LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 49th Oklahoma Legislature First Session – 2003 OKLAHOMA STATE REGENTS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION From: Carolyn McCoy & Lesa Jolly-Borin Wednesday, June 11, 2003 This is the final legislative update for the First Session of the 49th Oklahoma Legislature, which adjourned Sine Die at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 30, 2003. The first legislative update for the Second Session of the 49th Oklahoma Legislature will be sent on Friday, January 30, 2004. The Second Session of the 49th Oklahoma Legislature will convene at 8:00 a.m. on Mon- day, February 2, 2004. Thank you for working with us this session. We look forward to next year! Lesa & Carolyn Highlights This Week: Democrat Wins Special Election for Stipe’s Spot By John Greiner - From The Daily Oklahoman State Rep. Richard C. Lerblance of Hartshorne was elected Tuesday to finish out the state Senate term of Gene Stipe, who resigned in March. Lerblance, a Democratic freshman in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, defeated Republican Jess Davis of McAlester in the special general election to fill the remaining year of Stipe’s term. Lerblance, an attorney, captured 55.2 percent of the vote to 44.8 percent of the vote for Davis, 62, in the heavily Democratic southeastern Oklahoma state Senate district. With all 86 precincts reporting, Lerblance defeated Davis, 5,595 to 4,544, according to unofficial re- turns tabulated Tuesday night. The district includes Pittsburg, Latimer and Haskell counties and a portion of Sequoyah County. “We’re extremely pleased we won. It was a lot closer than we thought it would be. I think this is a classic example of voter apathy,” Lerblance, 57, said of the election margin. Voter registration in the Senate district is 7-1 Democratic, he said. The election shows Democrats must work hard in every election, he said. Lerblance said he carried every county, but his heaviest margins came from eastern Pittsburg County and Latimer and Haskell counties, as well as the portion of Sequoyah County that is in the Senate dis- trict. He hopes to be sworn in as senator next week, he said. Lerblance said he will represent all the people of the district. His issues remain the same as they were while he was in the House, he said. Those include education, jobs, eldercare, the economy, veterans and health care, he said. Lerblance and voters of the district kept intact a record of electing only Democrats to this Senate seat since Oklahoma became a state. Official returns will be certified by the state Election Board on Friday. The election of Lerblance means another special election must be held to fill the remaining year of his term in the House of Representatives. He represents House District 17. The governor will have to issue a proclamation declaring a special election for the House seat. Stipe, who had served in the Legislature 53 years, resigned March 11. He later pleaded guilty in fed- eral court to charges he gave more than $245,000 to Democrat Walt Roberts’ unsuccessful congres- sional campaign and then lied to federal investigators about the source of the money. Stipe’s sentencing is pending. Veto of student testing measure completes action on bills By Jeff Packham - Staff Writer (GIT) Gov. Brad Henry took his final action on bills Tuesday as he signed 21 measures and vetoed one related to student performance levels in the Oklahoma School Testing Program Act. HB 1476, by Rep. Joan Greenwood, R-Moore, and Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson, R-Oklahoma City, would have standardized performance levels for criterion-referenced tests to what the average student should know, as opposed to a standard of what the average student does know, relative to content, pur- suant to the Oklahoma School Testing Program Act. "The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires the establishment of a single system of accountabil- ity," Henry explained in his veto message. "SB 1414, previously signed into law, provides a good sys- tem of accountability and complies with the requirement of the federal act. "This legislation would set up a dual system of accountability and would be out of compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act," Henry concluded. 