[Oasfaa] State Legislative Update

Mon May 23 15:47:53 CDT 2011

On Friday afternoon, May 20, Governor Fallin signed SB 610 delaying the
implementation of the OKPromise statutory college GPA requirements until
the college freshmen class of 2012.  A more complete description of the
bill is provided below.

Oklahoma's Promise:

*         SB 610 (Sen. John Ford, R - Bartlesville and Rep. Todd
Thomsen, R - Ada) - Oklahoma's Promise - The bill delays the
implementation of statutory OKPromise college GPA requirements (which
include an unusual 2.5 GPA requirement for courses taken as a junior and
above that we project could eliminate the award for about 18% of
OKPromise college juniors) until 2012 so that the requirements don't
apply to about 7,200 students that were already enrolled in the program
before this new law was passed in 2007.  The bill also changes the
definition of income counted toward the $100,000 2nd income limit
applied at the time the OKPromise student begins college from all
"taxable and nontaxable" income to "federal adjusted gross income."
The second income check becomes effective for 2012 OKPromise high school
graduates.  Signed by the Governor on  May 20.  Final bill text:
https://www.sos.ok.gov/documents/legislation/53rd/2011/1R/SB/610.pdf

Following is the status of other bills we are tracking.

Oklahoma's Promise:

*         HB 1343 - (Rep. Eric Proctor, D - Tulsa and Sen. Tom Ivester,
D - Elk City) - Oklahoma's Promise - As introduced, the bill would have
provided a tuition waiver at state system institutions for the surviving
spouse or child of any member of the U.S. Armed Forces who was killed in
the line of duty.  However, the bill was amended in House committee to
provide eligibility for Oklahoma's Promise for the children of any
person in the U.S. Armed Forces killed in the line of duty after January
1, 2000.  The amended version passed the House floor 77-0 on March 17,
passed the Senate Appropriations Committee, and passed the Senate floor
43-0 on 4/26.  The bill was sent to a conference committee for drafting
of a final version.  The conference version, which retains the
Oklahoma's Promise language, was passed by the House on May 17 by a 94-0
vote and by the Senate on May 19 on a 45-0 vote.  The bill was sent to
the Governor on May 20 and is now pending her consideration.  Current
bill text:
http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf/2011-12%20ENR/hB/HB1343%20ENR.DOC 

Resident Tuition for Certain Military Personnel:

*         SB 251 (Sen. Steve Russell, R - Oklahoma City and Rep. Paul
Wesselhoft, R - Moore) - would provide resident tuition rates at state
system institutions and career technology centers for members of the
U.S. Armed Services serving in Oklahoma, whether on active duty, guard,
or reserve status, regardless of the service members residence status.
The bill passed the Senate 44-0 on March 14, passed the House
Appropriations and Budget Committee, and passed the House floor 93-1 on
4/27.  The bill was been sent to a conference committee for drafting of
a final version.  The bill did not come out of the conference committee
prior to the end of session and is therefore dormant for 2011.   Current
bill text:
http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf/2011-12%20AMENDMENTS/Amendment%20&%
20Engr/SB251%20HASB%20&%20ENGR.DOC
<http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf/2011-12%20AMENDMENTS/Amendment%20&
%20Engr/SB251%20HASB%20&%20ENGR.DOC>        

Also below I've also attached the latest overall higher education
legislative update provided by our legislative liaison.

Bryce Fair

Associate Vice Chancellor for Scholarships & Grants

Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

Phone:  405-225-9162

Fax:  405-225-9392

e-mail:  bfair at osrhe.edu <mailto:bfair at osrhe.edu> 

Mailing address:

P.O. Box 108850

Oklahoma City, OK  73101-8850

Street address:

655 Research Parkway, Suite 200

Oklahoma City, OK  73104

Legislative Update

May 16th-May 20th 

Appropriations 

HB 2170// Representative Earl Sears and Senator David Myers// The
legislation is the general appropriation bill, which contains a 5.8
percent budget reduction for Higher Education.  

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on May 13, 2011 with a
vote of 61-36.  The legislation passed out of the Senate on May 17, 2011
with a vote of 26-17.   The bill has been sent to Governor Fallin for
her consideration.

SB 972// Representative Earl Sears and Senator David Myers// The
legislation is the supplemental appropriation bill in which higher
education will receive $10 million.

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the Senate on May 13, 2011 with a
vote of 42-0.  The legislation passed out of House on May 17, 2011 with
a vote of 86-6. The bill has been sent to Governor Fallin for her
consideration.   

