A lawmaker’s proposal to require a $50,000 bond from groups rallying at the state Capitol is appalling, dangerous and un-American.
Senate Bill 592, proposed by Sen. Mark Allen, R-Spiro, would require any group with more than 100 people to post the bond before protesting to offset security, cleanup and repairs.
The First Amendment says the people have the right “peaceably to assemble.” It doesn’t mention anything about posting a bond to make sure things get tidied afterward.
Allen’s attempt to limit voices to only those with money comes after Oklahoma teachers last spring spent 10 days on strike against the state for failing to fund schools adequately.
Educators and advocates descended en masse. Lawmakers aren’t used to those kinds of crowds, and some didn’t react too welcoming.
People are also reading…
Just before the strike, lawmakers passed a teacher pay raise averaging $6,100 and funded it with a series of small tax increases. Allen voted against the taxes.
Lower courts have decided that the government must shoulder the burden for people to exercise their First Amendment right to assemble. But, the limit to that burden hasn’t been tested in higher courts.
Last year, the National Parks Service proposed adding usage fees for groups. The federal government has guidelines and an application process for demonstrating on the U.S. Capitol grounds, but it doesn’t include a charge.
However, organizers must provide toilets, emergency medical responders, trash cleanup and other support, depending on the size of the event. Any possible changes are pending in the rule-making process.
Kansas charges $50 to $500 to hold rallies inside its rotunda. Missouri does not charge. Texas has usage fees electricity, lecterns or chairs, but those are not required for rally reservations.
State agencies have reported in various news media that the Oklahoma teacher strike cost somewhere between $135,000 to $1.5 million, which I have no doubt is exaggerated.
Those reports are not broken down by line item. We have no idea how much would have been incurred anyway.
At last year’s protests, the Oklahoma Education Association paid for the stage, audio-visual equipment, portable toilets and some buses and handled all the permit and reservation forms.
Currently, the Capitol rally reservation forms state that the site must be restored to pre-rally conditions and a damage deposit of up to $500 may be requested. Both are fair requirements for groups looking to protest.
Ironically, Allen calls himself a “firm believer” in the Constitution, at least in the Second Amendment.
He voted for the “Constitutional carry” Senate Bill 1212. The vetoed legislation would have allowed adults to carry firearms without a license, and, therefore, any training.
The only public education proposal Allen offered last year was Senate Bill 21 to ensure students can practice their religion in schools.
Kids can already do that, but redundancy and duplication aren’t obstacles at the Capitol. It passed and is now law; a solution to a nonexistent problem.
The only other notable measure from Allen last year was a failed bill that would have allowed for chemical castration of sexual offenders.
If Allen truly believes in the Constitution, he ought to re-read the First Amendment and drop the proposal to erect a financial block to groups protesting at the Capitol.
And, he would do well to listen to teachers the next time they come to his office.
