Summary of House Activity


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Ray Carter, House Media
Capitol: (405) 557-7421

Summary of House Activity from March 31 to April 6

House Down to Final Two Weeks of Committee Work This Year

OKLAHOMA CITY (April 6) - Lawmakers in the Oklahoma House of
Representatives have completed three of the final five weeks of
committee activity scheduled during the 2005 legislative session.
Lawmakers have already finished five weeks of committee work on
House bills, and are now over halfway through a second five-week round
where Senate bills receive a hearing.
Roughly 300 state Senate bills were sent to the House this year.
The deadline for Senate bills to receive a hearing in a House committee
is April 21. Senate bills must receive a vote from the full House by
April 28.

Schools to Receive Sex Offender Lists
Legislation that would allow schools to receive the state list
of registered sex offenders passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives
on a 98-0 vote this week.
Senate Bill 440, by Sen. David Myers, R-Ponca City, and Rep.
Dale DeWitt, R-Braman, would require the state Department of Corrections
to provide a list of sex offenders to the state superintendent of public
instruction, who would be authorized to copy and distribute the list to
all Oklahoma schools.
Current law requires that the list be provided to state, county
and municipal law enforcement agencies, and the National Sex Offender
Registry maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Under the provisions of Senate Bill 440, schools would receive a
notice with the list that states, "A person whose name appears on this
registry has been convicted of a sex offense. Continuing to employ a
person whose name appears on this registry may result in civil liability
for the employer or criminal prosecution pursuant to Section 589 of
Title 57 of the Oklahoma Statutes."
Senate Bill 440 will return to the Oklahoma Senate, where it
previously passed on a 43-0 vote.

Home Repair Bill Clears Committee Hurdle
Legislation that would require home builders to quickly fix
construction defects passed the House Judiciary Committee on a unanimous
vote this week.
Senate Bill 431, by Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond, and Rep. Bill
Case, R-Midwest City, creates the Homeowner Construction Defect
Protection Act. The bill would require a home builder to respond within
30 days of notification of a construction defect.
The Oklahoma State Home Builders Association has endorsed the
legislation.

House Votes to Encourage Hiring of Volunteer Firefighters and Police
Oklahoma lawmakers have voted to financially support businesses
that employ volunteer firefighters and reserve deputy sheriffs.
Senate Bill 926, by Sen. Frank Shurden, D-Henryetta, and Rep.
Dale Turner, D-Holdenville, would provide businesses with a $1,000 tax
credit for every volunteer firefighter or deputy sheriff employed.
The bill originally applied only to volunteer firefighters, but
Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, amended it to include reserve deputy
sheriffs.
Businesses employing volunteer firefighters would receive an
estimated $10 million in combined annual tax credits while those
employing reserve deputy sheriffs would receive a combined benefit of
$1.9 million per year.
Senate Bill 926 passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on
a 97-0 vote. It will now return to the Oklahoma Senate in its amended
form.

House Votes to Increase Child Safety Fine
The Oklahoma House of Representatives voted to encourage parents
to use child safety seats by raising the fine for those who do not place
children in the devices.
Senate Bill 799, by State Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, and State
Rep. Thad Balkman, R-Norman, would raise the fine not using a child
passenger restraint seat from $10 to $50.
According to the Department of Public Safety, there were 5,705
convictions for failure to use a child passenger restraint system in
2004.
However, officials believe the number of violations may have
been much larger than the number of convictions since the cost of
processing a citation is greater than the fine generated. The $10 fine
is one of the two lowest fines in Oklahoma statutes.
As a result, supporters believe a higher fine will increase both
enforcement and compliance, noting that when California raised its fine,
compliance increased to 95 percent.
Money generated by the fine, an estimated $228,000 per year,
will be used to provide free or low-cost child safety seats to parents
across Oklahoma.
On average, 20 children younger than age eight die in motor
vehicle crashes each year in Oklahoma and another 900 are hospitalized.
Approximately 75 percent of those children are unrestrained, officials
said.
Senate Bill 799 passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on
a 93-3 vote and will now return to the state Senate. The bill previously
passed the Senate on a 40-5 vote.
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