OK-Senate Republicans claim productive first 50 days
Author: Bryan Smith
Date: 04/28/2009
(OK) Senate Republicans gathered for a press conference Tuesday to tout a productive first 50 legislative days since taking control of the Senate for the first time in Oklahoma history.
"Last November, Oklahoma voters decided that 101 years of one-party control was enough and gave Republicans the majority for the first time," said Senate Majority Floor Leader Todd Lamb, of Edmond. "We promised reform of state government, and despite the sometimes clandestine and often over-the-top efforts of our opposition, we are experiencing great success in advancing our reform agenda."
Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, of Oklahoma City, laid out an exhaustive list of bills on a range of issues that have made it through both chambers, to a ballot initiative or to the governor.
"While we haven't been able to pass everything on our agenda yet, we have seen unprecedented success in bringing positive reforms for the people of Oklahoma to a public discussion at the very least, which was seldom afforded us in years past," Coffee said.
Coffee claimed victory on nine bills that had been signed by the governor, such as legislation to revoke pension benefits for state and county officers convicted of a crime, an expansion of teacher certification, protections for pregnant women, Oklahoma State University Medical Center funding and others, which had mostly been approved in bipartisan fashion. Included in that list are the following:
• SB 899, by Coffee and Rep. Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, which was signed by the governor. The bill adds crimes related to campaign contributions or campaign financing, bribery, corruption, forgery or perjury related to the duties of any elected or appointed county or state officer that require the individual to forfeit the benefits of their office upon final conviction, or pleading guilty or no lo contender.
• SB 1103, by Coffee and Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Oklahoma City, which was signed by the governor. The bill creates the Use of Force for the Protection of the Unborn Act, which permits a pregnant woman to use force or deadly force to protect herself against any unlawful force or unlawful deadly force she reasonably believes to be threatening her unborn child and she reasonably believes that her intervention and use of force are necessary to protect her unborn child. It states that the affirmative defense to criminal liability does not apply to acts committed by anyone other than the pregnant woman, acts where the pregnant woman would be obligated to retreat, surrender possession of a thing or comply with a demand before using force in self defense or the defense of human embryos existing outside of a woman's body.
• SB 1127, by Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, and Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, which was signed by the governor. The bill establishes a process for any individual or corporation designated by a foreign corporation as its registered agent for service of process to change the address of the registered office of the corporation or corporations for which he or she is the registered agent to another address in this state. The bill requires that the individual or corporation file with the Secretary of State a certificate in the name of each affected corporation, executed and acknowledged by the registered agent, setting forth the address at which the registered agent has maintained the registered office, and further certifying to the new address to which the registered office will be changed on a given day, and at which new address the registered agent will thereafter maintain the registered office. The bill also requires the registered agent to file with the Secretary of State a certificate in the name of each affected corporation, executed and acknowledged by the registered agent, setting forth the new name of the registered agent, the name of the registered agent before it was changed, and the address at which the registered agent has maintained the registered office for the affected corporation. a change of name of any person or corporation acting as registered agent as a result of a merger or consolidation of the registered agent, with or into another person or corporation which succeeds to its assets by operation of law, shall be deemed a change of name for purposes of this section.
"Oklahoma is like a big ship, and we're turning it around. But after 101 years of one-party rule, that ship won't turn on a dime," said Coffee in a press release. "But a substantial number of bills have passed both houses thanks to the cooperation of Speaker [Chris] Benge [R-Tulsa] and his team in the House, and a good amount have been signed into law by the governor."
Gov. Brad Henry turned back a number of other bills that were central to the party's agenda, including a ban on stem cell research, prohibitions on political donations made from court settlements, a resolution declaring state sovereignty and others. Those bills included:
• HB 1326, by Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, and Lamb, which was vetoed by the governor. The bill prohibits the conducting of nontherapeutic research that destroys a human embryo or subjects it to substantial risk of injury or death; the transfer of a human embryo with the knowledge that it will be subject to nontherapeutic research or the use for research purposes cells or tissues that were knowingly obtained by performing prohibited activities. It makes violations a misdemeanor.
• HB 1601, by Rep. Daniel Sullivan, R-Tulsa, and Coffee, which was vetoed by the governor. The bill states that an attorney or counselor shall not deduct or withhold any portion of a legal judgment or any monies held in trust for a client for political donation.
• HJR 1003, by Rep. Charles Key, R-Oklahoma City, and Sen. Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso, which was vetoed by the governor. The resolution claims Oklahoma state sovereignty and serves notice to the federal government to cease and desist mandates that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers. It calls on the prohibition or repeal of compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding.
But the meat of the Republicans' agenda - tort reform, tax reform and education deregulation - are still at some stage of the process, with many headed for conference, and others placed onto the ballot for a vote of the people.
Coffee did highlight four proposed laws that managed to circumnavigate the governor's mansion and will be heading for a vote of the people. Those include resolutions on voter identification, changes to the reapportionment commission, official English and term limits.
When asked how long Oklahomans could expect the ballot to become, as Republicans send bills the long way around Henry, Coffee said he was not sure.
Senate Democrats responded later in the day, calling out Republican leadership for subverting tax scandals while supporting insurance companies over and above regular Oklahomans.
"The first 50 days of the Senate Republican's majority has been consumed with stories about tax scandals and a whole lot of love being shown to the powerful insurance industry," Democratic Leader Charles Laster, D-Shawnee, said in a press release. "For the past month even newspapers across the state have editorialized about the politics of payback and retaliation that we have seen from the Senate GOP and have mentioned very little, if anything at all, about policies that will help make health care more affordable for Oklahoma families."
The statement said that insurance companies have been winning big in the first 50 day's of Republican leadership.
"I hope for the sake of all Oklahomans, they get serious about governing and find some real solutions for Oklahoma families who desperately need our help, and stop this game of protecting insurance companies and petty partisan retaliation which seems to be the crux of the Senate GOP legislative agenda," Laster added.
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