OKLAHOMA CITY - Some statehouse observers blame the increased number of laws being found unconstitutional on a lack of institutional knowledge due to legislative term limits.
Courts have recently tossed laws that put restrictions on abortions and lawsuits, assessed special fees and banned the use of Sharia law in state courts, to name a few.
Other laws are currently being challenged, including one that allowed for private funds to pay for placing a Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol, another that provided funding for a new state Medical Examiner's Office in Edmond and another that paired a tax cut with funding for repairs to the crumbling state Capitol.
Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, said 12-year term limits have resulted in frequent turnover among lawmakers and reduced the institutional knowledge and understanding of the coexistence of the courts, the executive branch and the Legislature.
Veteran lawmakers, he said, understood that the state constitution requires that bills contain one subject to prevent "logrolling."
Logrolling is the practice of writing a bill that addresses more than one issue so that a legislator or voter is forced to assent to an unfavorable provision to secure passage of a favorable one or, conversely, is forced to vote against a favorable provision to ensure that an unfavorable provision is not enacted.
Senate Minority Leader Sean Burrage, D-Claremore, agrees with Morrissette.
"Term limits have taken away the experience and institutional knowledge of the more seasoned legislators," Burrage said. "I have also noticed a sense of maybe even arrogance with regard to whether or not a bill is constitutional or unconstitutional."
Burrage said the increased number of laws being tossed out by the courts is an indication that the checks-and-balances system is working.
With term limits, lawmakers begin thinking about re-election as soon as they get into office, said lobbyist Gary Huddleston, a former Senate staffer. More bills are being passed for political reasons or to make political statements, he added.
Jim Dunlap, a lobbyist who ran up against term limits when he was in the Legislature as a Republican representing Bartlesville, said since Republicans recently gained control of both chambers of the Legislature and the Governor's Office, the GOP has been able to get things passed that didn't make it under Democratic rule, and that has contributed to legal challenges from upset groups, such as lawyers challenging lawsuit reform.
The issues now are more controversial because a different party is in control, Dunlap said.
Andrew Spiropoulos is a law professor at Oklahoma City University, a fellow with the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs and former policy adviser to past House Speaker Todd Hiett, the first Republican to lead the lower chamber.
Spiropoulos said he doesn't necessarily think more laws are being tossed out by the courts, nor is the phenomenon the result of loss of institutional knowledge due to term limits.
"The problem is the standards the court uses to decide these cases are so confusing it is difficult to tell ahead of time - for any lawyer to tell," he said.
The single-subject rule has a place, but recent court decisions are interpreting it too restrictively, said Fred Morgan, State Chamber president and CEO. Morgan is a former lawmaker and served as counsel and policy adviser to former Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, the first Republican to lead the upper chamber.
House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, did not approve an interim study request by Rep. Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, seeking to review costs associated with defending challenges to state laws. She is planning to start an unofficial study at 1 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Capitol.
Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office said his agency does not track how many hours its attorneys spend defending laws that draw a challenge, so a price tag could not be established.
"That is absolutely hogwash," said Morrissette. "He is running a law firm. Every firm does a cost analysis with their time. That is a bunch of baloney."
Pruitt represents the state when state officials are named as defendants. The office monitors several hundred other suits involving other parties challenging the constitutionality of laws that the state can enter if needed.
"We are doing the job the Attorney General's Office has been doing for decades," said Diane Clay, a Pruitt spokeswoman. "This is not new. The Attorney General's Office keeps billable hours in circumstances where attorneys have hourly contracts and are paid directly for services by multiple state agencies, boards and commissions.
"In general, the AG's Office functions as a general counsel, which includes defending statutes from constitutional challenges. It is similar to a general counsel of a corporation that hires attorneys on staff and pays them a salary and benefits. Those attorneys don't then turn around and bill the company for the work they perform."
Likewise, the agency does not bill hours for criminal cases, she said.
Off the books
Here is a look at some of the laws that have recently been struck down in court:
2013
Sharia law: U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange tossed out a voter-approved constitutional amendment barring state courts from considering or using Sharia law to render decisions. Miles-LaGrange noted that the primary purpose of the amendment was to target and outlaw Sharia law. She had issued a preliminary injunction in 2010.
Sex offenders: The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a law which placed sex offenders on a registry retroactively and without a hearing was unconstitutional.
Lawsuit reform: The Oklahoma Supreme Court threw out two lawsuit reform measures, saying one violated the state Constitution's single-subject rule and that another was an impermissible special law. Gov. Mary Fallin has called a special session to address the rulings.
2012
Abortion: The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled House Bill 2780 and House Bill 1870 unconstitutional. HB 2780 would have required any woman seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound within an hour of the procedure and to have it explained to her before the abortion. HB 1870 put restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs.
Dams: The state's high court ruled that the use of $25 million in state bond money to make improvements to Zink Lake dam on the Arkansas River was unconstitutional, noting that the funding appeared to be a gift from the state to the city of Tulsa and surrounding communities. Such a gift is prohibited by the Oklahoma Constitution.
Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465
barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Term limits blamed for laws stricken by courts
CapitolBureau
Oklahoma Lottery Commission Executive Director Rollo Redburn on Tuesday sent up a trial balloon for lawmakers.
Parker has served the past seven years on the regents board.
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