Legislative update: April 5th - 12th

House members are concluding their work on legislation that originated in the Senate. With four of five weeks of committee work behind them, lawmakers have until April 27th to vote on Senate bills and joint resolutions.

Some of the measures that have cleared the committee process and been put to a vote by the entire membership of the House include Senate Bill 2022, which would cut state income taxes by nearly $171 million for the coming fiscal year. Senate Bill 2022 passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 64-34.

The measure would cut the current state income tax from 6.25 percent to 4.9 percent. It is part of a three-pronged tax cut plan advanced by House leaders that would provide a total $191 million in taxpayer savings this coming fiscal year.

In addition to the income tax cut, that plan would completely abolish Oklahoma's death tax and offer a childcare tax credit to stay-at-home parents.

House leaders have developed a state budget plan that includes both the tax cut plan while also achieving most of the governor's stated priorities and providing for other items, such as a teacher pay raise.

The House is expected to vote soon on legislation that would impose the death penalty on repeat child molesters. Senate Bill 1708 would allow life imprisonment or the death penalty to be imposed on individuals who are convicted of raping children younger than 12 after a prior conviction.

Senate Bill 1708 was also amended to require that child molesters be given a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison and restrict where they can live once they've served their sentence.

State law already prevents registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any school, but Senate Bill 1708 would expand that ban to include housing located within 2,000 feet of any licensed day care facility.
Senate Bill 1708 also allows rapists and pedophiles to be committed to long-term care in state prisons after completion of their original sentence if they are declared a "sexually violent predator."

The bill would allow district attorneys to petition the state to have the convict declared a "sexually violent predator" with a jury trial convened to make the determination. If the jury unanimously declares a criminal is a "sexually violent predator," the rapist or child molester would be committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for treatment until the criminal is no longer considered a threat to the public.

Senate Bill 1708 also outlaws "drive-by porn," making it illegal to play pornographic movies on any screen in an automobile. Senate Bill 1708 passed out of the House Corrections Committee and now proceeds to the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

A measure allowing nursing homes to better protect their patients from sex offenders passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives with overwhelming support.

Senate Bill 1707 authorizes the state Department of Corrections to submit to the Commissioner of Health a monthly updated list of sex offenders residing in Oklahoma. The commissioner would then make the list available to nursing homes.

A July 2005 independent study conducted by A Perfect Cause, an Oklahoma City nonprofit organization that advocates for residents of long-term care facilities, found 795 registered sex offenders in long-term care facilities in the United States, up from 380 offenders identified in a similar study the year before.

The study found 24 registered sex offenders living in Oklahoma nursing homes. There have also been several high-profile incidences of nursing home employees sexually assaulting residents during the last several years.
Oklahoma has more than 350 long-term care facilities and more than 5,000 registered sex offenders. SB 1707 passed on the House floor by a vote of 99-0 and now returns to the Senate.

The House also statewide implementation of an early warning system to help find missing senior citizens suffering from Alzheimer's.

House Resolution 1075 urges authorities to implement the "Silver Alert," an early warning system program to aid law enforcement officers in identifying and locating individuals suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia who have wandered off from their place of residency. According to the Diagnostic Center for Alzheimer's disease, over 25,000 people in Oklahoma are suffering from the disorder.