Challenge Filed Against Capitol Repairs
Legal challenge filed against Oklahoma’s Capitol repair measure
By Michael McNutt June 6, 2013
A legal challenge was filed Thursday against a measure that cuts Oklahoma’s top personal income tax rate in 2015 and provides $120 million over two years to pay for repairs to the state Capitol.
Jerry Fent, an Oklahoma City attorney, claims in his challenge filed with Oklahoma Supreme Court that the law contained in House Bill 2032 violates the state’s constitution’s single-subject rule. The practice is commonly called logrolling because it logrolls several subjects into one bill.
The state Supreme Court the past several years has been critical of the practice. Justices have tossed out sections of law or entire laws that they found to be violating the single-subject rule. Justices voted 7-2 earlier this week to declare unconstitutional the entire comprehensive law that changed how civil lawsuits are handled; they said the 2009 law violated the single-subject rule.
HB 2032, which is to take effect July 1, reduces the top income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 5 percent on Jan. 1, 2015. Taxpayers would first see the effect of the tax cut in 2016.