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3 Bills Which Barely Jumped Their First Hurdle

Ryan LaCroix / KOSU

On Wednesday, three House bills I'm keeping an eye on managed to get through committees. Here's a brief summary of what these bills entail and what happened:

The first bill made it out of the House Elections Committee by the skin of its teeth and actually needed to use a rare device to see the light of day. House Joint Resolution 1037 by Rep. Kevin Calvey (R-OKC) would require judges on the Appellate or Supreme Court be elected by the people rather than appointed. Opponents raised concerns this would lead to corruption in the court system as judges would need to raise money to take part in the electoral system.

Calvey has never denied he has had issues with the judicial system. Last year during comments on the House Floor, he said if he wasn't a Christian he would set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court Building because of their recent ruling on abortion. HJR1037 actually ended in a tie vote in committee which would have killed it; however, Calvey called for Speaker Pro Tem Lee Denney (R-Cushing), the second-in-command of the House, to come in and cast her vote. As leadership, the Speaker and Speaker Pro Tem are allowed to vote in any committee. After casting her vote for yes, the measure passed 4-3 and now moves on to the House Floor.

It would eventually require a vote of the people in November for final passage.

The next bill also requires a vote of the people before becoming law. House Joint Resolution 1062 by Rep. Randy Grau (R-OKC) deals with the Ten Commandments Monument removed from the Capitol Grounds last year. The Supreme Court ordered the removal after opponents challenged the constitutionality of the monument based off the so-called Blaine Amendment, Article 2 Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution. Hoping to bring the monument back, Rep. Grau filed his bill which would eliminate the Blaine Amendment to the Constitution.

The bill made it out of the House Rules Committee by a vote of 7-3 and heads to the House Floor.

The final bill gets a little timey-wimey. House Bill 2557 by Rep. Harold Wright (R-Weatherford) would end the requirement of Oklahoma to abide by the federal observance of daylight savings time. The bill if passed by the House and Senate and signed by the Governor would mean the time would stay exactly as it is now and we wouldn't SPRING forward later this year when the rest of the country does.

The bill passed by a4-3 marginand divided Republicans in the committee room. Supporters say they want the bill to stay consistent year round and for health reasons as studies show an increase in heart attacks around the time changes. Opponents raised concerns about how quickly it would get dark in the summer evenings, and Oklahoma companies dealing with businesses in other states.

The measure heads to the House Floor.

Michael Cross is the host of KOSU's Morning Edition.
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