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Let's illustrate this issue with a word picture from a game show...
This week several of the nearly 100 House members filed 142 bills for the special session. As a whole, they are more thoughtful and serious than the nearly 800 bills that get filed in a January filing period. That's the good news.
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The bad news is that 94 of these very thoughtful bills got locked up in Speaker McCall's hand-picked Rules Committee. McCall sent the members home, today. He said; "Don't come back until I have something for you to vote on.", or something to that effect.
The Rules Committee is most often used by leadership to kill a bill. that's why only the most loyal associates of the speaker are selected from his caucus. So why did the speaker squash all these great bills?
This is not an ordinary session. In fact, that's why it's officially called an "Extraordinary Session". Somehow we adopted the term "special session".
This session needs to be about the extraordinary circumstances which necessitated it. And it needs to be efficiently run. We wasted way too much money this year with way too little to show for it. Every wasted day in extraordinary session blows through enough money for a special interest to demague about "How many mammograms it could have provided"; or "How many streetlights it could have powered up in high crime areas.".
The Senate members filed 50 bills. Only 11 of them are locked in the Rules Committee of the Senate.
This is not an ordinary session. In fact, that's why it's officially called an "Extraordinary Session". Somehow we adopted the term "special session".
This session needs to be about the extraordinary circumstances which necessitated it. And it needs to be efficiently run. We wasted way too much money this year with way too little to show for it. Every wasted day in extraordinary session blows through enough money for a special interest to demague about "How many mammograms it could have provided"; or "How many streetlights it could have powered up in high crime areas.".
The Senate members filed 50 bills. Only 11 of them are locked in the Rules Committee of the Senate.
Top Oklahoma Sponsors
| House Sponsors | # Bills | RSS |
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| Rep. Dennis Casey [R] | 59 |
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| Rep. Kevin Wallace [R] | 59 |
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| Rep. Charles McCall [R] | 38 |
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| Rep. Scott Inman [D] | 12 |
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| Rep. Kevin Calvey [R] | 9 |
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| Senate Sponsors | # Bills | RSS |
|---|---|---|
| Sen. Kim David [R] | 87 |
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| Sen. Eddie Fields [R] | 87 |
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| Sen. Josh Brecheen [R] | 7 |
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| Sen. Mark Allen [R] | 6 |
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| Sen. Julie Daniels [R] | 3 |
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