CIO

HB 1304// Representative David Derby and Senator Clark Jolley// The
legislation is currently a shell bill related to the Chief Information
Officer.  Representative Derby offered a committee substitute that
consolidates all state agency IT under the Information Services Division
of the Office of State Finance and the Chief Information Officer.  The
State Regents, OneNet, and the colleges and universities are exempt from
the legislation.

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on May 17, 2011 with a
vote of 61-31.  The legislation passed out of the Senate on May 18, 2011
with a vote of 29-16.   The bill has been sent to Governor Fallin for
her consideration.   

SB867 // Senator Anthony Sykes and Representative Jason Murphey // The
legislation would not allow for any state agency to own, lease, or
lease-purchase any telecommunications fiber networks used for conveying
electronic communication or information systems data to multiple
physical locations.  The State Regents, OneNet, and the colleges and
universities are exempt from the provisions.  The legislation requires
the Chief Information Office to conduct a technology consolidation cost
savings survey each year and any state agency not experiencing cost
savings may have their assets deconsolidated upon approval of the State
Governmental Technology Applications Review Board. The Information
Services Division of the Office of State Finance shall maintain or
increase security standards.  The bill also provides for a website to be
created to that the public may monitor the status of every information
technology project resulting in expenditure in excess of One Hundred
Thousand Dollars.  

UPDATE:  The legislation has been assigned to the Senate General
Conference Committee on Appropriations and the House Conference
Committee on Government Modernization, and Rules.    

OKPromise 

HB1421// Representative Dennis Casey and Senator Jim Halligan//  The
legislation would require OKPromise students to repay awards for courses
from which the student withdraws or receives a failing grade in the
course.  Representative Casey amended his bill to eliminate the language
requiring students to repay for failed or withdrawn courses.  The
language now requires the student to maintain satisfactory academic
progress  

UPDATE:  The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on April 21,
2011.  

SB 610// Senator John Ford and Representative Todd Thomsen//  The bill
states the federal adjusted gross income should be used to verify the
student's income does not exceed $100,000 at the time they enter
college.  The legislation also delays additional GPA requirements. 

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on April 25, 2011 with
a vote of 62-30.  The legislation passed out of the Senate on May 16,
2011 with a vote of 45-0.  The bill has now been sent to Governor Fallin
for her consideration.  

HB 1343 //  Representative Eric Proctor and Senator Tom Ivester// The
legislation states that a student shall be eligible to participate in
the OKPromise program if they are the child of any person killed after
January 1,2000, in the line of duty in any branch of the United States
Armed Forces.  

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on May 17, 2011 with a
vote of 94-0.  The legislation passed out of the Senate on May 19, 2011
with a vote of 45-0.  

Tuition Waivers 

SB 251// Senator Steve Russell and Representative Paul Wesselhoft// The
bill requires the State Regents to adopt a policy for members of the
United States Armed Forces who serve in the State of Oklahoma, whether
on active duty, guard or reserve status shall be charged tuition at a
rate not to exceed the rate charged to state residents, regardless of
the service member's resident status.

UPDATE:    The legislation has been assigned to the Senate General
Conference Committee on Appropriations and the House Conference
Committee on Government Modernization, and Rules.    

Appointments 

No pending legislation at this time. 

Agency Lobbying 

No pending legislation at this time.  

Undocumented Student Issues 

HB 1446 // Representative George Faught and Senator Ron Justice// This
measure repeals resident tuition eligibility for undocumented immigrant
students.  

Update:  The House failed to adopt the conference committee report on
May 17, 2011. 

Remediation 

No pending legislation at this time.  

Other

HB 1854// Representative Jabar Shumate and Senator Gary Stanislawski//
The legislation requires the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
to adopt a policy for each higher education institution to provide equal
access to statewide professional associations.

UPDATE:  The conference report passed out of the House on May 12, 2011
with a vote of 95-0 and the Senate on May 13, 2011 with a vote of 42-0.
The bill has been sent to Governor Fallin for her consideration.    

