The final week of the legislative session has arrived and members are working diligently to get their bills completed before the deadline at 5 PM on Friday. I'm still working on two bills as I write this and feel good that they will be heard. My house bill dealing with fire protection services passed the House overwhelmingly and the bill I'm authoring from the Senate passed in their chamber and is scheduled to be heard in the House. We are also working on passing several resolutions regarding issues important to the Representatives. I still have two remaining dealing with thanking the Hornets organization for the past two years and also regarding increased funding and support for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder cases in the military and public service employees, such as police and firefighters.
The politics has been fairly restrained since the budget agreement. The Democratic House members were successful in securing additional funds for teacher retirement, fire protection services, gang violence prevention and conservation district programs. We also managed to fully fund the Centennial Commission projects for the year, so each of the programs occurring in the district should not see cuts. I've been working with the director to make sure we do not see anything diverted at the last minute.
The House and Senate Democrats made a push this week to get some type of hearing on why gas prices have skyrocketed recently. We signed a petition to the Attorney General and the members of the Corporation Commission to request some type of investigation on potential gouging. It's insane to think the gas prices in Oklahoma are the same as on the coastal states where the cost of living is so much greater. Over the past two years, Rep. Jerry Shoemake has filed a resolution to request the federal government do something about this issue, yet it has failed to receive a hearing by the House leadership.
Interim study requests deadlines are also on Friday. Should you have an issue that you feel the legislature should examine, please contact my office by Friday at 5 PM. I will be happy to look over each request and see if there is potential to get some of these issues filed and a formal hearing be taken up. I have several requests in the works at this point and will be happy to take up more if the Speaker will allow.
It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol. If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305. My e-mail address is joedorman@okhouse.gov at work. My mailing address is PO Box 559, Rush Springs, OK 73082 and my website is www.joedorman.com on the Internet. Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Open Door Policy - May 15, 2007
I want to start off by wishing congratulations to all those graduating seniors, both in high school and college. I know it has been a long struggle, but it will be worth it to have that diploma. Good luck with your summer plans and with whatever lies before you. I want to give a special congratulations to Wyatt Mindemann for making it through Southwestern, Kelsey Walters for finally getting out of OSU and my cousin, Shawn McKay, for graduating from Rush Springs High School. I'm proud of each of you for your successes.
This past weekend was quite busy around the area. On Friday, I attended the wedding of Dale and Ann Williams, two friends from state government work. Congratulations to both of them also! I regret that I had to miss the Elgin Relay for Life that night, but I did make it over for a great day with the Crawds 'n Rods event benefiting the local fire department. Sunday was dedicated to Mom, so happy belated Mother's Day to all of you out there.
The session is winding down to the conclusion as the Constitutional deadline of the last Friday in May approaches. I still have two pieces of legislation that I've been working through the system and they both look like they will make it through the process to the Governor. One bill deals with fire protections. This creates a controlled burn fund to allow for an insurance policy if a controlled burn on private property gets out of control and allows for assistance in creating a burn plan. This bill also incorporates the language from my previous legislation to assist our rural fire departments.
The other is a bill I assisted Senator Barrington with that will allow for right turns to be made from the shoulders on highways. This will allow those in the rural areas to essentially use the shoulder as a turn lane as a person approaches a turn they need to make to not back up traffic.
Though I've seen these successes, I have also seen some disappointments. We were working on language with several of the Ag groups to amend a previously-passed bill that would allow persons to retrieve their pet off private property should it get away. This was a highly-controversial bill that passed and we thought there was a good compromise with some new language, but the Senate author on this bill refused to hear the language. This effectively killed this idea for the rest of the year. If a pet should get away, you now have to contact the landowner before retrieving the pet or suffer the chance of prosecution for trespassing. This sounds like common sense, but so does running down a dog or cat that ran off by getting spooked. It's a shame that these things can't get resolved where everyone is in agreement.
