Political notebook: Deadline behind it, Legislature looks for a breather

But it won’t stay that way for long. Bills and joint resolutions adopted in the chamber of origin during the first six weeks of the session now have until mid-April to get through committees on the opposite side of the rotunda.

Thursday’s chamber of origin deadline left about 280 House bills and joint resolutions and 470 Senate measures on general order, meaning they can no longer be heard this session.

Around 700 bills and joint resolutions remain active, but many of those are duplicates or nearly so.

Ayes: Among the bills making it through the House and Senate last week:

Senate Bill 1860, by Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada. Although flying lowest below the public’s radar, this measure has been the subject of intense lobbying from various interests involved in the prescription drug business.

SB 1860 is intended to prevent prescription benefit plans and chain pharmacies from squeezing out independent druggists, with both sides warning of dire consequences and unfair business practices.

House Bill 2351, by Rep. Collin Walke, D-Oklahoma City. This one passed unanimously off the House floor late Wednesday after the members had worn themselves out on taxes, medical marijuana and transgender athletes.

The bill bars “any individual or entity or subsidiary of an entity that represents a state official, a campaign for elective state office, or a campaign for a state initiative or referendum” from being awarded a state contract. The bill has implications for several high-profile political operatives.

SB 1535, by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond. It is an overhaul of teacher evaluation and professional development that repeals the Teacher Leader Effectiveness evaluation system and creates a teacher mentor program.

Tense moments: Long days, emotional issues and maybe a little grandstanding can shorten tempers. In Oklahoma’s early days, fist fights were not unknown on the House and Senate floors, and more than one lawmaker was conked by an inkwell.

It didn’t get to that point last week in the House, but Democrats were outraged by Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, calling them the “Party of Death” several times during debate on an abortion bill, even after being admonished by the presiding officer as a violation of House rules against impugning other members.

Roberts, who is term-limited and mounting a long-shot campaign to oust 3rd District Congressman Frank Lucas, was accused of using the debate as a stump speech.

One day later, Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, described transgender people as “mentally ill,” which Democrats took as a slight against Rep. Mauree Turner, D-Oklahoma City, who is the Legislature’s only non-binary member.

Campaigns and elections: State Rep. Carol Bush, R-Tulsa, said she will not seek reelection after three terms representing House District 70 in midtown and south Tulsa.

Bush’s announcement came at about the same time that Suzanne Schreiber, who is leaving the Tulsa school board next month, said she is a candidate for the HD 70 seat.

“My approach isn’t complicated or technical,” said Schreiber, who is running as a Democrat. “We need to put people over politics, solve real problems and work together to choose practical solutions that make a real impact in the lives of all Oklahomans.”

Schreiber is an attorney and senior program officer with the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

Republican Brad Banks, a paving contractor, has registered an HD 70 campaign committee.

State Rep. Avery Frix became the third Muskogee Republican to join the fight to succeed 2nd District Congressman Markwayne Mullin, who is running for U.S. Senate.

Frix joins Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee and pharmacist Chris Schiller.

Early in-person absentee voting for the April 5 elections begins Thursday at county election board locations.

Thursday is also the last day to change party affiliation before the June 28 primary and Aug. 23 runoff elections. New registrations will be accepted through June 3.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford announced the endorsement of fellow senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. Scott campaigned with Lankford in Edmond on Friday.

POWhER PAC, a political action committee supporting Oklahoma Republican women candidates, endorsed term-limited state Sen. Kim David, R-Porter, who is running for the Corporation Commission.

As an incentive to donors, 1st District Congressman Kevin Hern’s re-election campaign and the campaign of U.S. Senate candidate Jackson Lahmeyer offered chances to win an expense-paid trip to Dallas to see former President Donald Trump on May 9.

Joshua Harris-Till, a former national Young Democrats president, said he is a candidate in the 5th Congressional District. Harris-Till formerly ran unsuccessfully in CD 2.

Lankford spoke in Sapulpa last week.

Matt-ering: Oklahoma lieutenant governors generally are not very controversial and the current No. 2, Matt Pinnell, hasn’t been much different.

Last week, though, the state Democratic Party unloaded on Pinnell, calling him “Pinnell Who?”, while Pinnell’s office issued a couple of press releases, something it rarely does, endorsing legislation that lightens restrictions on the use of adjunct faculty in common education and would greatly expand broadband internet access in the state.

To date, no Democrat — or Republican, for that matter — is challenging Pinnell for reelection, so it’s not entirely clear why he suddenly popped into the opposition’s crosshairs. They took some shots at him later in the week after a Frontier report about a thus-far failed initiative to establish destination-type restaurants at some state parks.

“How has Pinnell made a difference for freedom and choice in the communities he represents?” said Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairwoman Alicia Andrews. “He’s the lieutenant for all Oklahomans, not just those he wants to hide out with in his whitewashed communities, leading from a distance and crying family values.”

Perhaps not coincidentally, Pinnell is viewed as a likely GOP gubernatorial candidate four years from now, when incumbent Kevin Stitt is term-limited.

Meetings and events: Heart of the Party, the Tulsa Chapter of the Oklahoma Federation of Democratic Women, will meet at 6 p.m. April 4 at Baxter’s Interurban, 717 S. Houston Ave.

Bottom lines: Gov. Kevin Stitt begins the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon’s Governor’s Relay Challenge with a 2-mile training run at 6:15 a.m. Monday … According to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, an Oklahoma State University associate professor has withdrawn, at least temporarily, a lawsuit claiming she was denied promotion because of the year she served in the Trump administration and political views at odds with those of her immediate supervisors.

— Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World

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