and Senate will convene at noon. Gov. Brad Henry will give his State of the State Address to a joint session in House.
In his speech Henry is expected to outline his goals for the next year. Henry will also release his budget. Lawmakers will begin the legislative session with an estimated $600 million less than they had last fiscal year. Lawmakers have filed 2,510 bills and 88 joint resolutions to be heard during the legislative session. Bills must pass out of the chamber where they were introduced by March 12.
Check out our video. Look for our stories each day in The Oklahoman, or online at newsok.com. Come to our blog as we update it with insights from the session.
http://feeds.newsok.tv/services/link/bcpid1766638491/bctid9561546001
Ice storm quiets Capitol
Normally a week before the start of the legislative session, the state Capitol is bustling with activity.
A significant ice storm can change all that.
It will be quieter than usual today at the state Capitol as most offices here will remain closed because of the ice storm that is causing dangerous driving conditions. The first session of the 52nd Oklahoma Legislature starts Monday.
Public Safety Commissioner Kevin Ward, as authorized by the governor, announced early today that state agencies may continue to temporarily reduce services for Canadian, Cleveland, Lincoln, Logan, McClain, Oklahoma and Pottawatomie counties. Nonessential employees in those counties, including those at the Capitol, were sent home early Monday afternoon.
Agency directors outside the seven counties will make the decision for their agencies, said Oscar Jackson, administrator of the state Office of Personnel Management.
State employees told to stay home today will not have to use personal leave or sick time.
State employees assigned to maintain basic essential functions are to remain at work or report to work as scheduled. These include correctional officers, state troopers, Transportation Department crews and those working in hospitals, care centers and mental health facilities, Jackson said.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Governor wants to improve state’s economic, research edge
Economic times are tough, but Gov. Brad Henry wants legislators to find a funding source to pump money into a fund to stimulate research projects, which eventually would stimulate the state’s economy.
Despite legislators facing a budget shortfall estimated at $600 million for the 2010 fiscal year compared with this fiscal year, the governor is holding a state Capitol news conference today to challenge legislators to find a permanent funding source for the state’s research endowment fund. He’ll make a suggestion where money can be tapped for the fund.
The endowment generates money to help fund cutting-edge research projects across the state. It was recommended by the Economic Development Generating Excellence task force that Henry appointed in 2003 – the last time the state experienced an economic slowdown.
The EDGE panel of public and private sector leaders recommended the establishment of a $1 billion endowment to help boost research projects in Oklahoma. So far, legislators have deposited $150 million in the fund.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
State GOP leader comments on MLK Day, inauguration
As America today celebrates civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and anticipates tomorrow the inauguration of the country’s first black president, it’s time to recall the slain leader’s call for unity and his disdain for hate, the state’s Republican Party chairman says.
“We will begin a new chapter in America’s political history tomorrow when Barack Obama is sworn in as the next president of the United States,” Gary Jones writes in an e-mail to GOP supporters. “While I’m sure Republican and Democrats will have many classic battles over the next four years, we must be careful to not cross the line into hateful speech and debate.
“Articulating the differences between Republicans and Democrats is a must, but it should be done in the right way.”
Jones included in his message a quote from King, who was killed by an assassin’s bullet in 1968:
“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.”
Jones said King’s words are invaluable “as we enter a new year and a new chapter in American politics.”
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Coburn as ‘Rocketman’
Well, Okies will never back down from a challenge or the opportunity to show unwavering confidence in their favorite college football team.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee apparently couldn’t resist the urge to boast on the Sooners last week. Too bad they lost.
Now Coburn, known to many in the U.S. Senate as Dr. No, has been immortalized singing an Elton John song. Good thing the cameras were rolling and Coburn apparently has a sense of humor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUDkXON9JhE
Julie Bisbee
Capitol Bureau
Oklahoma Santas help state economy
Oklahoma shoppers apparently didn’t let the nation’s economic woes cut into their Christmas shopping as the state’s sales tax collections helped top monthly receipts over the prior year, records show.
While the national economy is experiencing the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression, preliminary reports show general revenue fund collections for December totaled $567.4 million, which 7.1 percent more than the same month a year ago.
“We should count our blessings,” state Treasurer Scott Meacham said. “We are building a comfortable cushion as we head into the new year, while most of the rest of the nation is being forced to make drastic cutbacks in essential governmental services as their economies suffer the effects of the global recession.”
Meacham said the strong collection numbers reflect the important role the oil and natural gas industries play in Oklahoma’s economy.
Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas are about 75 percent higher than December of last year and are close to double what was estimated to be collected, he said. “Without the exceptionally high gross production tax collections, overall collections for the state would be below the estimate for the fiscal year.”
Meacham said sales tax collections for the month – reflecting Christmas sales through mid-December – show an increase from the previous year.
“I am very much surprised,” he said. “If you look at how Oklahoma’s holiday season was compared with the rest of the nation … we hit the ball out of the park. I’m just proud of Oklahoma consumers for not pulling their horns in and staying home.”
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Coffee: The public can make up their mind
Should lawmakers continue to receive gifts, and if so, how should those gifts be reported? Those are the questions the State Ethics Commission and lawmakers are batting around. Since July 1, lobbyists no longer are allowed to spend more than $100 during a calendar year on meals, tickets or gifts for each elected official or state employee. The previous annual limit was $300. New rules also require lobbyists to disclose gifts after spending more than $10 during each six-month period. Lobbyists previously were required to report gifts of $50 or more. During a press conference last week where Republicans talked about their legislative agenda, Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, proposed another idea. Just make it easier to report the gifts and the expenses and do it immediately.
“We need to have clarity in the system. Quite frankly, I don’t know if it will ever happen in this state. But my own personal opinion, is if you had full disclosure for every nickel as close to time to spent as possible, I think that would solve a lot of problems,” Coffee said. “Rather than having all these rules on timing that create complexity, let’s just report every dime right after it’s spent. I think you as members of the media will be able to ferret out and identify situations and the public can make up their own mind.”
While Coffee favors immediate reporting, others are proposing a ban on gifts to lawmakers all together.
John Wood, a member of the board of Common Cause Oklahoma has proposed the amendment, although commissioners have yet to agree to support it.
Commissioners will hold a hearing Jan. 23 on the proposals and then vote on which ones they will recommend to legislators. Lawmakers may only vote down the proposals; the proposals take effect if legislators take no action.
Julie Bisbee
Capitol Bureau
Give a hoot about the Senate rules
There were few surprises when Republicans released their agenda today that included lawsuit reform and calls for fiscal responsibility. What makes this year’s agenda different is that Republicans might actually have a chance to push some measures through. If Tuesday’s organizational meeting in the Senate is any indication of party cohesiveness, expect to see a lot of 26-22 votes.
While charged with partisan rhetoric, every vote in the Senate Tuesday on amendments to Senate rules fell on party lines. Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond, had perfected his intonation as he said, “Move to table,” each time the Democrats emphatically pleaded for an amendment.
To most outside these halls, the Senate rules are reading material to cure insomnia.
As Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, said during his debate against a rule that requires fiscal study of insurance-related bills before they can be heard, “Most people don’t give a hoot about the senate rules, but what we do here flows out and impacts Oklahoma families.”
The 35 pages of rules govern how the Senate will work, how bills will proceed and which Senators will have an opportunity to speak. They also limit how bills that increase insurance coverage for state employees are heard. Under rules passed on Tuesday, lawmakers must get a fiscal study before the bill can be heard. The fear is state agencies will drag their feet and bills won’t be heard.
In all this debate and legalese, is the question: “What happens to Nick’s Law?” The bill was proposed last session and revitalized this session would expand insurance coverage for children with autism.
A day after Gumm’s impassioned pleas, the House of Representatives released an actuary study of what it would cost if coverage was expanded. The study says covering autism could cost at least 7.8 percent more for insured Oklahomans.
Republicans want more people to get health insurance. They say mandates that require coverage increase premium costs and could cause some to drop their insurance coverage. Gumm has his own study that says states that expanded coverage didn’t see major increases in premiums.
Expect to see more of Nick’s Law, it’s an emotional issue and it’s hard one to ignore. But for now, Republicans have the upper hand.
They want small businesses to participate in health insurance programs and they want more Oklahomans to help offset their health care costs, as Coffee explained Wednesday morning.
“Until we make it affordable for small business owners to provide health insurance, we’re going to continue to have that problem (high rate of uninsured)” Coffee said. “Contrary to discussion yesterday, mandates are part of that issue. We want a quality health care system for everybody. But placing mandate after mandate and increasing the cost of the system makes no sense. That’s why we proposed that rule that you at least have to know the cost. If we’re going to get the cost under control in state government and keep the uninsured population from growing, we’ve got to find an answer to those questions.”
Julie Bisbee
Capitol Bureau
