FROM: State Representative Pam Peterson
The following is a summary of activity at the Oklahoma House of Representatives for the week of March 1st – 4th, 2010, courtesy of the House Media Staff.
Legislation Giving School Districts More Financial Flexibility Passes House
Several state education mandates would be temporarily relaxed for two years to give school districts additional financial flexibility under legislation unanimously passed by the House this week.
House Bill 3029 gives school districts more flexibility to prioritize their funds into areas that work best for their local community.
The legislation suspends several mandates, including some accreditation requirements, library media expenditures, class size requirements, advisory councils, certification requirements for library media specialists, the mentor teacher program and freezes the textbook adoption cycle.
Combined, relaxing the mandates for fiscal year 2011 and 2012 will free up millions of dollars that school districts can redirect to general operations expenses in the classroom.
The bill passed the House on a vote of 94-0 and will now move to the Senate for consideration.
Performance Pay Pilot Program Passes House
Legislation proposing a performance pay pilot program in six school districts across the state passed the state House with bipartisan support this week.
House Bill 2836 creates a teacher performance-based pay pilot program. Under the legislation, the State Department of Education will create a grant award for a teacher performance pay pilot program and adopt guidelines for districts to follow in developing the program.
Each district will be allowed to craft its own plan based on the input of teachers, parents, administrators and community leaders. No district would be required to participate in the program, but instead will develop a plan and apply to the state Board of Education for grant funds and plan approval.
The legislation requires that each plan include:
- Measures of student academic growth and achievement and performance goals and benchmarks for student improvement
- Measures of professional growth
- An evaluation tool to measure progress
Outside of those requirements, the district is free to craft a local plan that fits in with its community's education goals and needs.
The grants, which will be a minimum of $1,000 per teacher, will be awarded based on district enrollment. Two grants will go to districts of less than 1,000 average daily membership and two will go to districts with more than 1,000 and less than 8,000 average daily membership. The remaining two grants will go to districts with more than 8,000 average daily membership.
The bill passed the House with a vote of 61-33 and now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Legislation Reforming the State's Workers' Compensation System Passes House
Legislation seeking to further protect injured Oklahoma workers while also bringing workers' compensation costs under control passed the House this week.
House Bills 1611, 2652, 2658 and 2659 passed the House and will now move to the Senate for consideration. The titles are off the bills, meaning they remain works in progress, said author Rep. Dan Sullivan.
The legislation seeks to significantly improve employee benefits and lower business expenses, making Oklahoma more attractive to new industry. There is currently deep dissatisfaction with the workers comp system, which is plagued by fraud and high costs and rarely produces consistently fair and equitable results.
Despite the fact that the benefits specified in state law are comparable to work comp benefits in other states, the actual cost of those benefits in Oklahoma is the most expensive in the nation.
Some of the reforms being sought will include defining the term "surgery" for purposes of compensation, strengthening the value-added attorney fee provision and capping the time for temporary total disability. A reduction in the number of workers comp judges may also be considered, coupled with a more equitable distribution of judges between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
House Passes Legislation Setting Alternative Energy Goals for Oklahoma
Legislation seeking to boost Oklahoma's alternative energy usage, especially locally-produced natural gas and wind, overwhelmingly passed the House this week.
House Bill 3028 creates the Oklahoma Energy Security Act. The legislation creates a renewable energy standard for Oklahoma, which will set a goal for the state that aims to best utilize the state's abundant natural resources. The renewable energy standard will be that 15 percent of all electricity generated within the state by the year 2015 be generated from renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, geothermal and energy conservation efforts.
About 35 states have some form of renewable portfolio standard. Arkansas is the only neighboring state without one.
The legislation would not serve as a mandate, but instead will set a goal for Oklahoma energy companies to meet.
The bill also creates a natural gas energy standard that will help promote natural gas energy development in Oklahoma to complement renewable energy sources like wind.
Additionally, the bill also seeks to promote wind-energy development in Oklahoma by increasing the capability of transmitting the electricity generated by wind across the state through improved transmission capability.
The bill calls for the state to work with the Corporation Commission and the Southwest Power Pool to develop plans to expand transmission capacity in Oklahoma.
Finally, the bill works to increase the number of compressed natural gas fueling stations in the state by setting a goal of having one public CNG fueling station located approximately every 100 miles along the entire interstate highway system in the state by the year 2015. That goal will increase to at least one CNG station approximately every 50 miles by the year 2025.
The bill passed the House with a vote of 91-3 and now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Legislation Expanding State Open Books Web Site Passes House
More detailed information on state expenditures will be available on the state's transparency Web site if legislation unanimously passed by the House this week becomes law.
House Bill 3422 would make state expenditures more transparent and available online, allowing the public to see exactly where their tax dollars are being spent.
