Capitol corner 09/03/13 By State Rep Gus Blackwell This week, the Special Session, called by the Governor, will convene. It begins today, Sept. 3, and will continue into the next week. It will, probably, conclude next Monday or Tuesday at a cost of about $30,000 a day. The scope of these bills to be considered is limited to those issues addressed in HB1603, passed in 2009. Although the bill was called the Governmental Tort Claims Act, it covered a wide variety of issues. This is why the Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional. There is a provision in both the state’s Constitution and the Legislative rules limiting bills to a single subject. The content of the bill was not unconstitutional, but the form in which it was presented to members was so. To give you an idea of the wide topics this bill broached, here are some titles of the individual bills to be considered, this Special Session. They include: Oklahoma Livestock Liability Act, School Protection Act, Class Action Procedure, Interest on Judgments, Modifying Reasons to Suspend Students, Passenger Restraint System, Appeal Bonds, Recovery of Payments for the Healthcare Authority, Expert Testimony, Universal Commercial Code, Emergency Powers of the Governor, Liability for Food Products, Volunteer Liability, and Asbestos and Silica Claims. This is only a sampling of the bills being considered. It is easy to understand why the Supreme Court did not view the 135 page omnibus bill, passed in 2009, as constitutional. There have been about thirty bills filed in both the House and Senate combined. These bills have been evenly divided between the House and the Senate. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the bills will simply be read in the chamber in which they are originating. In earlier legislatures this meant actually reading the entire bill out loud. In recent times, it can be done by a simple motion asking the bills be considered as “being read.” On Wednesday, the House will consider a special rule, being proposed by the Calendar Committee, which will probably limit debate and amendments on the bill. This is to limit the amount of time to be spent in Special Session. I am opposed to denying members the opportunity to amend bills. On Friday, the House will debate and vote on the bills in its possession. The Senate will vote on their bills. On Monday, the bills passed in the House will go to the Senate for consideration and the Senate bills will go to the House. Each chamber will consider those bills and debate and vote on them. The bills that have passed each chamber will go to the Governor for her signature or veto. I will be in Oklahoma City all next week. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to call me at my Capitol office at 405-557-7384 or at my home in Laverne. As always I am delighted to visit with constituents when they visit the Capitol. If you are there come by my office in 305A and contact my assistant, Christi. I also love to visit with you in events around the district.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 14:32:50 +0000