Lawmakers predict "titanic" fight for State Senate

While most members of Cleveland County’s legislative delegation agreed state lawmakers would work in a “bipartisan fashion” during the upcoming 2008 Legislative session, they also predicted a major political fight this year for control of the Oklahoma State Senate.

“When you don’t have much money, you don’t have many arguments,” state Rep. Bill Nations said Wednesday.

But once the election season rolls around, Nations said, “there will be a titanic struggle for control of the Senate.”

Nations, D-Norman, made the prediction Wednesday morning during a legislative breakfast sponsored by the Cleveland County Business and Industry Council.

Nations, along with state Representatives Scott Martin, Wallace Collins, Randy Terrill, state Senator Jonahan Nichols and U.S. Congressman Tom Cole spoke at the event.

“When things are tough, everyone on both sides of the aisle makes tough decisions,” he said. “When there is a lot of money available, there are a lot of arguments going on.”

And the past three years, he said, have been “the best years for revenue in the history of the state of Oklahoma.”

Though most of the group acknowledged the potential fight in the Senate, all five men agreed the session will have its share of big issues.

“I’m working on legislation to try and help reduce school violence,” Collins said. “I’m still searching for “magic wand,” to solve it. I don’t know if we’re ever completely prevent it, but we’ve got to keep working.”

Collins said violence at school happens “far too often.”

“It happens all around the world and it hits home more personally here in the U.S.”

Along with violence prevention, the Norman Democrat said lawmakers should work to expand the state’s light rail system to help reduce pollution and increase economic development.

“We have to talk about it,” he said. “We have to raise the bar of public awareness and expand the use of light rail.”

Collins said lawmakers should take advantage of a strong budget cycle to explore alternatives to traditional transportation.

“If we won’t do this kind of thing in good budget year, we surely won’t do it in a shortfall. It’s past time for us to look into transportation alternatives, instead of just adding more lanes on the highway.”

While Martin, a Norman Republican said he, too, believed transportation issues would be a top priority this year, the focus, he said, would be on infrastructure and funding.

“You’re going to see legislation to remove the 3 percent trigger on Oklahoma Department of Transportation funding,” he said.
Martin said he also was “anxious to hear” what both sides had to say about extending the length of the public school and potential plans for a performance based pay system for public school teachers. “There will probably be a lot of discussion about those issues,” he said.

Like Martin, Nichols predicted education, transportation and public safety would be issues which occupied a majority of the legislative session.

“I’m looking forward to finally stopping the supplemental funding to the Department of Corrections,” he said. “It’s disingenuous to the taxpayers that we balance the budget knowing we owe bills. What has historically been done to fund DOC is circumventing the State Constitution.”

Hopefully, he said, lawmakers will “fully fund” the department of corrections.

Nichols also said he was pleased by the fact lawmakers had less money to spend in 2008.

“State government has less money to spend this year,” he said, “because we’ve returned more to the taxpayer.”

Nichols said he meant “that less money is less growth money.”

“We’re returning more money to the taxpayer. And there is no better way to insulate the economy than through tax cuts. There is no better way to keep the economy alive and vibrant than to place it in the hands of the private sector.”

Bragging that Republicans in the state house were “driving the train,” Terrill said the House GOP members were framing their legislation against five standards.

“Everything we try to move through the House falls along four lines,” he said. “Whether or not it advances the cause of Constitutionally limited government; whether or not it is advancing the rule of law; whether or not it supports the free enterprise, free market system; and whether or not it promotes traditional family values.”

The House, Terrill said, was pushing a sound, conservative fiscal policy.

“We will continue to fund core essential programs of state government,” he said. “And we will demand performance, accountability and modernization.”

Terrill said lawmakers would continue to focus on performance audits for state agencies and predicted the Department of Human Services “would be next in line” for such an audit.

“DHS is next in line because of their foster care and daycare programs,” he said. “The death of one child because of DHS’ bureaucratic black hole is one too many.”

In addition, Terrill said House Republicans would continue to try to reduce the state’s income tax rate to “ultimately get it below” 5 percent, which, he said, is the GOP’s short-term goal.

Known for his immigration reform bill, Terrill said the measure is being modeled by 25 to 30 other states.

“I’m very pleased we’ve gotten Oklahoman to the forefront in the immigration reform movement,” he said.

Terrill said he would file legislation in 2008 to add to the measure, including provisions which would make English the state’s official language and to allow local law enforcement officials to seize an undocumented alien’s property.

“It would be much like seizing certain drug assets,” he said.

Terrill said he also would push for “transparency in education” to show taxpayers how much education for undocumented aliens is costing.

State lawmakers will return to the capitol for the 2008 Legislative session in February.