As we near halfway point of legislative session, still waiting for solutions on big issues (Capitol Update)

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.

This past week was spring break week for most of the state’s schools, so the Legislature worked a short week. The goal was to give legislators more time with family and a chance to get away for a few days with the kids if it worked out for them.

It’s hard to get away during session, and most members don’t want to miss roll call votes. Missed votes are always good fodder for opponents in the next election. Many of these early votes aren’t the final vote on a bill because they’ll likely be amended in the other chamber and come back for another vote for final passage, but even so an absence counts as a missed vote.

I give today’s legislators credit. The place is more family friendly than it was back in the day when I served. Short of a calamity of some sort, we rarely took off a day for anything once session started. And in those days, we quite often worked late into the night and sometimes even all night.

Part of the cause is generational. People then, especially men I think, were more driven and less likely to consider family. To their credit, many of today’s younger men share more family responsibilities.

So, there’s a lot left on their plate when legislators pick up this week where they left off. The state’s big problems like prison overcrowding and underfunding, school policy and funding, health care and mental health, the budget shortfall, and all the rest, didn’t take a day off, and they’re still waiting for solutions. With 1 week left until the halfway mark in the session, pressure will soon start building. Legislators had to pass their measures initially in the chamber of origin by yesterday. Next the committees will crank up and start considering the opposite chamber’s bills.