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Capitol News Update     

 

December 2, 2013


 

 

                  This week Senate Minority Leader Sean Burrage (D-Claremore) announced he will not seek re-election next year to serve his final 4-year term in the State Senate.  Burrage was elected Minority Leader in 2011.  A lawyer with a young family, Burrage decided he could accomplish more with his life by forgoing the opportunity to serve another 4 years as State Senator. 

 

            When Sean Burrage filed for the State Senate in 2006 the Democrats were in the majority.  He was seeking to replace his law partner, Stratton Taylor, who was term limited after having become the longest serving Senate President Pro Tempore in Oklahoma history.  It would probably take a book, maybe more than one, to chronicle the legislative accomplishments of former Senator Taylor.  Burrage, talented as he is, might well have hoped to make a similar mark. 

 

            However, after raising and spending nearly $600,000 to win the seat against his Republican opponent in what had been a traditionally Democratic senate district Burrage took office in an evenly divided senate at 24 Republicans and 24 Democrats.  In the 2008 elections, the Democrats lost the majority.  During his current term Burrage is leading a Democratic minority of only 12 Senators compared to 36 Republicans. 

 

            You have to take at face value Sen. Burrage's statement that he wants to spend his time with his family and his law practice.  But, at the same time, you know that service in a 12-member minority is frustrating.  I heard an interview in which Burrage candidly cited education funding cuts and what he felt was knowing passage of a series of obviously unconstitutional bills as sources of frustration. 

 

            The majority sets the agenda, and rightfully so.  When the minority is reduced to simply watching it happen no matter how much they disagree, you can't blame them for wondering if there's a better use for their time.  As polarized as our society is today, finding yourself in the political minority is not a good place.  We should thank Sean Burrage for his service and wish him well.         

State court to decide workers' comp case

Case jurisdiction           

By Randy Ellis

The Oklahoman

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide the constitutionality of a new state law creating an administrative workers' compensation system.                  

Attorneys will be given the opportunity to argue their positions before the full court starting at 9 a.m. Dec. 10.

They were told to be prepared to answer questions from the justices.

Two state lawmakers and the Professional Fire Fighters of Oklahoma are challenging the law, which would convert Oklahoma from a judicial workers' compensation system to an administrative one.

The new law would allow employers to opt out of the system as long as they provide equivalent benefits to injured workers.

Case jurisdiction

If the Supreme Court had refused to assume jurisdiction over the case, attorneys would have needed to first file it in district court. A district court decision later could have been appealed to the Supreme Court.

Attorneys for both sides have been pushing for the state Supreme Court to assume immediate jurisdiction and decide the case because of the tremendous disruption and costs that would occur if the state were to convert to a new system and then be ordered to revert to the old one.

Proponents of the new law say it is needed to make Oklahoma more business friendly. Opponents claim it is unfair to injured workers and would reduce their benefits.

The two lawmakers challenging the law are state Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole, and state Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman.

They claim multiple topics were covered in a single bill, making it unconstitutional.

They also claim the opt-out section of the law treats some employers and employees differently from others, which they say is also unconstitutional.

Many other provisions of the law are being challenged, as well.

The State Chamber of Oklahoma, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce have intervened in the case in support of the new law.

High court rejects lower assistance cap

 By Randy Ellis

The Oklahoman

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services cannot cap the maximum amount of financial assistance subsidies available to adoptive parents of special needs children at a rate lower than the cap established for foster parents of special needs children, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

Justices ruled it was wrong to cap the monthly subsidies for adoptive parents of special needs children at $310.50 per child, while setting a cap of $365 per child for foster parents of special needs children.

The ruling came in a case filed by Kelly and Tina Troxell, parents of two adoptive special needs children.

"DHS is attempting to apply a predetermined fixed amount of subsidy without allowing adoptive parents to show greater need up to the amount provided for special needs children in foster care," the state Supreme Court said. "This is contrary to the policy and purpose of the statutory law providing and regulating assistance to people who undertake parental responsibility and care of special needs children."

The state Supreme Court ruling reversed a Tulsa County District Court decision and set aside an opinion by the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals.

DHS now will go back and negotiate a new subsidy rate with the Troxells, said Sheree Powell, spokeswoman for DHS.

Powell said DHS attorneys are reviewing the court ruling and she is unsure how it will affect other cases in the state.

Top Democrat in Oklahoma Senate won't run again

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma Senate Democratic Leader Sean Burrage said he won't run for re-election next year.

The Democrat from Claremore says he wants to focus his attention on his family and legal career. Burrage has served in the Oklahoma Senate since 2006 and went unchallenged in his re-election bid in 2010.

