 Bill Promoting Transparency in Education Spending Advances OKLAHOMA CITY – In an effort to further promote transparency in how taxpayer dollars are spent, State Sen. Randy Brogdon has authored Senate Bill 1633, creating the School District Transparency Act. The measure builds on 2007’s Taxpayer Transparency Act, also authored by Brogdon, which created a website so taxpayers could see exactly how the state spends their dollars. The School District Transparency Act won approval in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee recently. “The 2007 legislation was a landmark achievement—a critical first step toward ensuring Oklahomans would have full disclosure of where and how their tax dollars are being used,” said Brogdon, R-Owasso. “With that website now a reality, it is time to move to the next phase. My legislation would require all school district spending to be online so that everyone can see how Oklahoma’s education dollars are spent.” Brogdon said SB 1633 has the support of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett as well as the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA). Brogdon said the education spending website would give patrons, educators and administrators the tools they need to ensure Oklahoma schools are getting the most out of public funding. “Greater transparency will help all of us see more clearly how public funds are being used in every district in the state, and whether there might be a better way to utilize those same funds in specific areas that can help our schools get more bang for the buck,” Brogdon said. SB 1633 must next be considered by the full Senate Appropriations Committee. Bill to Allow School Districts to Expend State Textbook Allocations Passes Senate Committee OKLAHOMA CITY – A measure to allow school districts to use state textbook allocations for instructional expenses passed the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education Wednesday. Sen. Gary Stanislawski said Senate Bill 1784 would help school districts struggling financially due to budget cuts. “We have schools that can’t afford to pay their bills and are going to be forced to start laying teachers off. It only makes sense to allow local school boards to determine their greatest needs and decide how to best use their available funds to cover those needs,” said Stanislawski, R-Tulsa. “The bottom line here is what’s the point in having new books when you have no teachers to teach those subjects? In hard financial times like these, we must use our commonsense and do what we can to help our local schools.” Stanislawski was told by officials with Tulsa Public Schools that the district receives over $2 million a year in textbook allocations – an amount that could help save up to 50 teaching positions next year. The Oklahoma City School district was allocated just over $1.85 million for textbooks in 2010, which could also save a significant number of jobs. School districts would be authorized to expend textbook allocations only during the next fiscal year which begins on July 1, 2010. SB 1784 must now be considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Driver’s License Bill to Protect Citizens’ 4thAmendment Rights OKLAHOMA CITY –State Rep. Paul Wesselhöft said he has filed an “anti big brother, big government” bill. House Bill 2569, by Wesselhöft, protects Oklahomans’ driver’s licenses from government intrusion by preemptively disallowing state and local governments from tracking a person’s location or obtaining personal information from an individual’s driver’s license. “Through technology, governments, corporate and private entities can track a person’s location and personal information if one’s driver’s license is embedded with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip or special ink,” said Wesselhöft, R-Moore. “They can be tracked by satellites, radio towers and even through doors in buildings as ones walks through them.” The Moore Republican said currently two states have passed such laws, and the U.S. Congress is considering S. 1261, the PASS ID act, which would “federalize” and make state driver’s licenses into a national ID card. The Pass ID Act (S. 1261) also contains a provision for an “enhanced driver’s license,” which means, according to Wessselhöft, a radio-frequency identification (RFID)-embedded driver’s license. If Congress’ bill becomes law, Oklahoma could be legally exempted by Wesselhöft’s bill. “The legal issue would then be determined by the courts,” said Wesselhöft. “If the congressional bill is made into law, it would violate the 4th Amendment of the Constitution which states—‘the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated’.” Wesselhöft believes a strong argument can be made that one’s driver’s license is a person’s “papers, and effects.” He also believes obtaining locations and information from one’s driver’s license constitutes an “unreasonable” search. “If one breaks the law while driving, police can pull over and demand a person’s driver’s license, fair enough,” said Wesselhöft. “However, if one is not breaking the law, one’s location and personal driver’s license information is not the government’s business nor any other entities’ business, period! This would be big brother at its worse.” “It is a state law that people cannot be embedded with a microchip or permanent mark,” added Wesselhöft. Wesselhöft said his “preemptive” bill extends the state law to include a person’s driver’s license. Emergency Contact Bill Heads to Full Senate OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill to help ensure families can find out in a timely way when a person has been severely injured or killed in an accident has cleared its first hurdle. Senate Bill 1779 was approved by the Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday. The bill’s author is Sen. Sean Burrage who was contacted by a friend after tragedy struck their family. “Her cousin had been killed in an automobile accident in the middle of the night, but the family didn’t hear about it for 12 hours. Law enforcement had tried diligently to reach someone, but wound up having to break into the victim’s apartment in order to find the name and number of someone to contact,” said Burrage, D-Claremore. “My bill would enable Oklahomans to provide an emergency contact number so that a friend or family member could be notified should the unthinkable happen.” Under Senate Bill 1779, anyone applying for a driver license or identification card or renewing their license or ID would have the option of providing emergency contact information. The information would be entered into a database maintained by the Department of Public Safety. “This would be strictly optional, and the information would be entered into a database that law enforcement could access if a person became incapacitated,” Burrage said. “This simply makes it easier for law enforcement to notify a spouse, parent, child or trusted friend in case of an emergency.” Burrage’s legislation will next be considered by the full Senate. House Bill Would Impound Uninsured Vehicles OKLAHOMA CITY – Individuals driving a car without insurance could have their automobile impounded under legislation filed by state Rep. Steve Martin. “This bill addresses one of the most consistent demands of voters in my district and across the state. That demand is to get uninsured motorists off of the roads,” said Martin (R-Nowata, Washington, Osage Counties). “New technology now allows us to do just that.” House Bill 2331, authored by Martin with the assistance of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, takes advantage of a recently activated instant-verification system available to law enforcement officers. The system enables officers to determine within seconds if vehicles are covered by qualifying liability insurance. “Law enforcement officers in adequately computerized patrol cars can now enter a license tag number into a data base. Eight seconds later they know if the car is insured,” Martin said. “If the patrol car is not computerized, the officer can call the tag number in to his dispatcher and get the same results.” Under House Bill 2331, if a car is uninsured, it would be seized immediately by the officer and towed to an impoundment lot until all of the requirements of the law are satisfied. The instant verification system, ordered by an act of the state legislature in 2006, has been created through cooperation of the insurance industry and the State of Oklahoma. It is now fully operational and has been available to law enforcement for several months. Up to this time, however, law enforcement has had no power to seize an uninsured vehicle or to use results of the instant verification system as a primary cause to stop a vehicle. Law enforcement would have both of these tools available upon passage of House Bill 2331. “It has been estimated that one in four cars on Oklahoma roads has no liability insurance in spite of our mandatory insurance law,” Martin said. “We have all heard the tragic stories of victims of uninsured motorists. This is a positive step for the citizens of Oklahoma.” |