House committees change criminal justice reform bills
Two state House committees approved a series of criminal justice reform bills Wednesday — but only after making major changes that some House members contend are needed to protect public safety and preserve court system income.
A downside to some of the changes — if they stay in the bills through the legislative process — is they may limit the state in its ability to lower Oklahoma’s extremely high incarceration rate, said former House Speaker Kris Steele, one of the leading reform advocates.
State Rep. Scott Biggs, chair of the House Judiciary — Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee, and Terry O’Donnell, House author of several of the bills, said they believe the trade-off is worth it because preserving public safety needs to be top priority.
Some of the most passionate discussion Wednesday centered on Senate Bill 649, which was written with the goal of lowering the sentences of repeat nonviolent offenders.
Biggs, R-Chickasha, and O’Donnell, R-Catoosa, said several House members objected to that bill because they don’t believe several crimes that Oklahoma currently includes in the nonviolent category really are nonviolent. O’Donnell provided The
Oklahoman with a long list of crimes they believe have been improperly included in the nonviolent category, including domestic abuse — great bodily injury, domestic abuse by strangulation, partial birth
abortion, trafficking in children and soliciting sex from a minor by computer.
Biggs’ committee dealt with the issue by approving an amendment that removed a whole section of proposed law that sought to limit the amount of prison time a person with a so-called nonviolent criminal history could be given for a new nonviolent offense. The part that was removed would have limited prison time for such repeat offenders to the maximum sentence that could be given to a firsttime offender for the new offense plus an enhancement of up to 25 percent.
As the bill moves forward, O’Donnell said House members will try to identify crimes that members agree are nonviolent and target those for inclusion in an enhancement limitation in the final bill.
“We’re going to analyze the crimes that fit with this limited enhancement,” O’Donnell said.
Senate Bill 689 was another bill that generated controversy. Reformers have complained for years that Oklahoma stacks so many fines and fees on people convicted of crimes that it makes it extremely difficult for them ever earn enough to reintegrate into society.
As the bill was originally written, it called for the Supreme Court to establish rules for developing payment plans for indigents that would be consistent with their discretionary income. It also called for the waiving of court costs, fines and fees for offenders who enroll in higher education courses or take other specific steps to improve their prospects.
Biggs’ committee passed an amendment that eliminated that language after Biggs said he had received complaints from court officials and other entities that rely on income from those sources.
Biggs said he left intact language that would prevent offenders from having their sentences revoked for nonpayment of fines.
Steele said he believes removing many of the provisions that would provide financial relief to indigent offenders was a poor move and he hopes that language can be reinstated.
“It is counterproductive to saddle a person with an enormous financial burden they cannot afford to pay,” Steele said. “There is evidence to suggest when reforms reduced fees and fines it actually led to greater collections in other states.”
Senate Bill 786, which sought to create various categories of burglary and lower the penalties for burglaries of sheds and other unoccupied buildings not connected to a home, also ran into difficulty in Biggs’ committee.
State Rep. Carl Newton amended the bill to eliminate the reclassification of certain lower-level burglary crimes after expressing concern that the bill would lower the punishment for someone if they were to burglarize a garage right outside a bedroom window.
Biggs said he believes House members may be able to agree on certain types of burglaries that should carry lesser penalties as the bill moves forward.
Steele said he believe it is important to lower the penalties for lowlevel burglaries because such nonviolent offenses greatly contribute to the state’s high incarceration rate.
Overall, however, Steele said he is pleased that all the bills remain alive and will continue to work their way through the legislative process.
It is counterproductive to saddle a person with an enormous financial burden they cannot afford to pay. There is evidence to suggest when reforms reduced fees and fines it actually led to greater collections in other states.” Former House Speaker Kris Steele