One happy note is the fact the Governor and the Legislature finally agreed upon a state budget, so it looks like we will finish on schedule this year. The new budget accommodates much of what the Governor and House Democrats sought, so this was truly an agreement that all parties can live with. There will be much work to be done this summer though, as I have requested additional reviews of state agencies over the interim.
It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol. If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305. My e-mail address is http://us.f501.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=joedorman@okhouse.gov at work. My mailing address is PO Box 559, Rush Springs, OK 73082 and my website is http://www.joedorman.com/ on the Internet. Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.
This past weekend was quite busy around the area. On Friday, I attended the wedding of Dale and Ann Williams, two friends from state government work. Congratulations to both of them also! I regret that I had to miss the Elgin Relay for Life that night, but I did make it over for a great day with the Crawds 'n Rods event benefiting the local fire department. Sunday was dedicated to Mom, so happy belated Mother's Day to all of you out there.
The session is winding down to the conclusion as the Constitutional deadline of the last Friday in May approaches. I still have two pieces of legislation that I've been working through the system and they both look like they will make it through the process to the Governor. One bill deals with fire protections. This creates a controlled burn fund to allow for an insurance policy if a controlled burn on private property gets out of control and allows for assistance in creating a burn plan. This bill also incorporates the language from my previous legislation to assist our rural fire departments.
The other is a bill I assisted Senator Barrington with that will allow for right turns to be made from the shoulders on highways. This will allow those in the rural areas to essentially use the shoulder as a turn lane as a person approaches a turn they need to make to not back up traffic.
Though I've seen these successes, I have also seen some disappointments. We were working on language with several of the Ag groups to amend a previously-passed bill that would allow persons to retrieve their pet off private property should it get away. This was a highly-controversial bill that passed and we thought there was a good compromise with some new language, but the Senate author on this bill refused to hear the language. This effectively killed this idea for the rest of the year. If a pet should get away, you now have to contact the landowner before retrieving the pet or suffer the chance of prosecution for trespassing. This sounds like common sense, but so does running down a dog or cat that ran off by getting spooked. It's a shame that these things can't get resolved where everyone is in agreement.
One happy note is the fact the Governor and the Legislature finally agreed upon a state budget, so it looks like we will finish on schedule this year. The new budget accommodates much of what the Governor and House Democrats sought, so this was truly an agreement that all parties can live with. There will be much work to be done this summer though, as I have requested additional reviews of state agencies over the interim.
It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol. If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305. My e-mail address is http://us.f501.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=joedorman@okhouse.gov at work. My mailing address is PO Box 559, Rush Springs, OK 73082 and my website is http://www.joedorman.com/ on the Internet. Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Working To End Taxpayer Funded Abortions
This week the Oklahoma House of Representatives took action to again send to the Senate and the Governor an important pro-life measure. Senate Bill 139 (SB 139), authored by Oklahoma City Democrat Rebecca Hamilton, would stop the use of taxpayer money from funding almost all abortions. SB 139 is very similar to Senate Bill 714, which passed both the House and the Senate earlier in the session but was later vetoed by the Governor.
The Senate has twice attempted to override the Governor's veto of Senate Bill 714, but both attempts fell just one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed. Because the Senate could not override the veto, the bill was bottled up in the Senate and the House did not get to vote on the override attempt.
SB 139 offered an opportunity for those of us in the House to again press the issue that taxpayer resources should not be used for abortions. It is important for us to take action, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because of the groundswell of public support for this policy. I have received more calls in support of Senate Bill 714 than any other bill this year. It is clear that people do not want their tax dollars used to destroy life and they are demanding the government take action.
In order to entice the Governor to sign this measure, authors of the bill have used almost identical language as that in Senate Bill 714, with slight changes in wording. This new language may be instrumental in chipping away support from Senators who until now have been willing to back the Governor's veto.
