Anti-abortion effort targets logrolling rule
Anti-abortion advocates have been stymied by a single sentence in the Oklahoma Constitution that has nothing to do with abortion, but a lawmaker hopes to prevent future challenges by changing it.
The section of law forces new laws to meet the single-subject rule. It’s an effort to prevent logrolling, or the practice of putting different proposals into the same bill.
The state’s high court has ruled against several anti-abortion bills by citing the singlesubject rule. State Sen. Greg Treat, who has been involved in several proposed abortion laws that were later struck down, said last year he would try to address the rule.
“I very much respect they’re a third and coequal branch of government and that they have the purview to rule on these things,” Treat told The Oklahoman on Tuesday. “They very seldom, on the life bills, rule on the merit.”
Treat’s Senate Joint Resolution 40 would ask Oklahoma voters to decide whether to remove the single-subject rule and replace it with a “general subject” restriction. The resolution is awaiting Senate action.
“Logrolling is bad policy and it’s a bad practice,” said Treat, R-Oklahoma City. “But I also don’t like the fact that the court has almost carte blanche authority to rule anything unconstitutional.”
But Tamya Cox with the Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes advocacy organization said the original language is necessary.
“A legislator should have the opportunity to truly vote on one section and one topic at a time,” Cox said. “While the umbrella topic may be abortion, there may be one section the legislator may want to vote on and one section he may not want to vote on. By logrolling all the sections together, it makes them impossible to try to dissect that language.”
The Oklahoma Supreme Court regularly strikes down legislative acts based on the single-subject rule. Last year, there were two anti-abortion measures blocked. In 2013, the court struck down a bill that combined an income-tax cut and Capitol repair funding mechanism. The court has also blocked a lawsuit reform measure but upheld workers’ compensation reform.
In 2010, however, a unanimous Oklahoma Supreme Court chided lawmakers, at one point writing in all capital letters, for adopting bills that violated the rule.
“We are growing weary of admonishing the Legislature for so flagrantly violating the terms of the Oklahoma Constitution,”
The Oklahoma Capitol wasn’t made for you and me to use as a canvas, at least not without permission.
The agency in charge of state property management responded to a large art piece of Oklahoma folk hero Woody Guthrie that was projected onto one side of the Capitol on Monday night.
“We appreciate the creativity and ingenuity displayed by local artists last night, but it’s important to note that projecting images onto the state Capitol is prohibited without the necessary permits,” a statement from the Office of Management and Enterprise Services read.
The image was projected onto a white tarp that covers scaffolding on the north side of the building. It shows Guthrie holding his guitar that was famously emblazoned with the phrase, “This machine kills fascists.” In the image projected Monday, the guitar bears the words, “How did it come to this.”
The statement said that projecting an image is a safety concern because of the bright lights.
“Restoration crews are working at night and light can seep through the tarp material causing a distraction. Such distractions, when working many feet above the ground, can be extremely hazardous,” the statement said.
The statement further asked the artists to abandon future plans out of respect for worker safety.
The art piece was created by local artist Jack Fowler. In a tweet Monday night, Fowler suggested the projection might be a regular occurrence, asking his followers if they have a message for lawmakers. He confirmed in an interview Tuesday that his original plan was to continue the art piece nightly.
“I am tired of the way this state has been represented, and I think the people in that building have embarrassed us for too long,” Fowler said. “This is a thing I can do besides vote and complain.”
When reached Tuesday, Fowler wouldn’t say whether he will continue his project. As for the state’s warning about worker safety, Fowler referenced bright lights that already illuminate the building.
“The concerns about light seepage being a safety concern to the construction workers, I pose that the 2 megawatt floodlights that the construction company has pointed at the tarp all night long need to be looked into by safety teams,” he said.