Carl's Capitol Comments

Another deadline week has come and gone at the state Capitol. April 28 was the third-reading deadline for bills to advance from the opposite chamber. In total, the Senate ended up passing 242 House measures, while the House advanced 214 Senate measures.

We started this session with 1,502 bills and joint or concurrent resolutions filed in the House and 797 in the Senate. We also had 1701 House measures and 796 Senate measures still available from the first session of the 58th Legislature. So only 456 bills made it out of both chambers out of 2,299 bills that started session. This shows the amount of cutting that goes on throughout the legislative process.

Our work is not yet completed. Amended bills still have to return to their chamber of origin to win final passage. If amendments are rejected, the measures can be sent to conference committee where final language is deliberated. Bills receiving a do-pass recommendation face a final vote in each chamber before advancing to the governor for his consideration of signing them into law. Many bills die in conference committee, however.

Some of the bills I wanted heard did not make it through the Senate.

House Bill 3820 was not heard. This bill would have allowed communication between county tax assessors to help move ad valorem tax protests along more quickly so schools depending on this revenue are not left in limbo.

House Bill 3822 also was not heard. This is my bill that would have allowed driver permits for farm use for 14-year-olds.

There are still possibilities to revive legislation that didn't pass by deadline. Language can be inserted into bills that are still active. This is not the preferred method of legislating, but it is allowed.

Part of the frustration of the Capitol is having good bills that get derailed whether it be in the House, the Senate or by the governor. Senate Bill 1695 by Sen. Casey Murdock would have required any agency director or cabinet secretary appointed by the governor to give financial disclosures like elected officials are required to do. The bill was vetoed by the governor who explained he preferred that the requirement be more widespread.

We did get good legislation passed this session. What didn't move forward this year, I may bring back next year. I'll have the interim to study the issues.

Now that the bulk of our policy work is complete, our main focus turns to completing the state budget. We work on the budget all year, but final details will come together at this time.

Right now, my concern is how much we've put in the budget combined with the tax cuts we've made. We'll be well above the budget we had last year, but with the investment we've made in trying to bring a large corporation to Oklahoma to secure more jobs, we need to be very concerned about spending more money.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me. You may reach me by email at carl.newton@okhouse.gov, or phone me at 405-557-7339. God Bless you and the State of Oklahoma.