In order for SB 139 to pass the House, it faced the difficult hurdle of two procedural votes requiring approval from two-thirds of the members of the House. Tony Lauinger, State Chairman of Oklahomans For Life, stated that these were the most important pro-life votes of the year. Each vote passed by a margin of one vote and I was pleased to cast my vote to help insure passage.
During the upcoming two weeks, your continued support of ending the policy of taxpayer funded abortions will be vital to the success of SB 139. Thank you for calling my office with your concerns. Please continue to contact the Governor and your Senator as well.
As always I may be contacted on the web at www.housedistrict31.com or on the phone at 557-7350.
The Senate has twice attempted to override the Governor's veto of Senate Bill 714, but both attempts fell just one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed. Because the Senate could not override the veto, the bill was bottled up in the Senate and the House did not get to vote on the override attempt.
SB 139 offered an opportunity for those of us in the House to again press the issue that taxpayer resources should not be used for abortions. It is important for us to take action, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because of the groundswell of public support for this policy. I have received more calls in support of Senate Bill 714 than any other bill this year. It is clear that people do not want their tax dollars used to destroy life and they are demanding the government take action.
In order to entice the Governor to sign this measure, authors of the bill have used almost identical language as that in Senate Bill 714, with slight changes in wording. This new language may be instrumental in chipping away support from Senators who until now have been willing to back the Governor's veto.
In order for SB 139 to pass the House, it faced the difficult hurdle of two procedural votes requiring approval from two-thirds of the members of the House. Tony Lauinger, State Chairman of Oklahomans For Life, stated that these were the most important pro-life votes of the year. Each vote passed by a margin of one vote and I was pleased to cast my vote to help insure passage.
During the upcoming two weeks, your continued support of ending the policy of taxpayer funded abortions will be vital to the success of SB 139. Thank you for calling my office with your concerns. Please continue to contact the Governor and your Senator as well.
As always I may be contacted on the web at www.housedistrict31.com or on the phone at 557-7350.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
"Back to School" Sales Tax Holiday Should Be Signed
By Senator Jay Paul Gumm - D-Durant
Hello again, everybody! As most of you know, for as long as I have served as senator, one of my top legislative priorities has been to enact Oklahoma’s version of the “Back to School” sales tax holiday.
Why is this issue so important? For years, Texas shoppers – and those Oklahomans who cross the border – enjoy tax-free shopping during the first weekend in August on clothing and shoes costing less than $100 per item.
Millions of dollars in economic activity and sales tax revenue are lost from Oklahoma every year as thousands of our residents cross the border for the sales tax exemption. In addition to the revenue loss our cities, counties and the state endure, Oklahoma’s retailers are at a huge competitive disadvantage that weekend.
Even more heartbreaking, those Oklahoma families who cannot afford to make a trip to Texas are stuck paying the full sales tax on back to school clothes. That is incredibly unfair.
The greatest roadblock to passage of a “Back to School” sales tax holiday has been city governments. Many of them opposed the measure because they fear city revenues would be decreased by having to honor the tax exemption.
Cities have stubbornly maintained that position despite the fact that in every state that has enacted a “Back to School” sales tax holiday, tax revenues increased rather than decreased. Even the facts could not bring around the Oklahoma Municipal League, the cities’ lobby group.
This year, however, we added a component to the sales tax holiday we hoped would get the Oklahoma Municipal League to support the measure. Cities would be reimbursed by the state for money they would lose by honoring the tax cut. While we never got their support, we were able to quell their opposition enough to get this measure in the tax cut package agreed to by legislative leaders.
That package is now on Governor Henry’s desk awaiting his signature. You would think getting the governor’s signature would be a “slam dunk,” because he included the “Back to School” sales tax holiday in his legislative agenda in 2006. However, there is an ongoing battle over the state budget, and tax policy is part of that discussion.
It is possible the governor will veto the overall tax package, including the sales tax holiday, in order to help force a budget agreement. I certainly hope that is not the case.
