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SoonerPolitics.org collaborated with A group of our partner journalists to review the voting of the members of the 56th Legislature. The House members are reviewed by their voting fidelity to conservative Republican principles, as detailed in the OKGOP Platform. This endeavor did not consult any members of the House GOP Platform Caucus members.
Those voting predominantly in defiance of the OKGOP platform are often referred to as "Republican In Name Only" (or RINO, for short). Some have already published works based off our collaborative research. For purposes of respecting intellectual property, SoonerPolitics.org will not encroach on the use of other journalists' brand of indices. Hence the SoonerPolitics.org index will be referred to at this publication as "The Platform Index". As noted often in the past few years, the Republican leadership is becoming increasingly at odds with the OKGOP principles. For that reason, a core group of the legislative Republican Caucus have also formed a 2nd caucus which they call 'The Platform Caucus'. Sooner Tea Party & The Oklahoma Constitution typically score the legislature at the end of each regular session. Muskogee Politico publishes a Conservative Performance Index, which factors in the legislator's voting in comparison to his district's political demographics. The criteria is usually inclusive of many types of legislation, including taxation, growth of govt. social policy, personal liberty, constitutional rights, and other concerns. |
Only 5 Democrats in the House scored below 40, but nearly half of the Republicans scored no better than 25.
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But the special sessions were devoted specifically to fiscal issues. So key fiscal bills were selected for this scoring of the Oklahoma House of representatives. The Oklahoma Senate had very little substantive voting to score, so that review was set aside for further deliberation.
Some legislators saw significant improvement in their score, compared with last May's RINO Index & Conservative Index.
The Special session agenda ran contrary to the 7th principle of the OKGOP Platform. |
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HB1035x is the first phase of Gov. Fallin's 3rd effort to massively increase the revenue confiscated from Oklahoma residents & businesses. This bill spells out a tobacco tax. the State Supreme Court had unanimously struct down her previous efforts to assess a massive additional tax on tobacco. It was 22 votes short of passage, in October.
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HB1054x came on the heels of the failure of Fallin's HB1035x Tobacco tax hikes.
The Senate claimed to have passed this package on a voice vote to a resolution. We have no idea which senators supported it, other than the 15 cosponsors. This tax came closest, but was 5 votes short, in November. It targeted tobacco, motor fuels, beer, and petroleum production. |
HB1085x was a straight-up vote just on increasing taxes on petroleum production. It limited an existing tax incentive for new wells.
The Democrats largely supported it, but less Republicans gave support. The bill passed in Nov., because the State Supreme Court decided that limiting tax exemptions is not the same as 'revenue-raising' (only a twisted lawyer's logic can make sense of that). |
HB1033xx is the first of 2 key bills from the 2nd special session. It's the Oklahoma Chamber and other corporate cronies. It would raise taxes on a wide array of transactions. It failed in Feb. by 13 votes.
This is the 4th big tax vote on the House floor in 5 months. The lawmakers have now showed their dispositions rather clearly. The 18 Republicans voting against this are now a solid voting block. |
HB1020xx is the eventual bill to live within our means. It cuts the 2018 fiscal year budget by 2% for the 4 remaining months. The tax collections during the past 8 months have far exceeded expectations, so we didn't have nearly as big a shortfall, anyway.
Democrats all voted against this. A few Republicans (the most liberal ones) also opposed the cuts. It passed, 67-24 |
OKGOP Platform
REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES
We believe in limited government, individual liberty, natural rights, and personal moral responsibility. We believe Oklahoma should be a place of opportunity where people who work hard and abide by just and equally applied laws can pursue their own dreams with a reasonable expectation of success.
As Republicans we believe:
1. Our rights of life, liberty, and property are natural rights granted to us by God, protected by the Constitution, to be defended by our elected officials.
2. That we are to function as a Constitutional Republic with undefined state power as described in the Constitution, where Oklahoma Sovereignty is considered constitutionally superior to a Federal government that has limited and defined power and our State Sovereignty must be protected by State elected officials.
3. In the right to worship as we please without government intrusion or interference.
4. God is the Author and Creator of life and that all human life, both born and unborn, should be protected.
5. Traditional marriage consists of one man and one woman.
6. Economic freedom is the cornerstone of individual liberty and the private sector and free market principles are the best to stimulate economic development rather than government subsidies or programs.
7. Revenues collected at all levels of government should be used only for well-defined, legitimate government functions, and should be carried out efficiently so that tax rates may be kept as low as possible.
8. It is the right of every parent to act in their children’s best interest including health decisions and choosing the form of their education, whether at a public school, private school, or homeschool.
9. We welcome immigrants who want to legally seek freedom and opportunity, who want to work and who will embrace our values, learn the English language and respect our Union’s border and State’s sovereignty.
10. In Supporting and maintaining a strong national defense and advocate “Peace through Strength.”
As Republicans we believe:
1. Our rights of life, liberty, and property are natural rights granted to us by God, protected by the Constitution, to be defended by our elected officials.
2. That we are to function as a Constitutional Republic with undefined state power as described in the Constitution, where Oklahoma Sovereignty is considered constitutionally superior to a Federal government that has limited and defined power and our State Sovereignty must be protected by State elected officials.
3. In the right to worship as we please without government intrusion or interference.
4. God is the Author and Creator of life and that all human life, both born and unborn, should be protected.
5. Traditional marriage consists of one man and one woman.
6. Economic freedom is the cornerstone of individual liberty and the private sector and free market principles are the best to stimulate economic development rather than government subsidies or programs.
7. Revenues collected at all levels of government should be used only for well-defined, legitimate government functions, and should be carried out efficiently so that tax rates may be kept as low as possible.
8. It is the right of every parent to act in their children’s best interest including health decisions and choosing the form of their education, whether at a public school, private school, or homeschool.
9. We welcome immigrants who want to legally seek freedom and opportunity, who want to work and who will embrace our values, learn the English language and respect our Union’s border and State’s sovereignty.
10. In Supporting and maintaining a strong national defense and advocate “Peace through Strength.”
