Statewide office holders are one legislative step away from not being able to become entrenched in office with passage of term limits legislation by a House committee today.

Senate Joint Resolution 12 by Senator Randy Brogdon, would place term limits on most statewide office holders.

The change would have to be approved by a vote of the people if passed by the Legislature.

Currently, state lawmakers are limited to 12 years in office, and the governor is restricted to serving two consecutive, four year terms. SJR 12, by House author Rep. Jason Murphey, would instead limit the governor to serve no more than eight cumulative years in office.

That same eight total years rule would also apply to the Lt. Gov, State Auditor and Inspector, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Commissioner of Labor, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Insurance Commissioner, all of whom serve 4-year terms.

The resolution also would limit anyone from serving as Corporation Commissioner for more than a total of 12 years.

“We know the Oklahoma people support the idea of term limits, and this legislation would ensure fresh faces and new ideas are continuously entering the political process,” said Murphey, R-Guthrie.

The resolution passed the House Rules Committee today and will now be considered for final passage by the full House.

Term Limits for Statewide Elected Officials Moves to Full House

Most statewide office holders would be limited to a maximum of eight years in office if legislation passed by a House committee today becomes law.

The change would have to be approved by a vote of the people if passed by the Legislature.

Currently, state lawmakers are limited to 12 years in office, and the governor is restricted to serving two consecutive, four year terms. Joint Resolution 1022, by Rep. Jason Murphey, would instead limit the governor to serve no more than eight cumulative years in office.

That same eight total years rule would also apply to the Lt. Gov, State Auditor and Inspector, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Commissioner of Labor, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Insurance Commissioner, all of whom serve 4-year terms.

The resolution also would limit anyone from serving as Corporation Commissioner for more than a total of 12 years.

“The people of Oklahoma have shown that they overwhelmingly support term limits as a way to bring new ideas and fresh perspectives to the Capitol,” said Murphey. “Term limits ensure accountability to the voters and prevent elected officials from becoming entrenched in office.”

The bill passed the House Rules Committee today and will now be considered by the full House.

Oklahoma colleges to fight concealed gun bill

The heads of Oklahoma's state colleges and universities are vowing to oppose any legislative efforts to allow concealed weapons on campus.

Legislation that would have allowed concealed weapons on college campuses was defeated earlier this year after college presidents and law enforcement officers said it would create chaos and even more violence on campus.

But the issue likely will resurface when the Legislature convenes next year, state Higher Education Chancellor Glen Johnson said Monday.

Johnson spoke to a group of college officials and law enforcement officers that make up the Campus Life and Safety and Security Task Force, formed after the 2007 shooting deaths at Virginia Tech.

House Bill 2513, which was defeated, would have allowed military veterans and others with firearms training to carry concealed weapons on campus.

Task force member Phil Berkenbile, leader of the state's CareerTech system, said guns have no place at schools. He noted recent controversy when a small Texas school district decided to let some teachers and staff carry guns.

"I don't think that's something we want to start in Oklahoma," Berkenbile said. "That's got to be a high priority."

Johnson said the task force will make clear in its upcoming report to the Legislature that it opposes weapons on college campuses.

The group also is planning to ask for about $16 million to improve safety and offer more mental health services on college and CareerTech campuses. The group may ask that the money be distributed through the state Department of Homeland Security.

Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, who introduced a measure to allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus, said Monday he would try again next year to give that right to at least some on campus.

His original bill was watered down so only military veterans and others with firearms training would have been allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus.

"I'm really committed to doing something to break up the gun-free bubble," Murphey said. "There's got to be a way to have an application of concealed-carry to a campus that at least makes it so that a criminal can't go into that environment knowing that the only people that are going to have guns are going to have uniforms."

HOO-ah: Higher Ed Officials Should Stop Attack On Veterans

The Vice-Chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee used the occasion of the Veterans Awareness Day Joint Legislative Session to call on Oklahoma Higher Education officials to ease off recent comments that he feels are insulting to Oklahoma's military men and women.

"In their zeal to maintain the status-quo and oppose
House Bill 2513, Oklahoma's higher education elite
are bringing into question the judgment of
Oklahoma's military officers," said state Rep. Jason
Murphey (R-Guthrie).

HB 2513, which is advocated by the National Rifle
Association, supports Oklahoma veterans and active
duty personnel by giving them the right to defend
themselves and others when they are attending or
teaching classes at one of Oklahoma's state colleges
and universities, provided they notify the university
they are in possession of a concealed carry license.

Murphey said he was especially concerned when,
after the passage of House Bill 2513, prominent
higher education officials launched a campaign in
which they are insinuating that the safety of
Oklahoma students will be endangered if
Oklahoma's veterans and active military are
allowed to defend themselves on college
campuses.

