Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1990. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol.
By: Steve Lewis
August 19, 2019 // Updated: September 3, 2019
As often happens, on a given issue the people may be out ahead of the politicians they elect. Now it appears there is a lot of support for full expansion as proposed in SQ 802. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
August 12, 2019 // Updated: August 12, 2019
Giving whole schools performance evaluations and comparing them based on a standardized testing regime, regardless of the situations in the lives of the students, their parents, or the community, has become the norm... The result is standardized curricula forced on teachers, regardless of the needs of their students and teaching to the test as a matter of self-defense. No wonder teachers are in short supply. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
July 29, 2019 // Updated: July 29, 2019
Tuesday will mark the beginning of a new relationship between the legislature, the governor and state agencies. It will be interesting to see how it develops [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
July 22, 2019 // Updated: July 22, 2019
You can't read a lot into the 50 request denials. The Speaker doesn't have to give a reason, and his reason may be different for different requests and different members. It could be that he likes the idea but wants some other member to take the lead or he doesn't like the idea and doesn't want it to gain traction. In some instances, it may be about the author. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
July 15, 2019 // Updated: July 15, 2019
As Dr. Clancy described it, "New Mexico has done many of the same things we have done in Oklahoma to combat opioid overdose deaths such as the development of closer tracking of opioid prescriptions before physicians write another prescription, intervening when physicians are overprescribing opioids and the use of Narcan by first responders to prevent a death when there is an opioid overdose." [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
July 8, 2019 // Updated: July 8, 2019
Legislators learned quickly they were not off the hook with the public when popular and needed programs were eliminated. It was not long until line items began to show up in appropriations measures again, and the practice has grown steadily. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
July 1, 2019 // Updated: July 1, 2019
I heard Professor Andrew Spiropoulos of the OCU Law School speak last week about the need to restructure the way we select our supreme court justices in Oklahoma. In 2005-2006 Spiropoulos was Senior Counselor to Oklahoma House Speaker Todd Hiett. Hiett was elected Speaker after the Republicans gained control of the House in 2004. Spiropoulos is also associated with the Heritage Foundation and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. His ideas are worth noting because they will likely influence what will become known as "court reform" when the next legislative session rolls around. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
June 24, 2019 // Updated: June 24, 2019
This could be an active interim if House interim study requests are any indication. The deadline for representatives to request studies was last Friday, June 21. Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, will announce the approved studies and related committee assignments no later than July 19. House members have requested 145 studies on a variety of topics. In the past the Speaker has combined requests that appeared to be on the same or compatible topics and approved them as a single study. It is within the Speaker's discretion which studies to authorize and, with 145 requests, it's doubtful they will all be approved. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
June 17, 2019 // Updated: June 17, 2019
Surprisingly, Joe Allbaugh resigned abruptly as Department of Corrections (DOC) director last week. Judging from the comments he made I'd say, put simply, that he was "fed up." Allbaugh took on the task of restoring and improving DOC about 3 1/2 years ago when the previous director got into hot water after a botched administration of the death penalty. The job appears to have been a battle every day. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
June 10, 2019 // Updated: June 10, 2019
Recently on the radio I heard a pundit being asked about his opinion of the performance of the just-resigned British Prime Minister Theresa May. He said, "She had an impossible job and she did it poorly." I thought of Ed Lake at the time (the impossible job part) wondering if he would remain head of DHS. Like May with Brexit, Lake's entire tenure as DHS director seemed to be subsumed by the child welfare crisis and implementation of the "Pinnacle Plan." He had an impossible job and he did it probably as well as it could be done by anyone. [More...]
OKPOLICY.ORG
As often happens, on a given issue the people may be out ahead of the politicians they elect. Now it appears there is a lot of support for full expansion as proposed in SQ 802. [More...]
Giving whole schools performance evaluations and comparing them based on a standardized testing regime, regardless of the situations in the lives of the students, their parents, or the community, has become the norm... The result is standardized curricula forced on teachers, regardless of the needs of their students and teaching to the test as a matter of self-defense. No wonder teachers are in short supply. [More...]
Tuesday will mark the beginning of a new relationship between the legislature, the governor and state agencies. It will be interesting to see how it develops [More...]
You can't read a lot into the 50 request denials. The Speaker doesn't have to give a reason, and his reason may be different for different requests and different members. It could be that he likes the idea but wants some other member to take the lead or he doesn't like the idea and doesn't want it to gain traction. In some instances, it may be about the author. [More...]
As Dr. Clancy described it, "New Mexico has done many of the same things we have done in Oklahoma to combat opioid overdose deaths such as the development of closer tracking of opioid prescriptions before physicians write another prescription, intervening when physicians are overprescribing opioids and the use of Narcan by first responders to prevent a death when there is an opioid overdose." [More...]
Legislators learned quickly they were not off the hook with the public when popular and needed programs were eliminated. It was not long until line items began to show up in appropriations measures again, and the practice has grown steadily. [More...]
I heard Professor Andrew Spiropoulos of the OCU Law School speak last week about the need to restructure the way we select our supreme court justices in Oklahoma. In 2005-2006 Spiropoulos was Senior Counselor to Oklahoma House Speaker Todd Hiett. Hiett was elected Speaker after the Republicans gained control of the House in 2004. Spiropoulos is also associated with the Heritage Foundation and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. His ideas are worth noting because they will likely influence what will become known as "court reform" when the next legislative session rolls around. [More...]
This could be an active interim if House interim study requests are any indication. The deadline for representatives to request studies was last Friday, June 21. Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, will announce the approved studies and related committee assignments no later than July 19. House members have requested 145 studies on a variety of topics. In the past the Speaker has combined requests that appeared to be on the same or compatible topics and approved them as a single study. It is within the Speaker's discretion which studies to authorize and, with 145 requests, it's doubtful they will all be approved. [More...]
Surprisingly, Joe Allbaugh resigned abruptly as Department of Corrections (DOC) director last week. Judging from the comments he made I'd say, put simply, that he was "fed up." Allbaugh took on the task of restoring and improving DOC about 3 1/2 years ago when the previous director got into hot water after a botched administration of the death penalty. The job appears to have been a battle every day. [More...]
Recently on the radio I heard a pundit being asked about his opinion of the performance of the just-resigned British Prime Minister Theresa May. He said, "She had an impossible job and she did it poorly." I thought of Ed Lake at the time (the impossible job part) wondering if he would remain head of DHS. Like May with Brexit, Lake's entire tenure as DHS director seemed to be subsumed by the child welfare crisis and implementation of the "Pinnacle Plan." He had an impossible job and he did it probably as well as it could be done by anyone. [More...]
