Steve Metzer
Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer
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OKLAHOMA CITY — A former state lawmaker has proposed a vote on a state question to potentially make some basic changes in how things work at the Legislature.
Currently, if a lawmaker submits a bill in either the House or Senate, it’s largely left up to committee leaders or other leaders in those chambers to determine if the measure gets a hearing. Some legislators have complained that the process is unfair to less influential lawmakers and, by extension, their constituents.
State Question 839 would propose that lawmakers should be guaranteed to have at least three bills heard in committee annually, and it would require floor votes for bills that pass through committees. Violations would be punishable by civil fines of $10,000 for a first offense. A second offense would result in mandatory expulsion from the Legislature.
The proposal was made by Charles Key, who represented the Oklahoma City area for 18 years. He is now involved with the Open Government Initiative, described as a coalition of civic leaders and concerned citizens who believe special interests hold too much sway over state politics and that the legislative process lacks transparency as it currently stands.
Key said those who might face penalties probably would include committee chairs, floor leaders or other legislative leaders, but that logistics would have to be worked out.
“It’s new territory that none of us has really gone down before,” he said.
Key is a Republican, but he said the issue that would be addressed by SQ 838 should not be considered a partisan one. In his time in the Legislature, he said majorities were held by both Republicans and Democrats and leaders in both parties acted unfairly to block legislation.
“It’s literally a handful of people or less, including special interest groups, that decide what gets heard,” Key said. “We don’t need government to be like that.”
The petition was filed on Sept. 12. The next step is for the Oklahoma secretary of state to review and determine whether the suggested gist of the proposition conforms with requirements to go forward.
Key said the job of leaders in the House and Senate should be to “make the trains run on time,” not to push the agendas of favored colleagues at the expense of others. He estimated that at least 20 to 40 bills well worthy of committee consideration and floor votes are allowed to simply languish and die each year.
While some legislators might argue that Key’s proposal would make an already complicated legislative process more difficult to manage, he said that it would actually be made more efficient by limiting the number of bills that lawmakers would be guaranteed to have heard.
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, and Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, both declined comments. House Majority Floor Leader Josh West, R-Grove, and Senate Floor Leader Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, could not be reached.
SQ 839 would propose an amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution, so if it’s allowed to go forward advocates would have to collect 172,993 valid signatures to bring the question to a statewide vote.
steve.metzer@tulsaworld.com
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Steve Metzer
Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer
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