Oklahoma families need and deserve this tax cut; Oklahoma retailers deserve a level playing field for back to school shopping. We have come so far, and – reaching across party lines – we have gotten this important issue on the governor’s desk for the first time.
Regardless of what happens with this measure, I will continue to fight as hard as I can to see that a “Back to School” sales tax holiday becomes law. Oklahomans deserve nothing less.
Why is this issue so important? For years, Texas shoppers – and those Oklahomans who cross the border – enjoy tax-free shopping during the first weekend in August on clothing and shoes costing less than $100 per item.
Millions of dollars in economic activity and sales tax revenue are lost from Oklahoma every year as thousands of our residents cross the border for the sales tax exemption. In addition to the revenue loss our cities, counties and the state endure, Oklahoma’s retailers are at a huge competitive disadvantage that weekend.
Even more heartbreaking, those Oklahoma families who cannot afford to make a trip to Texas are stuck paying the full sales tax on back to school clothes. That is incredibly unfair.
The greatest roadblock to passage of a “Back to School” sales tax holiday has been city governments. Many of them opposed the measure because they fear city revenues would be decreased by having to honor the tax exemption.
Cities have stubbornly maintained that position despite the fact that in every state that has enacted a “Back to School” sales tax holiday, tax revenues increased rather than decreased. Even the facts could not bring around the Oklahoma Municipal League, the cities’ lobby group.
This year, however, we added a component to the sales tax holiday we hoped would get the Oklahoma Municipal League to support the measure. Cities would be reimbursed by the state for money they would lose by honoring the tax cut. While we never got their support, we were able to quell their opposition enough to get this measure in the tax cut package agreed to by legislative leaders.
That package is now on Governor Henry’s desk awaiting his signature. You would think getting the governor’s signature would be a “slam dunk,” because he included the “Back to School” sales tax holiday in his legislative agenda in 2006. However, there is an ongoing battle over the state budget, and tax policy is part of that discussion.
It is possible the governor will veto the overall tax package, including the sales tax holiday, in order to help force a budget agreement. I certainly hope that is not the case.
Oklahoma families need and deserve this tax cut; Oklahoma retailers deserve a level playing field for back to school shopping. We have come so far, and – reaching across party lines – we have gotten this important issue on the governor’s desk for the first time.
Regardless of what happens with this measure, I will continue to fight as hard as I can to see that a “Back to School” sales tax holiday becomes law. Oklahomans deserve nothing less.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Politicians Benefiting Off Of The Taxpayers
Murphey Legislative Update
5/8/2007
In the upcoming three weeks, the House will begin hearing conference committee reports. In this process, legislation goes up for a final vote. Historically, the process has been subject to much abuse as last minute legislation and appropriations quickly pass with little opportunity for scrutiny.
I have spent time analyzing this process and specifically how legislators have personally benefited from directing money through last minute appropriation bills.
An example of this abuse recently hit close to home. A company in which long time State Senator Gene Stipe held a partnership appears to have benefited from funds passed through two state agencies and then used to purchase a train from Stipe's company on behalf of a Guthrie organization.
The process works much like this. Late in the legislative year, powerful legislators make use of a shell appropriations bill (a piece of legislation appropriating money that had no numbers in it) by inserting an amount of money to be used for "special projects." One of the vehicles used by the legislators for this purpose in the past has been an appropriations bill for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. Certain Department of Commerce appropriations would be earmarked to pass through the Department of Commerce to a second government entity, such as one of the regional government councils. The director of the regional government council would than receive a call from the House of Representatives or the Senate. The caller would instruct the director on how he should spend that money. Sometimes the instructions might be for the money to pass to another government entity or even to a non-government entity. This money would be passed on without a vote of the board of the regional government council.
In this way, the money took a variety of twists and turns that made it almost impossible for the public to track. Even many legislators had little opportunity to know the purpose for which money was spent. This allowed powerful committee chairs and high ranking legislators to have a tremendous amount of control over dispensing government largess. In some years, the amount of special projects money in the Department of Commerce alone amounted to million of dollars.
