Weekly Opinion Editorial

by Steve Fair

The 2011 session of the Oklahoma legislature is officially over. They adjourned on Friday May 20th, completing their business a week before the constitutionally mandated Sine Die date of May 27th. ‘Adjournment sine die’ is Latin meaning ‘without day.’ It simply means an assembly has adjourned without appointing a day on which to appear or assemble again.
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Under Article 5 Section 26 of the Oklahoma Constitition legislative sessions begin at noon on the first Monday in February of every odd-numbered year, shall not exceed one hundred and sixty days, and shall be finally adjourned by no later than five o'clock p.m. on the last Friday in May of each year. By getting done a week early, the legislature saved Oklahomans around $100,000.
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“This was a very successful legislative session,” said House Speaker Kris Steele, R-Shawnee. “The Legislature laid an ambitious foundation for the state this year that will allow us to reach our full potential.”
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“I am very happy about this session and all that the Senate accomplished this year,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa. “As a state, Oklahoma is moving in the right direction.”
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The current legislature is the most Republican in state history. There are seventy (70) Republicans in the State House and thirty two (32) Republicans in the State Senate. That along with a newly elected Republican governor has given the GOP an opportunity to pass legislation that will move the state forward.
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“We live in a conservative state, the people have spoken and we are listening,” said Bingman. “Our priorities were to reform state government in a way that eliminates inefficiencies and duplication so that government size and costs are reduced. The federal government should follow our lead in cutting government, including the tax cuts that we enacted.”
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“The breadth of the accomplishments by the Legislature and our other statewide leaders this year is remarkable,” said House Speaker Kris Steele, R-Shawnee. “Oklahomans can take pride in knowing the state is set up to grow and thrive in the 21st century.”
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Governor Fallin said, “Conservatives came into office this year promising to pursue reforms that would create a better business environment, encourage private sector job-growth, and make government smaller, smarter and more efficient.”
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This year the legislature passed meaningful workers comp reform, lawsuit reform, cut the state income tax from 5.5% to 5.25%, accomplished re-districting without a great deal of controversy and passed a 6.5 billion dollar balanced budget. In years past if a legislation had accomplished just one of the first three, conservatives would have been dancing in the streets, but how soon we forget how it used to be.
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In years past, Democrat controlled legislatures would nibble around the edges of the important issues and pass some meaningless bill on workers comp or lawsuit reform that kept the trial lawyer lobby happy. This session’s lawsuit and workers comp reform bills authored by Senator Anthony Sykes, (R-Moore) had the trial lawyer lobby so incensed they spent thousands of dollars attacking Sykes on an off-election year. They sent mailers to his constituents in his district. They ran television commercials attacking him. This legislation wasn’t a nibble, it was a bite and Sykes, an attorney, deserves praise for his courage to stay the course and see the reforms signed into law.
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The 2011 Oklahoma GOP House members deserve praise because in spite of distractions from a handful of GOP members whose childish tactics unnecessarily stalled legislation they publically said they supported, the members as a whole stuck with their agenda. They endured vile, hateful rhetoric from a political activist who attacked legislators personally and claimed to speak for thousands, but could only muster up a couple of dozen for a rally.
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The House increased transparency by making Conference Committee meetings open to the public. This was an important step in making sure Oklahomans can know what is going on in their government. It wasn’t that long ago that a private citizen finding out the status of a bill was akin to searching for Jimmy Hoffa’s body. By opening up the process, the back rooms at the Capital were closed.
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The big issue the 2012 legislature will have to address is Oklahoma’s unfunded pension plans. While this crisis was not created by the current members, but by past legislatures, it must be dealt with. According to some estimates, Oklahoma’s pension plans will run out of money by 2020 if something is not done. The legislature made some progress this session, but more work is necessary to insure the plans don’t default.
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What ‘grade’ does the 2011 legislature deserve this session? An A+, because when compared to what past legislatures have accomplished the 2011 session will go down as one of the most productive in state history.