The End of Days: Republican leadership takes over
The official end of the first session of the 52nd Legislature was certainly anti-climatic following the antics perpetrated by the Republican Leadership on the adopted Sine Die date of May 22. Leaders in both the House, but predominately the Senate broke the public’s faith in the process of compromise and effective government (if they had it to begin with).
The Senate had failed a bill containing the new pet project of the Republican Party; the CIO bill, the language inhabited three separate bills in only a week (SB980, HB1704, HB1170). Instead of accepting that the language had failed to receive the approval necessary to move to the Governor’s desk, a certain Senator held the vote on SB980 open for nearly 5 hours allowing no other business to be conducted. While the President Pro Tempore waved the final action rule in order for the Senate to hear the bill that was gutted and replaced with the CIO language; HB1170 is the final form of the CIO bill and passed the Senate on Tuesday, May 26.
The irony is not lost on many; the Oklahoma Republicans have systematically attacked what they deem as Democratic pet projects/issues, most notably, Autism funding, without batting an eye. However, when a bipartisan vote to fail a bill occurs, they decide to procedurally throw a temper tantrum, hold a legislative session over which costs the taxpayers money; all in effort to ensure that their legacy in the majority was “successful.”
I offer the following statement for thought: how effective is your government/leadership (political affiliation aside) when it finds it not only necessary but imperative to shove a major governmental reform bill through the legislature during the final hour?
What occurred in the final days of session in the Oklahoma Legislature stands as a clear example of the abuses of procedure and leadership in order to achieve a political end. It will take awhile before we can judge whether or not the end justified the means of obtaining this potential new law, but something tells me the way in which the bill was passed that it could be very dangerous for the people of Oklahoma.