Oklahoman: 2014 Legislature Not Much To Crow About
2014 Oklahoma legislative session didn’t provide much reason to celebrate
The Oklahoman Editorial
BACK when Democrats controlled state government, we typically marked the end of each legislative session with a lament that the majority party had yet again refused to consider economy-building legislation such as tort reform and restructuring of the workers’ compensation system.
Ah, those were the days!
The Republican supermajority now controlling the Legislature has just completed one of the weirdest and most disappointing sessions in modern history. Lawmakers gutted education reform. They balked at requiring doctors to check to see if patients were being overprescribed pain medications. They may have effectively flushed millions of dollars already invested in the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum.
They also spent countless hours on legislation that means nothing to the average citizen, a hallmark of recent Republican-run sessions which included bills destined for a day in court and ending with a declaration of unconstitutionality and the awarding of legal fees to plaintiff attorneys.