February 3, 2012
DPS commissioner seeks, wins support for trooper a
Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Thompson did not have to look far to find support for his request for funding for a trooper academy. It was sitting just two chairs away at the head of the table during Friday’s meeting of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and the Judiciary.
“I am certainly going to be a voice on this issue this session,” Subcommittee Chairman Jonathan Nichols, R-Norman, said.
Nichols’ comments came after Thompson explained that the number of Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers on the road was at its lowest point in 20 years at 759. “That makes it tough for us to provide the necessary level of service for the State of Oklahoma,” Thompson said.
February 3, 2012
Enns’ bill would require vehicle handles
February 3, 2012
Taylor:Jud.pay raise not in budg. request advocacy
Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Steven Taylor said he really had no choice but to include a pay raise for judges and justices in the courts’ budget request that was reviewed Friday by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and the Judiciary.
“I put the number in because we felt the Legislature needed to know that, if it was approved, how much it would cost,” Taylor told subcommittee members. “I did not put that there in an advocacy role.”
February 3, 2012
Legislation seeks to allow guns on school campuses
Multiple bills have been filed that would allow guns on elementary and secondary school campuses.
One such bill, HB 2417, by Rep. John Enns, R-Waukomis, would allow licensed concealed handguns on school campuses if the governing boards of the schools adopt a policy authorizing such carry. Enns said he has heard from educators and administrators in rural parts of the state concerned about the distance law enforcement would have to travel if something were to occur on campus.
Another bill, SB 1849, by Sen. Josh Brecheen, R-Coalgate, would allow school superintendents to carry concealed handguns on school grounds if given approval by the school board.
February 2, 2012
Steele endorses legislative open records,open meet
House Speaker Kris Steele endorsed a proposal Thursday that would make the Legislature subject to a modified version of the Open Records and Open Meetings acts.
Sen. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, will carry the legislation. According to John Estus, Steele’s spokesman, the language will be placed in HB 1085, a measure Murphey introduced last session and was carried over to the new session that begins Monday. The original language of the bill adds the Legislature to the definition of "public body" in the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act. The bill also adds to the exempts from the Oklahoma Open Records Act documentation of personal communication in which a legislator is the intended recipient from a person who is exercising rights secured under the federal or state constitution and who is not a member of the Legislature and who is not registered as a lobbyist with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. The bill clarifies language related to copying costs and also clarifies references to the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority. The bill repeals statutory language that states that the Legislature will conduct meetings open meetings in accordance with rules adopted by each house.
Steele said the new language will create a new section of law that deals exclusively with the Legislature.