Fortunately, it appears as if term limits has significantly reduced the ability of some legislators from being able to direct special projects money. However, I am convinced that the prospect for this type of corruption remains high as long as government remains large. When government is small and limited, the public has a greater ability to monitor it and keep it honest. When government grows tremendously, it makes it easy for corrupt politicians to take money off the top for their own benefit.
During the upcoming weeks, I am committed to close scrutiny of the appropriations process as final action is taken on how millions of our tax dollars are spent.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Open Door Policy - May 1, 2007
The legislative session is at the time where the Representatives and Senators are working on the final versions of the bills. In this stage of the process, legislators can either accept them amendments that the other body placed in their bill or they can reject the amendments and send the bill to a conference committee to work out the details. Most times, the legislators will reject the amendments and request further study. When this happens, the legislator and the author of the bill in the other body will prepare a list of conferees to work on this bill. Most times, the two authors work up the details of what they want in the bill and simply get permission from the conferees to okay these details. Once this is completed, the bill will then come back to both bodies and be considered. No amendments can be accepted on the floor at this point, so it is simply approve the bill or send it back to committee for further changes.
One exception to this was seen on Tuesday. Rep. Randy Terrill brought forth his legislation regarding illegal immigration. The Senate amended this bill significantly and took out many of the provisions that were problematic. My language regarding a division of law enforcement to conduct stings on the sale of illegal documentation modeled after Arizona law was left in the bill and will be a huge effort towards cracking down on fake identification sales. I voted for this bill though there are a few things that need to be changed next year. Often times we have to weigh how much good is in a bill compared to how much that is not agreeable and determine the best choice. In this case, something needs to happen and efforts can be made next year to improve on this should it become law.
This was a busy weekend at home as I was able to attend several events including the Grady County Mineral Owners Association banquet, Earth Day at Southwest Elementary in Chickasha, the Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber luncheon and the retirement party for Trooper Stewart Meyer. Trooper Meyer has had a fantastic career with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and I wish him the very best with the extra time on his hands, most of which I think is going to be dedicated to his grand baby.
With all this, I still had the chance to get away for a few hours on Saturday to go see Jimmy Buffett in concert. He is my favorite performer and his fan clubs around the country do tremendous efforts with community service projects. In 2005, Parrot Head Clubs collectively raised for and/or donated to charitable organizations over $2.7 million. Additionally, chapters worldwide donated approximately 663,543 man-hours to philanthropic activities. A new club is starting in our area and if anyone is interested, contact Stephen Mitchell in Fletcher at sdmitchell@aol.com or call me for further details. There is also a group in Oklahoma City called the Central Oklahoma Parrothead Assocation. Their website is http://www.copa-nut.com/ if you want more info on this chapter. I hope everyone has a chance to do something like this with family and friends at least once a year and has the chance to help with some philanthropic project. The time you take to do things like this is returned tenfold with the good feelings associated with time with friends working towards a good cause.
It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol. If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305. My e-mail address is joedorman@okhouse.gov at work. My mailing address is PO Box 559, Rush Springs, OK 73082 and my website is http://www.joedorman.com/ on the Internet. Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.
One exception to this was seen on Tuesday. Rep. Randy Terrill brought forth his legislation regarding illegal immigration. The Senate amended this bill significantly and took out many of the provisions that were problematic. My language regarding a division of law enforcement to conduct stings on the sale of illegal documentation modeled after Arizona law was left in the bill and will be a huge effort towards cracking down on fake identification sales. I voted for this bill though there are a few things that need to be changed next year. Often times we have to weigh how much good is in a bill compared to how much that is not agreeable and determine the best choice. In this case, something needs to happen and efforts can be made next year to improve on this should it become law.
