Part of legislative procedure is that each bill must be read three times in each chamber the House and the Senate.
First reading for a bill in its chamber of origin generally takes place the first day of session and is as simple as the House clerk reading a list of House bills that are considered first read.
Because each reading has to take place on separate legislative days, second reading in the chamber of origin generally happens the second day of session. Bills then get assigned to committee.
Third reading only occurs once bills have passed committee and have been assigned to the calendar by the floor leader team.
A whole lot can happen to a bill before it gets to the chamber floor. It might not get heard in committee. It might not pass. It might not be advanced by the floor leader team. It can be amended. People can work behind the scenes against it. You name it. It feels like a really big deal when a bill makes it to the floor and passes to the opposite chamber.
This week, two of my bills passed unanimously on the House floor.
House Bill 1991 would allow defendants arrested in a county different than where a warrant was originally issued to post bond in the county of arrest. This would save transport costs for Oklahoma sheriffs. It also would allow offenders arrested for low-level violations, such as a parking citation, to be bonded and released.
House Bill 1996 is a request by the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association that would help with the auditing of inmate commissary accounts. When an inmate gets released from county custody, they are given either a debit card or check for the amount they had in their commissary account. If they do not cash the check or use the card, the money stays in the account, leaving the sheriff to try to notify the inmate. Often, the amount left in the account is less than the cost of serving certified mail, so we’re asking in this measure to waive the certified mail requirement but still require newspaper publication and posting if the amount is less than $50.
These measures now move to the Senate.
On a lighter note, I want to give a shout out to several basketball teams from our House district that played in the recent state tournament: Braggs Boys Class B and Quinton Girls Class A. While these teams didn’t achieve the championship, they played extraordinarily well, and they deserve our full congratulations.
Also, this upcoming week is Spring Break for many schools throughout the state. I hope students and their families as well as our teachers and school staff thoroughly enjoy the break and get to have some fun.
In the meantime, if I can help you in my capacity as your representative, please do not hesitate to contact me at the Capitol. My office phone is (405) 5577375, and my email is tim.turner@okhouse. gov.
Rep. Tim Turner, a Republican, represents House District 15 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes Haskell County and portions of McIntosh, Muskogee, Le Flore and Pittsburg counties.