The bill:
- requires that all purchases made with state funds be disclosed on the online database, regardless of the amount of the expenditure
- requires that each individual expenditure be listed separately instead of being lumped together as one purchase (for example, instead of listing several purchases under 'office expenses', detail would be required for each item purchased)
- requires that the information provided on the website be searchable, either by using the name of the recipient, the entity making the purchase, or the date of the expenditure
- requires that the data provided on the website be in a format in which users can easily export it into a separate document
- requires that the Office of State Finance create an online archive database where users can access data older than 18 months
The legislation is part of ongoing House Republican efforts to modernize state government in order to improve efficiency, all while further opening the process up to the public.
The bill passed the House with a vote of 94-0 and will next be considered in the Senate.
Legislation to Keep Non-violent Moms out of Prison, with Family Passes House
Legislation creating a pilot program that seeks to establish reentry and diversion programs to allow nonviolent offender mothers to receive community-based services in lieu of incarceration unanimously passed the House this week.
House Bill 2998 would encourage re-entry and diversion programs as opposed to jail time for nonviolent female offenders in allow them to receive rehabilitative services while maintaining contact with their children.
Oklahoma incarcerates more women than any other state in the nation. Its incarceration rate for women is 131 per 100,000 residents, almost twice the national average of 69 per 100,000.
Most women prison inmates, 68 percent, are in prison for nonviolent offenses.
The bill passed the House with a vote of 92-0 and will next be considered by the Senate.
House Approves Optional Insurance for Lawmakers
Legislation that would free up taxpayer money by letting lawmakers opt out of the state employees' group health and life insurance plans was approved this week by the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
House Bill 3154 would let lawmakers opt out as long as they are covered by a separate insurance plan. Any money saved would be retained by the state under the legislation.
Many lawmakers are self-employed or work outside the Capitol, meaning they have insurance coverage without the need for taxpayer-funded coverage. However, under current law, they must accept the taxpayer-funded coverage.
If 25 percent of the Legislature opted out of the state's health insurance, the state could save around a half million dollars a year. That money could then be better spent on education, public safety or other core services.
House Bill 3154 passed the House by a 92-4 vote and now heads to the Senate.
House Approves Death Penalty for Repeat Child Molesters
State lawmakers have voted to increase the penalties facing repeat child molesters.
House Bill 2965 would expand the penalties for child molesters, allowing repeat offenders to face life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
Under current law, a child molester can face a sentence of 25 years to life for a first offense. House Bill 2965 will increase the penalty to include a maximum sentence of life without parole.
The legislation will also allow the death penalty to be considered for those convicted of a second or subsequent offense. That provision has been crafted to comply with recent court rulings.
House Bill 2965 will also eliminate the "homeless defense" as an excuse for not registering as a sex offender and allow those convicted of failure to register to receive a 20-year prison sentence.
House Bill 2965 passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives 91-2. It now proceeds to the state Senate.
Legislation Allowing WIC Fund Usage at Farmers' Markets Advances
Legislation allowing mothers to use their federal nutrition program funds at farmers' markets unanimously passed the House this week.
House Bill 2775 would give low-income Oklahomans access to fresh fruits and vegetables for their children. The legislation is an effort to improve overall health in Oklahoma, especially for children.
The bill allows usage of the federal supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) at local farmers' markets.
Unfortunately, most of the low-cost food on the market is unhealthy. The legislation is designed to encourage families to include fresh fruits and vegetables and healthier options into their diets.
House bill 2775 passed the House unanimously and now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Legislation Requiring an Ultrasound Prior to Abortion Passes House
Pro-life legislation further defending the unborn child passed the House this week.
House Bill 2780 expands on pro-life legislation passed in 2006 that required abortion doctors to tell a woman she had a right to a free ultrasound at an off-site location. House Bill 2780 would require those doctors to provide an ultrasound at the clinic where the abortion would be performed.
The legislation is designed to give mothers-to-be as much information as possible in advance about an irrevocable, life-altering decision.
The bill passed the House with a vote of 87-7 and will now move to the Senate for consideration.
House Passes Dorman Legislation to Keep Student Athletes Safe
Legislation that would improve emergency medical assistance for student athletes was passed by the Oklahoma House of Representatives this week.
House Bill 1658 would place health care service providers volunteering their services at secondary school activities under the Good Samaritan Act. As a result, those medical providers would be protected from frivolous lawsuits related to their service.
The legislation was in response to the death of Justin Barney, a freshman football player from Rush Springs who died from an injury at a game two years ago. Because no medical providers were on the scene, it took 20 minutes for an ambulance to reach the field.
The bill would allow chiropractors, podiatrists, dentists, allopathic and osteopathic physicians, physician assistants, optometrists, and nurses (advance practice, registered and practical) to volunteer their services within their specific scope of practice.
According to a recent article in The Oklahoman, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are some 300,000 sports-related concussions each year in America – a number similar to the total number of concussions suffered by service members in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of the war.
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