Fallin signs bill to allow cocktails in theaters
Gov. Mary Fallin acted on all but two of the remaining bills from the 2017 legislative session, including a measure that allows cinema-served cocktails.
House Bill 2186 was one of 16 bills signed on Tuesday, less than two weeks after the Legislature adjourned for the year. She also vetoed three.
Fallin had until the end of the week to review the bills and act on them.
The legislation makes a fairly simple change in law — movie theaters will now be able to sell beer and mixed drinks without segregating its clientele into an adults-only section. The change would make theaters on par with other public places like arenas.
People who buy alcoholic drinks would still have to obtain and wear a wristband or hand stamp signifying they’re at least 21 years old.
The new law is expected to draw new business to Oklahoma; one developer told The Oklahoman he plans on bringing a
cinema-eatery-brewhouse chain called Flix Brewhouse to the metro.
It could also ease restrictions at Warren Theaters, which only serve alcohol to customers who sit in the balcony and visit a separate bar area for drinks.
“I am pleased Oklahoma will join the vast majority of states after (the bill) takes effect in a few months,” said one of the bill’s authors, state Sen. David Holt, R-Oklahoma City. “This is progress for economic development and personal liberty.”
Fallin did not decide whether to sign or veto House Bill 2386, which redefines “teacher,” and Senate Bill 643, which would modify Oklahoma’s driving under the influence law.
Health insurance
The governor’s signature of House Bill 2406 triggers a push by state authorities to develop its answer to the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace.
The Oklahoma Individual Health Insurance Market Stabilization Act lets the state’s Medicaid agency submit a plan to subsidize insurance for residents. A nonprofit, state-created entity would manage the insurance program, and the Insurance Commissioner would provide administrative support.
In 2017, only one insurance carrier offered individual health insurance plans in Oklahoma, and the premium rate jumped 75 percent.
A year earlier, just 31 percent of eligible Oklahomans enrolled in the individual market, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
To improve those numbers, according to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state will create high-risk pools or establish reinsurance for those health insurance plans, which is a way for an insurer to mitigate risk if hospital expenses get too high.
Gross negligence
Fallin also signed legislation that fixes an earlier bill that legislators called a mistake.
The governor signed House Bill 1470 in mid-May, a bill that was meant to let child abuse victims come forward later in life to seek justice.
However, the bill also contained two provisions that Fallin repealed by signing House Bill 1570 on Tuesday.
The laws hadn’t yet taken effect, but one of them would have made it harder to sue companies for neglect if their employees abuse children.
The other now-repealed law would have invalidated a common legal rule that in civil lawsuits, everyone pays their own fees unless ordered by the court instead of forcing the loser to pay every time.