"To suggest that Oklahoma's highly trained military
men and women are going to endanger the safety of
Oklahoma students is inappropriate. I believe that
we have the finest military in the world and I find it
offensive that some in the higher education
community have begun to question the judgment of
our military men and women," Murphey said.

"Earlier this year, the Governor received a report
from a task force which recommended that
millions of dollars be spent on enhancing
campus security. This proposed expenditure comes
at a time when Oklahomans are already forced to
deal with massive tuition increases, high taxes and a
government that continues to incur long-term debt.

What better way to solve some of our security
challenges than to take advantage of the training of
our military veterans and active duty military
personnel who also maintain concealed carry licenses?

House Bill 2513 would allow them to defend
themselves and their fellow students and teachers. In
many cases, these personnel have training that is
equal to or exceeds the training of the law
enforcement officers charged with protecting our
campuses. This is a service that would be provided
with little or no cost to the state," Murphey stated.

"It is inconceivable that we are willing to ask our
military officers to work with local government in
securing such dangerous areas as the Green Zone in
Baghdad, but we don't trust them to work with local
law enforcement officers to enhance safety on our
own college campuses," Murphey said.

House Bill 2513 cleared the House of Representatives
by a vote of 65-35 and is now headed to the Senate
for consideration.

House committee passes sweeping ethics measure

House committee passes sweeping
ethics measure
Mon March 3, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY - Ethics legislation that prohibits fundraising by lawmakers during legislative sessions and forbids cash transfers between political action committees was sent to the floor of the Oklahoma House Monday.

Lawmakers gave preliminary approval to the measure after its author, Rep. Dave Dank, R-Oklahoma City, said the Legislature needs to tighten rules governing ethical conduct and campaign financing by elected officials to restore the public's faith in them.

"A lot of citizens don't trust us," Dank told members of the House Rules Committee. "They think some of us are for sale."

Committee members also passed legislation by Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, that would create a "No Gist List" of lawmakers who do not want gifts or anything else of value given to them by lobbyists.

An amendment approved by committee members would expand the list to include all elected officials subject to state ethics rules, including statewide officials.

Dank's bill, dubbed the Oklahoma Clean Campaign Act of 2008, prohibits fundraising by legislators or legislative candidates during regular legislative sessions as well as 15 days before and after sessions.

Dank said he wants to end questions about whether passage of legislation may be tied to campaign donations.

"There must be a healthy distance between the process of raising money and making law," Dank said. "Otherwise citizens will suspect — sometimes with justification — that legislation is for sale at the state Capitol."

The measure also forbids PAC-to-PAC transfers, requires that campaign funds be used only for legitimate campaign expenditures and equalizes the status of all campaign donors, more clearly defining groups and individuals eligible to contribute.

"For decades there have been clouds over the whole business of raising and spending campaign money in Oklahoma state government," Dank said. Provisions that capped total contributions from individuals and mandating some reporting procedures were removed from the bill to make it simpler, he said.

"It's a bill about some basic principles," Dank said. "I hope no one will have a fear over this bill. It has strong support from the people who pay our salaries."

Members of the committee voted for the bill without opposition or debate. The bill's title was struck, a procedure that will eventually send the bill to a joint House-Senate conference committee.

In January, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission adopted a rule to stop PAC-to-PAC transfers, which critics say allow the identity of big campaign contributors to be hidden.

Supporters say the rule promotes open government and accountability in the campaign financing system. Like individuals, PACs are limited to giving candidates for office $5,000 per election cycle, but critics say the PAC loophole allowed large amounts of cash to be funneled to certain candidates without public disclosure.

Former House Speaker Lance Cargill, who resigned in January following a series of embarrassing revelations, has been the subject of an ethics investigation into his fundraising activities.

Cargill, R-Harrah, was criticized after being installed as speaker when he summoned lobbyists to a private consultant's office away from the Capitol to ask them for contributions to political action committees.

He also came under fire for attending a fundraiser for presidential candidate Mike Huckabee at the home of a Texas businessman linked to Carroll Fisher, the former state insurance commissioner who was impeached and is now in prison on corruption charges.

The ethics bill is House Bill 2196.

Mortgaging the Future of our Children and Grandchildren

Mortgaging the Future of
our Children and Grandchildren

Each year the Governor opens the session of the legislature with his State of the State address. This allows him to address the legislature with his proposals for the year's state budget. I am very anxious to examine his proposals and will be especially alert for any attempts to issue new bonded indebtedness.

One year ago the Governor asked the legislature to expand the size of government. In his presentation, he outlined several major costly proposals. The Governor proposed to indebt the taxpayers to more than $666,000,000 of new bonded indebtedness. Fortunately, most of this plan was not implemented.