This was a busy weekend at home as I was able to attend several events including the Grady County Mineral Owners Association banquet, Earth Day at Southwest Elementary in Chickasha, the Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber luncheon and the retirement party for Trooper Stewart Meyer. Trooper Meyer has had a fantastic career with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and I wish him the very best with the extra time on his hands, most of which I think is going to be dedicated to his grand baby.
With all this, I still had the chance to get away for a few hours on Saturday to go see Jimmy Buffett in concert. He is my favorite performer and his fan clubs around the country do tremendous efforts with community service projects. In 2005, Parrot Head Clubs collectively raised for and/or donated to charitable organizations over $2.7 million. Additionally, chapters worldwide donated approximately 663,543 man-hours to philanthropic activities. A new club is starting in our area and if anyone is interested, contact Stephen Mitchell in Fletcher at sdmitchell@aol.com or call me for further details. There is also a group in Oklahoma City called the Central Oklahoma Parrothead Assocation. Their website is http://www.copa-nut.com/ if you want more info on this chapter. I hope everyone has a chance to do something like this with family and friends at least once a year and has the chance to help with some philanthropic project. The time you take to do things like this is returned tenfold with the good feelings associated with time with friends working towards a good cause.
It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol. If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305. My e-mail address is joedorman@okhouse.gov at work. My mailing address is PO Box 559, Rush Springs, OK 73082 and my website is http://www.joedorman.com/ on the Internet. Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Paying Our Debts
As your Representative, I am committed to reversing the disturbing trend of state government going deeper into debt. By one estimate, the state owes approximately $25,000,000,000 in long term debt and unfunded liabilities.
I feel strongly that state government should avoid long-term debt. It is irresponsible for politicians to saddle citizens with millions of dollars of indebtedness and then allow the bill to come due when they are no longer in office. This places debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren and makes reducing the size of government difficult because government will be forced to keep taxes high in order to pay debt and interest.
As a representative, I have a policy of voting against the issuance of new debt and have called for the passage of legislation which makes incurring it more difficult.
I feel strongly that state government should avoid long-term debt. It is irresponsible for politicians to saddle citizens with millions of dollars of indebtedness and then allow the bill to come due when they are no longer in office. This places debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren and makes reducing the size of government difficult because government will be forced to keep taxes high in order to pay debt and interest.
As a representative, I have a policy of voting against the issuance of new debt and have called for the passage of legislation which makes incurring it more difficult.
One of the most egregious examples related to this issue has been inappropriate spending by past politicians who have raided the teachers' retirement system, leaving us with $7,000,000 of unfunded retirement system liabilities. This problem is similar to the difficulties now faced by the federal government due to previous raids on the social security fund.
One of the first steps we must take to end this abuse is to make it more difficult to occur. The house recently took a positive step by enacting the Oklahoma Pension Legislation Actuarial Analysis Act. This legislation would inhibit attempts by politicians who wish to raid the fund.
Now that an effort has been made in this direction, the house took action to rectify past abuse by again funding the retirement system. In a recent vote, the House approved Senate Bill 357 to place 200 million dollars into the teachers' retirement system over the next five years. This will be done through increased contribution rates from education employers to be reimbursed by the state. Currently the rate is 8 percent for such employers, but within two years it would increase to over 9 percent. This plan would put the state on track to fund the teachers' retirement system at 80 percent in less than 25 years. Currently the system is a little under 50 percent funded.
If we can begin to repay this debt, it could improve Oklahoma's bond ratings, provide better rates on existing debt and save on interest payments. Hopefully, lower interest rates will not encourage Oklahoma's politicians to borrow even more.
If we are serious about rolling back big government and enacting important pro-growth reforms such as eliminating state income tax, the issue of big government debt is not one we can ignore. As it stands now, reducing the size of government is difficult enough because of past inappropriate spending by state politicians. The legislature must understand that while we must fund the debt we owe, it is our responsibility in representing the people to draw a clear line in the sand and defeat new attempts to mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren.
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