In November 2011, he was elected Senate Democratic leader. Burrage would have been term-limited in 2018 had he run for re-election next year.

Burrage has a law practice in Claremore. He says he looks forward to attending more high school basketball games and fewer committee meetings.

Claremore legislator to seek vacant Senate post

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A Republican state legislator from Claremore says he plans to run for a Senate seat being vacated by Democratic state Sen. Sean Burrage.

State Rep. Marty Quinn announced Wednesday his plans to run for the seat in Rogers and Mayes counties. Burrage announced earlier in the week his plans to leave the Senate after his current term ends to spend more time at his home in Claremore.

Elected to the House in 2010, Quinn runs an insurance company in Rogers County.

Republicans currently hold a 36-12 advantage over Democrats in the Senate.

Hobby Lobby's case to be heard

Both sides react

By Chris Casteel 

The Oklahoman

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to determine whether Hobby Lobby and a Pennsylvania furniture company can deny their employees federally required birth control coverage that violates the religious beliefs of the company owners.

The high court justices accepted cases that have received conflicting decisions in federal appeals courts. Through the cases, the justices could determine whether the for-profit companies have the constitutional right and the leeway under a federal law to reject the birth control mandate that is part of the Affordable Care Act.

A decision on the mandate - which has been challenged in dozens of cases nationwide - is expected some time before the court's term ends in June. Experts on both sides of the issue predicted Tuesday that the case could ultimately have far-reaching implications for religious freedom and health care coverage.

Hobby Lobby, a nationwide chain of crafts stores based in Oklahoma City, is owned by David Green and his family and operated according to the family's Christian beliefs.

The company, and its related Christian bookstore chain, faced millions of dollars in potential fines for refusing to implement the birth control mandate but won a reprieve from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in June that it could challenge the mandate on religious grounds.

Hobby Lobby and the U.S. Justice Department, which is defending the mandate, asked the high court to review the case.

Both sides react

"My family and I are encouraged that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide our case," Green, Hobby Lobby's founder and CEO, said Tuesday.

"This legal challenge has always remained about one thing and one thing only: the right of our family businesses to live out our sincere and deeply held religious convictions as guaranteed by the law and the Constitution. Business owners should not have to choose between violating their faith and violating the law."

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the birth control coverage mandate on companies with 50 or more employees was legal and "designed to ensure that health care decisions are made between a woman and her doctor."

"The president believes that no one, including the government or for-profit corporations, should be able to dictate those decisions to women. The administration has already acted to ensure no church or similar religious institution will be forced to provide contraception coverage and has made a commonsense accommodation for nonprofit religious organizations that object to contraception on religious grounds."

Conflicting decisions

Hobby Lobby doesn't object to all of the contraceptives mandated for coverage, only those that prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg, such as the morning-after pill and intrauterine devices.

The Hobby Lobby case was appealed to the Supreme Court by the Justice Department under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 law that prevents the government from imposing a "substantial burden" on a person trying to exercise his religion.

In the Hobby Lobby case, the 10th Circuit court ruled that a for-profit corporation's First Amendment rights could be protected just an individual's rights, and it pointed to a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that allowed corporations to donate to political campaigns.

However, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reached the opposite conclusion in a Pennsylvania case and ruled against a company owned by a Mennonite Christian family.

The company, which makes kitchen cabinets under the name of Conestoga Wood Specialties, appealed to the Supreme Court and raised First Amendment arguments, in addition to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act arguments raised in the Hobby Lobby case.

Major implications

This will be the second major challenge to the Affordable Care Act considered by the high court. In 2012, the court upheld the act's mandate on individuals to purchase insurance but struck down the requirement that states expand their Medicaid rolls.

Supporters of the birth control mandate said a ruling for Hobby Lobby would allow employers to discriminate against women and would be a "slippery slope" in regard to other health care coverage.

Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, "If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the corporations, the ruling will open the door to businesses denying coverage, based on their owners' personal beliefs, for a whole host of other medical procedures to which their employees are entitled - procedures and treatments like vaccines, surgeries, blood transfusions, or mental health care."

Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, called the case "the most important religious liberty question in recent years."

He said, "What's at stake in this case is whether or not the Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion ... Religious liberty is given to us by God and is inalienable. Let's pray for the justices as they think through this monumentally important case."

Have a good week.  Give me a call at 918.671.6860 if I can be of help in any way

                  Steve Lewis


 
 
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This Week's News
State Court to Decide Workers' Comp
High Court Rejects Lower Cap
Top Democrat Won't Run Again
Claremore Legislator to Seek Vacant Post
Hobby Lobby's Case to be Heard
 

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