2 Among the final bills signed by Henry this session was HB 1158, by Mitchell and Morgan, makes an appropriation of $3,864,077 to the Oklahoma Arts Council, a decrease from the previous fiscal year of $454,406. HB 1180, by Mitchell and Morgan, authorizes the transfer of certain real property to the Military De- partment of the State of Oklahoma. HB 1207, by Mitchell and Morgan, makes an appropriation of $7,997,813 to the Oklahoma Corpora- tion Commission, a reduction of 17.9 percent or $1,737,808. HB 1211, by Mitchell and Morgan, makes an appropriation of $2,072,157 to the State Insurance De- partment, a $799,856 decrease from the current fiscal year. HB 1218, by Mitchell and Morgan, makes an appropriation of $501,088 to the Department of Securi- ties, a decrease of $193,527. HB 1227, by Morgan and Mitchell, relates to the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Train- ing. HB 1356, by Rep. Clay Pope, D-Loyal, and Sen. Jeff Rabon, D-Hugo, merges and repeals a duplicate section relating to revenue and taxation. HB 1467, by Rep. William R. Paulk, D-Oklahoma City, and Sen. Angela Monson, D-Oklahoma City, creates the Oklahoma Catastrophic Health Emergency Planning Task Force and require a plan to be submitted no later than Dec. 31, 2003. HB 1771, by Rep. Jari Askins, D-Duncan, and Sen. Sam Helton, D-Lawton, allows each district attor- ney the discretion to include "[Crimes] punishable by not more than one year in the county jail, except violations alleged pursuant to Sections 11-902 and 11-904 of Title 47 of the Oklahoma Statutes and domestic abuse, and to monitor conditions of probation as agreed to by the parties." to the criminal complaints which may be deferred from prosecution. The measure allows the accused and the state to execute an agreement, through the district attorney, to waive rights to a speedy accusation, trial and the statute of limitations, so as to include but not limit to the accused, to the fulfillment of restitution and community service for deferred prosecution. HB 1814, by Rep. Danny Hilliard, D-Sulphur, and Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield, D-Ardmore, provides for the "delivery sale" and "delivery service" of cigarettes and require that all state laws be followed con- cerning the sale of tobacco. SB 24, by Morgan and Mitchell, makes an appropriation of $4,095,100 to the Commissioners of the Land Office, which is equal to the previous year's allocation. SB 30, by Morgan and Mitchell, makes an appropriation of $6,166,270 to the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, a decrease of $725,139. SB 64, by Morgan and Mitchell, makes an appropriation of $2,958,570 to the Department of Labor, a decrease of $720,000. SB 148, by Morgan and Mitchell, makes an appropriation of $6,220,557 to the Oklahoma Conserva- tion Commission, a decrease of $1,066,537. 3 SB 154, by Morgan and Mitchell, makes an appropriation of $6,228,494 to the Oklahoma Water Re- sources Board, a reduction of 22.81 percent or $1,840,649. SB 155, by Morgan and Mitchell, relates to the Rural Economic Action Plan and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. SB 180, by Morgan and Mitchell, appropriates $12,210,888 to the Department of Central Services, a decrease of $2,104,731. SB 325, by Sen. Robert Milacek, R-Enid, and Rep. Greg A. Piatt, R-Ardmore, sets fees for reinstate- ment of driver license following suspension of the license. SB 353, by Sen. Charles R. Ford, R-Tulsa and Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, allows the manu- facture, wholesale and retail of low-point beer (3.2 or under) and the brewing and wholesale of beer above 3.2 in Oklahoma. SB 358, by Sen. Keith Leftwich, D-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Jerry W. Hefner, D-Wagoner, relates to the filling of vacancies on state and county election boards, and would extend overseas absentee ballot deadline. SB 643, by Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, and Rep. Larry R. Ferguson, R-Cleveland, allows for mem- bers of the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System who retire on or after the member's nor- mal retirement date to be entitled to receive an annual retirement benefit equal to 2.5 percent of the member's final average compensation. The signings were announced as the last of the bills that had been submitted to the Secretary of State's office. "Overall, I think it was a fairly productive session, given the revenue challenges we faced," Henry said. "We didn't solve every problem confronting the state, but we certainly made significant progress on a number of pressing matters. We will be working on the unresolved issues in the months to come and will be ready to address them when lawmakers return to the Capitol for their next session." Approximately 500 bills and resolutions were passed and submitted to Henry for consideration this session with only 12 measures vetoed and one line-item vetoed. Two bills were recalled from Henry's desk at the request of the authors and were not resubmitted. State agencies begin announcing reductions in force From OPEA (OKLAHOMA) Only one week after the adjournment of the 2003 Legislative session, several Okla- homa state agencies began announcing reductions in force (RIFs) in response to slashed budgets caused by lack of revenue in state coffers. Oklahoma Public Employees Association (OPEA) Executive Director Gary Jones expressed his con- cerns over the recent RIF announcements Tuesday.