Of special concern to me was the Governor's proposal to issue new debt to fund non-capital items. Traditionally, government bonds are issued for capital projects such as the construction of buildings. However, in his budget proposal last year, the Governor appeared to be seeking the authority to spend a sizable percentage of this debt on non state-owned capital items. This is money that I believed would have disappeared into the government bureaucracy, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for years to come.

It is also important to remember that the Oklahoma Constitution prohibits the government from going into debt. However, years of creative interpretation by the judiciary have made it possible for those who advocate for public debt to open up a Pandora's box of spending.

As your Representative, I have committed to reversing the disturbing trend of state government going deeper into debt. In fact, the state currently owes billions of dollars in long term debt and unfunded liabilities.

I feel strongly that state government should avoid long-term debt. It is irresponsible for politicians to saddle citizens with millions of dollars of indebtedness and then allow the bill to come due when they are no longer in office. This places debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren and makes reducing the size of government difficult because government will be forced to keep taxes high in order to pay debt and especially all of the interest that goes with the issuance of the debt.

As your representative, I have a policy of voting against the issuance of new debt. I have called for the passage of legislation which makes it more difficult for politicians to engage in this dangerous behavior with the taxpayers money.

If we are serious about rolling back big government and enacting important pro-growth reforms such as eliminating state income tax, the issue of big government debt is not one we can ignore. As it stands now, reducing the size of government is difficult enough because of past inappropriate spending by state politicians. It is our responsibility as legislators to draw a clear line in the sand and defeat new attempts to mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren.

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State Representative Jason W. Murphey
Vice-Chairman Homeland Security Committee
State Capitol Building Room #400B
2300 North Lincoln Blvd
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
1(405) 557-7350 (Phone)
1(800) 522-8502 X 350
1(405) 962-7660 (Fax)
www.HouseDistrict31.com
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New Assault Launched On Legislative Term Limits

New Assault Launched
On Legislative Term Limits
By State Rep. Jason Murphey (R-HD 31)

During a recent update, I wrote about past abuses of
Oklahoma's old guard politicians. I explained how
some had earmarked money for their own pet
projects, and how this type of heavy-handed control
allowed individual legislators and their associates to
benefit directly from taxpayer dollars.

While this form of abuse is still present in the
legislature, I am confident in predicting that
the window on legislative earmarks is shrinking.
Those of us who are fighting to put an end to
earmarks face the likelihood of success, due in
part to the fact that there are many new legislators
who have taken office in the past few years. Many
of these individuals have not been corrupted by
the political process.

Unlike some of their predecessors, they are not career
politicians. Oklahoma's term limit law allows all
representatives and senators to serve only twelve
years in the legislature. After that, they are under a
lifetime ban from holding office in the legislature
again. I believe this new generation of representatives
and senators are fulfilling one of the important visions
of our nation's founding fathers - the vision in which
an average citizen dedicates a few years of life to
representing the people as a citizen-statesman. At the
end of the term of office, the legislator returns to the
normal world to live under the very laws he or she
helped to create. This helps ensure legislators will be
more representative of the people instead of becoming
a class of political elite.

As a result of the term limits
law, the legislature is very
different from just a few
years ago. Gone are many of
the old guard power bosses
who tightly maintained the
status-quo. These politicians
could have stayed in office
almost indefinitely and they
held powerful committee chairmanships where they would bottle up reform-minded legislation.

They have been replaced by a group of energetic
professionals, many of whom wish to enact
pro-growth policies (such as cutting taxes) to change
Oklahoma for the better. And, should some succumb
to the temptation to become part of the status-quo,
they will inevitably be replaced by term limits.

However, State Senator Mary Easily recently
announced that she will file a resolution as part of an
effort to repeal term limits. If the Senator is
successful, starting in 2010, members of the
legislature would no longer be limited on how long
they could serve.

In response, Senator Owen Lauglin released the
following statement. "Thanks to term limits, the
Oklahoma Legislature has attracted new
legislators who have experience in the 'real world.'
There is a different mindset because the newer
legislators have come here to serve for a finite time
and to make a difference. They don't want tomake
a career of being in the legislature."

I agree with Senator Lauglin's point of view. I think
all Oklahomans should take pride in the fact that
Oklahoma was the first state to pass a term limits law.
As your Representative, I will continue to defend this
important reform.

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State Representative Jason W. Murphey
Vice-Chairman Homeland Security Committee
State Capitol Building Room #400B
2300 North Lincoln Blvd
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
1(405) 557-7350 (Phone)
1(800) 522-8502 X 350
1(405) 962-7660 (Fax)
www.HouseDistrict31.com
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A Look Back for Lawmakers... (Part 2)

Published: December 27, 2007 05:02 pm

Legislators weigh in on 2007
By Jaclyn Houghton
CNHI News Service

OKLAHOMA CITY — What challenges did you face as a freshman legislator this year?

