OKPOLICY.ORG
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol.
Several revenue-raising measures were introduced last week, and at least some will soon be making their way to the House and Senate floors for a vote. The revenue bills were introduced in the House and must be passed by 75 percent of the members of each chamber to become law. Discussion continues between House and Senate leaders and the governor’s office on which revenue bills to bring to a vote. A consensus seems to have developed that more revenue is necessary, but the debate now is over how much and how to raise it. A 75 percent vote on any controversial issue is a high bar, but it was intentionally created for revenue bills by the Oklahoma Constitution as the result of SQ 640 passed in 1992.
I’ve been surprised to hear House and Senate members say that the number of votes required to reach 75 percent is 76 in the House and 36 in the Senate. No doubt, this would be true if both bodies were at full strength. Article 5 Section 33 of the Oklahoma Constitution provides, in part, as follows: “Any revenue bill originating in the House of Representatives may become law without being submitted to a vote of the people of the state if such bill receives the approval of three-fourths (3/4) of the membership of the House of Representatives and three-fourths (3/4) of the membership of the Senate and is submitted to the Governor for appropriate action.”
The House has 101 districts and the Senate has 48 districts, but only 98 members and 46 members respectively. Former Representatives Tom Newell (R-Seminole) and Dan Kirby (R-Tulsa) irrevocably resigned their seats earlier in the session, and Rep. David Brumbaugh passed away recently. Former Senators Ralph Shortey (R-OKC) and Kyle Loveless (R-OKC) have both irrevocably resigned. I know of no one who would claim that these men are members of the House or Senate, and all 5 seats are still vacant. That means 75 percent of the 98 House members is 73.5, rounding up to 74; and 75 percent of 46 Senate members is 34.5, rounding up to 35. I don’t know if 2 votes in the House and 1 vote in the Senate would make a difference, but I’ve seen many times when they have.
I am virtually certain that at various times during my service in the House, there were enough vacancies in both the House and Senate to lower the number of votes required to pass a bill, and they were passed with the necessary majority but fewer votes. Article 5, Section 33 was not in the constitution then, but the language we were operating under was the same insofar as membership is concerned. Getting to 75 percent is hard enough. There’s no reason to make passage more difficult than the constitution requires.
Steve, I’ve served on a state Commission and was told by the AAG staffing the Commission that you can’t round up “part of a person” and so if the percent number is 73.5 then you have to round up at least a whole person, which would be 74.5, or actually, 75. Have you ever heard this? Could that be where the larger numbers are coming from?
Is 74 votes out of 98 greater than 75 % ? Yes, it is. Is 35 votes out of 46 greater than 75 percent? Yes, it is. That AAG staff member was probably not a math major. That line of reasoning makes no sense in this context.
I’m glad to know I am not the only one who noticed this. I had been hearing the same thing about needing 76 in the house and when I did the math on 98 members it did not add up. I thought maybe I was missing something. Thank you for confirming what I am sure many people are thinking.