OK-Coffee approves all 34 requests for Senate interim studies
Author:  William W. Savage III 
Date:  06/24/2009

(OK) Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee announced late Wednesday that he has approved all 34 interim studies requested by senators.

"The interim studies requested and approved represent a broad range of interests and concerns to the members of the Senate and to the citizens of Oklahoma," Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said in a press release. "We look forward to a very productive interim period and the findings of these studies."

Nineteen separate senators requested studies, with Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, requesting the most with seven.

With three studies, Sen. Susan Paddack, D-Ada, was the only other senator to request more than two.

According to his press release, Coffee assigned interim studies to eight committees and two appropriations subcommittees.

Coffee said the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee will be one of the busiest committees during the interim. Among other studies, the committee will deal with a Gumm study of state economies in states that have autism insurance mandates and a study by Sen. Cliff Branan, R-Oklahoma City, to review health insurance mandates.

The House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, is expected to announce that body's approved interim studies by the end of the week.

The 34 approved Senate interim studies are:

• Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will study the treatment of military retirement in divorce situations.

• Sen. Don Barrington, R-Lawton, and the Senate Agriculture Committee will study concerns of burn bans and fireworks.

• Barrington and the Senate Public Safety Committee will study increases in wrecker rates.

• Sen. Randy Bass, D-Lawton, and the Senate Financial Services Committee will study the subject of business incubator systems.

• Bass and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee will study menu labeling in restaurants.

• Sen. Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, and the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will study safety issues relating to oil and gas pipeline systems.

• Bingman, Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Oklahoma City, and the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will jointly study high speed Internet services in Oklahoma.

• Branan and the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee will study health insurance mandates.

• Sen. Sean Burrage, D-Claremore, and the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee will study insurance companies rescinding and canceling citizens' health insurance policies for arbitrary reasons.

• Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services will jointly study costs, benefits and best practices for substance abuse treatment in Oklahoma.

• Sen. Earl Garrison, D-Muskogee, Rep. Wade Rousselot, D-Wagoner, and the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will jointly study the Oklahoma Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Act.

• Gumm and the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee will study how the Oklahoma High Risk Pool would cover autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and treatment.

• Gumm and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services will study the costs and benefits of providing assisted living benefits from Medicaid.

• Gumm and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services will study costs and benefits of funding the umbilical cord blood bank.

• Gumm and the Senate Judiciary Committee will study the benefits of increasing distance from and time before and after a funeral when protests are prohibited.

• Gumm and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services will study costs and benefits of allowing a Medicaid Income Pension Trust to ensure elderly Oklahomans do not lose income.

• Gumm and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government will study costs and benefits of creating a children's cabinet.

• Gumm and the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee will study the economies of states with autism insurance mandates.

• Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee will study the feasibility of direct patient access to physical therapy in Oklahoma.

• Jolley and the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee will consider issues relating to interstate purchasing of health insurance policies.

• Sen. Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, and the Senate Education Committee will explore funding Indian education in Oklahoma.

• Justice and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services will study costs and benefits of funding for PPO's health care for rural Oklahoma.

• Sen. Bryce Marlatt, R-Woodward, and the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will study a task force to create an indemnity fund for the decommissioning of wind turbines.

• Marlatt and the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will study the local effects of the federal government mandating B-5 biodiesel across the nation.

• Sen. David Myers, R-Ponca City, and the Senate Financial Services Committee will study making the Oklahoma Commission on Consumer Credit a self-funded agency.

• Sen. Dan Newberry, R-Tulsa, and the Senate Financial Services Committee will study economic development and workforce incentives in Tulsa.

• Newberry and the Senate Education Committee will study Georgia Sen. Eric Johnson's school voucher bill.

• Paddack and the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will study hard rock mining over sole-source aquifers.

• Paddack and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee will make a comprehensive assessment of health care workforce issues.

• Paddack and the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will study Oklahoma's comprehensive water plan.

• Sen. Mike Schulz, R-Altus, and the Senate Agriculture Committee will study the Oklahoma veterinary practice.

• Sen. John Sparks, D-Norman, Rep. Phil Richardson, R-Minco, and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee will study increasing local control by citizens over their county emergency medical services.

• Sen. Gary Stanislawski, R-Tulsa, Rep. Pam Peterson, R-Tulsa, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will jointly study reducing church property lawsuits in Oklahoma.

• Sen. Joe Sweeden, D-Pawhuska, and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services will study Oklahoma's Medicaid reimbursement policy for vacuum-assisted closure therapy.

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