“The biggest challenge for me as a freshman is learning the ropes … the little ways you get stuff done.” --- Rep. John Enns, R-Enid

“For any freshman legislator there’s a pretty steep learning curve in learning how many eyes get to see everything … here you are as a freshman trying to convince 100 minds in the House and 48 minds in the Senate that it’s a good idea.” --- Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan

“The biggest challenge, I would say, is getting a consensus with House members on House Bill 1804 (the immigration bill). What I was disappointed with was the veto of tort reform.” --- Rep. Charlie Joyner, R-Midwest City

“The biggest challenge was knowing what to expect, especially from a time management perspective.” --- Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie

“There’s a huge learning curve. Although I studied political science and went to law school, it’s so much more than drafting a piece of legislation and hoping it gets passed.” --- Rep. Scott Inman, D-Del City

“I think, in particular this year, the biggest challenge is trying to set the groundwork of the next 100 years for our state’s history … sometimes you get caught up in the moment, but really you have to have a long-term view of what you’re doing.” --- Rep. Scott Martin, R-Norman

“My biggest challenge is how much reading is involved. Whenever you have to read 15 to 25 bills a day it becomes a huge challenge to get them read. My other biggest surprise is how many other legislators don’t read them.” --- Rep. Brian Renegar, D-McAlester

“Coming from just a workingman background, just the (understanding the) legalese … they make the very simple complicated as far as legislation.” --- Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee

What challenges do you still face as a senior legislator with one year left to serve?

“(This year) with the tied Senate, I served as (Republican) floor leader. The challenge was trying to build relationships with not only those on our side of the aisle but those on the other side or else legislation wasn’t going to move forward.” --- Sen. Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
As a senior legislator with only one year left to serve, what have you noticed over the years?

“As much as things change, a lot stay the same. A lot of those overwriting issues still remain.” --- Sen. Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater


Jaclyn Houghton is CNHI News Service Oklahoma reporter

Tax Relief Vrs. Pork

Last week I was surprised when the leadership of
one of the groups which has traditionally supported
smaller government came out in opposition to
reducing taxes. The comments were made by leaders
of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce
and the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce at a
recent hearing of the House of Representative's
Economic Development and Financial Services
Committee.

I have always articulated the common sense
belief that the best way to reduce the size of
government is through reducing the level of
taxation. With less money, the government
will naturally tend to prioritize the limited
number of functions it should be involved in
and leave the rest to the free market. I have
also observed that groups who oppose tax
relief are probably afraid of having a pet
program of their own de-funded by this
prioritization process.

It has become clear that the leadership of
the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of
Commerce understands this viewpoint all
too well. And, shockingly, they appear to fear
that if state government continues to cut taxes,
one of their pet programs may not be funded to
their level of satisfaction.

The pet program is known as the Oklahoma
Opportunity Fund. It is funded with $45 million
of our taxpayer dollars. Most of that money has
already been spent. Because the manner in which
the fund was created has been ruled unconstitutional,
the sole discretion for how the money is spent appears
to have been left to Governor Brad Henry. Henry
recently approved spending $10 million out of the
fund on improvements benefiting a privately owned
airline.

In opposing the continuation of tax relief for
Oklahomans, the economic development director
of the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce said, "I
would take the Opportunity Fund over future tax
cuts in a heartbeat."

I do not believe it is right for the government to
take money away from taxpayers and give it to
targeted businesses. I certainly do not think it is
right that politicians are given the power to play
God when it comes to deciding who the winners
are in the business world. The process of
government subsidizing business operations is
completely contrary to the important free market
principles that empower consumers to decide who
will be successful, based on which business is
providing the best product at the best price.

I do not believe it is appropriate for chambers of
commerce to advocate for a fund that benefits
such a small number of business. This is at the
expense of all the hard working business owners
across Oklahoma who are forced to pay high taxes
which inhibit their abilityto grow their own businesses.

And, I do not think it is right or fair for Opportunity
Fund money to be used to entice new businesses to
move to Oklahoma when they will be competing with
businesses that are already in Oklahoma. Taxing one
business and then giving money to a competitor is not
right.

This latest position reflects one more step in what
is becoming a disturbing trend. Big business is
partnering with and being empowered by big
government. I believe it is important for the small
business members of the Chambers of Commerce
across Oklahoma to reassert themselves and reclaim
control of the organization that is supposed to
represent all Oklahoma businessmen, not a select
few.



--~--~---------~--~----~--------
State Representative Jason W. Murphey
Vice-Chairman Homeland Security Committee
State Capitol Building Room #400B
2300 North Lincoln Blvd
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
1(405) 557-7350 (Phone)
1(800) 522-8502 X 350
1(405) 962-7660 (Fax)
www.HouseDistrict31.com
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