Teachers jeer as state House rejects new calls for revenue
For the second time this week, the House of Representatives adjourned after rejecting calls for more revenue to fund education — eliciting jeers and groans from the teacher-packed House gallery.
Presiding officer Josh Cockroft, R-Wanette, responded by ordering state troopers and House sergeants-at-arms to clear the gallery.
The striking teachers quickly quieted and were allowed to remain.
It was that kind of day at the Capitol, as teachers became increasingly vocal in their demands for more education funding on the second day of their strike.
Finding favor with the crowd of frustrated educators, House Democrats used a strategy of introducing procedural motions to bring a Senate education funding bill to the floor.
The House Republican majority was in no mood
to hear Senate Bill 1086 and blocked every move.
Democratic state Rep. Scott Inman asked his fellow lawmakers to suspend House rules so that the bill could be heard.
“(Senate Bill 1086) would bring $70 million to $100 million into the state by eliminating the capital gains exemption and using those dollars to backfill the $150 million hole that was created in last week’s historic teacher pay raise,” Inman said after the majority voted against his request.
Democrats have argued that the revenue package adopted last week to fund the teacher pay raise won’t cover the entire cost. Along with the package being $75 million short, the minority party says, lawmakers are considering another bill that would eliminate $50 million in new hotel and motel occupancy taxes from the funding deal. Another $22 million expected to come from changes to tribal casino rules is facing hurdles in the Senate.
The House also rejected an Inman motion to hear a bill that would give retired teachers a cost of living pension increase of 4 percent.
Inman’s floor requests and the subsequent failure of those motions drew outbursts from the teachers in the gallery.
When the House adjourned for the day without hearing more funding bills, the visitors erupted in jeers — prompting Cockroft’s brief call to clear the gallery that was called off when order was restored.
As the teachers began making their way to the exits, Democrats frantically waved for them to return to their seats.
The mood remained raucous and tense for most of the day, with teachers crowding the Senate lobby and chanting as senators began their afternoon session. The House told legislative aides they could go home early after one experienced a medical incident after a group of people became unruly, a House spokesman said.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Colby Cason said there were no arrests.
During one of Inman’s attempts to suspend House rules so a bill could be heard, Floor Leader Jon Echols asked the members to table the motion without discussion.
“I want everyone in the gallery to understand that what I asked for was five minutes, which is in the rules, to stand up and appeal the decision of the chair,” said Inman, D-Oklahoma City. “What the floor leader is doing is trying to silence my debate.”
Echols withdrew his tabling motion and House Republicans again rejected Inman’s request to suspend the rules.
The House will meet again at 3 p.m. Wednesday, which is later than usual. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the House begins meeting at 1:30 p.m. or earlier depending on their workload. Inman drew the presiding officer’s attention after the announcement was made and began to ask why the schedule had changed, but Cockroft turned off Inman’s microphone and explained that the question was out of order.
“You keep cutting off my microphone,” Inman remarked. “You can silence me, but you can’t silence them.”