An amazing journey

By Rep. Terry Harrison
Special to the News-Capital

May 10, 2008 01:16 pm

— This is one of the most amazing sessions since my election to the House six years ago. We are literally in the last business days for this legislative session and yet we have heard only a handful of bills on the floor during this past week. One of the primary reasons for this is the early agreement on the state’s budget. Usually, the House and Senate use the budget as leverage to move legislation forward, but with the budget already signed by the governor, there is very little agreement or movement on substantive legislation.
As we move toward a projected Sine Die of May 23, I do not anticipate much additional legislation being passed. I may be proved wrong, but we have only a few days remaining for the movement of bills from the House to Senate after conference agreement.
I have received a number of calls and e-mails since last week’s column when I wrote about the $1,200 stipend for correctional officers at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. I was assured when we reached the budget agreement that this stipend would be funded through the Department of Corrections’ budget. In talking to corrections officials this week, I have learned that corrections and the Office of Personnel Management are seeking an avenue to make this happen without legislative or executive intervention. I will continue to push this toward a successful resolution.
For the life of me, I sometimes do not understand why we do the things we do in the legislature. This week we passed a bill out of the House that is unconstitutional. House Bill 2458, authored by a Republican member who is not an attorney, will limit the rights of working Oklahomans’ accessibility to the courts. The bill would require an affidavit establishing professional negligence as a requisite for a suit to be filed in Oklahoma’s courts. Wealthy Oklahomans have the money to jump through these hoops to gain access to the courts; working Oklahomans do not.
A bill much like this one was declared unconstitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2006. Too many of the representatives that Rep. Brian Renegar, D-Blanco, and I work with are taking care of big business and the wealthy, not the working people of Oklahoma.
State Parks Day is always an exciting day at the Capitol. Sue Hughart and Loraine Richmond from Lake Eufaula State Park were here to promote our gem in the state park crown.
The Capitol hallways have been filled with Oklahoma students the past couple of weeks. One of my favorite experiences at the Capitol is talking to District 18 students about the history of the Capitol and about the legislative process. I have met with students from Will Rogers, Emerson, and Edmond Doyle elementary schools, accompanied by teachers Neva Mitchell, Bryn Greer, Stacie Fryer, Bonnie Weeks, Amy Jewell, Holly Kennon, Ginger Carlock, Jan Jackson and Peggy DeFrange. I appreciate the efforts of these teachers, as well as the blessing and support of their principals, to bring our young people to the Capitol.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers in District 18.