OKPOLICY.ORG
The meeting last week of the House Civil Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Collin Duel, R-Guthrie, was somewhat unusual — three of the 29 bills on the agenda were voted down. It’s surprising these days to see much controversy in legislative committee meetings.
With no testimony or comments from the public or non-committee legislators normally allowed, discussion is typically minimal. Bills that reach the agenda normally pass committees by a large margin despite occasional questions or debate from minority party members.
Two of the three bills that were killed last week were culture war bills, one on abortion and the other on guns. A few legislators feel the need to pass something on abortion and something on guns every year, often something they’ve picked up from some other state or an advocacy organization.
The gun bill, House Bill 3094 by Rep. Molly Jenkins, R-Coyle, would have permitted anyone with a valid handgun license to carry a concealed handgun into the State Capitol. Although no doubt a majority of the committee consider themselves pro-gun, having a bunch of people running around inside the Capitol armed with concealed handguns was a bridge too far for some.
In an unusual move, Rep. Mike Osburn, R-Edmond, asked permission for Oklahoma Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton to speak. Tipton said if gunfire broke out inside the Capitol, his troopers would not be able to discern the good actors from the bad actors, making it more dangerous for everyone. He also pointed out the uptick in threats to public officials. In the end, the bill failed on a 5-4 vote.
The abortion bill that failed was HB 2945 by Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, a perennial anti-abortion activist who authors anti-abortion bills regularly. The bill, titled the “Protecting Moms and Babies Act,” was aimed at eliminating the ability of pregnant people to obtain abortion inducing medications from within or outside the state. Olsen said it was copied from a bill passed in Texas.
The bill provides that a person shall not “manufacture or distribute” or “mail, transport, deliver, prescribe, furnish the means to procure or provide an abortion-inducing drug in any manner to or from any person or location in this state.” The bill also states that the prohibition would be enforced through a “qui tam” action, which is a civil action that may be filed by a private citizen then turned over to the state for prosecution. The private citizen who filed the lawsuit participates in the financial recovery.
The problem Olsen ran into in the committee was language in the bill that allowed a lawsuit to be filed against anyone who “intended” to violate the law, whether they acted on that intention or not. Upon questioning, Olsen seemed willing to defend the idea that it was fine for a person to be sued for what they intended, not what they did. The bill failed on a 5-3 vote.
The third bill voted down was HB 3727 by Rep. Jim Shaw, R-Chandler, that would have prevented legislators from becoming lobbyists for four years after they leave office. Last year, Shaw defeated Rep. Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, the well-liked and hard-working chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee.
As originally introduced, the bill would have prohibited political subdivisions such as municipalities, counties, public trusts, and school districts from hiring a lobbyist or paying dues to a state association or organization that hires a lobbyist. However, a committee substitute filed by Shaw eliminated that provision of the bill.
Shaw pointed out that 24 former legislators have become registered lobbyists in the past 10 years, with 13 of them still active. While some committee members seemed to think a “cooling off” period of some length might be a good idea, that four years is too long. The prevailing sentiment seemed to be a hypothetical conflict of interest was of less concern than regulating the activities of former members after they have left office. The bill failed on a 6-2 vote.
Since Thursday was the deadline to get bills out of House policy committees, these three bills are dead for the remainder of this session. However, nothing is ever truly dead — not until the session adjourns. It would not be a surprise to see the language in one or more of these bills pop up later in in amendments to other bills that remain alive.