HB 1227// Representative Pat Ownbey and Senator Frank Simpson//  The
legislation directs all interests in real property, facilities,
equipment and appurtenances, state-appropriated monies and all duties,
obligations and liabilities of the Ardmore Higher Education Program and
any and all obligations of the Board of Trustees of the Ardmore Higher
Education Program are transferred to the Regional University System of
Oklahoma.  The Ardmore Higher Ed center should serve as the branch
campus in Ardmore of Southeastern Oklahoma State University.  The RUSO
board may provide resources to the branch campus in Ardmore of
Southeastern Oklahoma State University to maintain its facilities.
Murray State College shall have the exclusive authority to offer all
lower division courses and programs at the branch campus of Southeastern
Oklahoma State University at Ardmore.  The current Board of Trustees for
the Ardmore Higher Education Center shall serve as an advisory board to
the president of Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Courses offered
at Southeastern Oklahoma State University at Ardmore shall not duplicate
nursing program courses offered at East Central University campus at
Ardmore.   The consolidation of Ardmore Higher Education Center and
Southeastern Oklahoma State University shall protect the continuing and
historic relationships which exist between Ardmore Higher Education
Center, Murray State College, and East Central University.  Southeastern
Oklahoma State University shall assume all the duties and powers
provided for in this act by July 1, 2014.  No additional appropriated
dollars shall be used in the consolidation of the Ardmore Higher
Education Center into Southeastern Oklahoma State University, nor shall
appropriated dollars be used in the expansion of the existing campus or
for the construction of a new campus in Ardmore.

UPDATE:  Governor Fallin vetoed the bill on May 2, 2011.  

HB 1586// Representative Todd Thomsen and Senator Brian Bingman//  The
legislation creates the Uniform Athlete Agents Act.  The bill modifies
prohibited conduct of agents and strengthens the criminal penalty and
increases the fine if an agent is in violation of the act. 

UPDATE:  The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on May 11, 2011.

SB 206// Senator John Ford and Representative Ann Coody//  The bill
creates a task force to study the feasibility of a P-20 council.  The
task force will consist of 9 members including the Chancellor of Higher
Education or his designee.  

UPDATE:  The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on May 9, 2011.  

Legal Services 

HB 1223// Representative Mark McCullough and Senator Anthony Sykes//
The legislation outlines new procedures for state agencies needing to
retain private attorneys.  A state agency needing to obtain outside
legal services that will exceed $20,000 must use the RFP (request for
proposal) process before hiring the outside counsel.  

UPDATE:  The House did not adopt Senate amendments on May 10, 2011.
Representative McCullough laid the bill over after the amendments were
not adopted.   The House voted to table a motion to concur with Senate
amendments on May 18, 2011 with a vote of 51-35.

Tax Credits 

No pending legislation at this time.  

English as Official Language

No pending legislation at this time.  

Workforce and Training

No pending legislation at this time.  

Agency Efficiency/ Consolidation 

HB2140// Representative Kris Steele and Senator Brian Bingman//  The
legislation creates the State Government Administrative Process
Consolidation and Reorganization Act of 2011.

UPDATE:  The legislation has been assigned to the Senate General
Conference Committee on Appropriations.  The legislation passed out of
the House on May 18, 2011 with a vote of 64-35.

HB 1207// Representative Jason Murphey and Senator Anthony Sykes//  The
bill directs state agencies to use the Trip Optimizer for trips that
exceed 100 miles.  Additionally, the bill directs the Office of State
Finance to perform an assessment of state agencies financial services.
Those agencies ranking in the bottom 10% of the performance assessment
will enter into a contract with OSF for the provision of financial
services.  The State Regents and the institutions are exempt from this
section of the bill.   

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on May 18, 2011 with a
vote of 81-16.  The legislation passed out of the Senate on May 19, 2011
with a vote of 47-0.  

HB 1086// Representative Jason Murphey and Senator Clark Jolley//  The
legislation creates the "Oklahoma Government 2.0 Act of 2011."  The
legislation provides for numerous electronic mechanisms to be put in
place by the Chief Information Officer.  The legislation relates to
payment of claims and payrolls.  The legislation would require
disbursement through electronic payments mechanism.  Additionally, the
bill directs the Chief Information Officer to develop and maintain three
new websites.  The first would be an online web presence at the web
address "documents.ok.gov".  It would require state agencies and boards
to submit to the site all publications otherwise required by law to be
submitted to either the Publications Clearinghouse of the Department of
Libraries, the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives or
the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Senate.  The procedures shall require the
electronic documents to be provided in an indexed format which enables
the document to be searched by specific term.  The Chief Information
Officer shall also develop and maintain an online web presence at the
web address "forms.ok.gov". The Chief Information Officer shall
promulgate procedures by which each state agency, board, commission, and
public trust having the State of Oklahoma as a beneficiary to submit a
searchable electronic version of each form to the "forms.ok.gov"
website.  The procedures shall require the forms to be provided in an
indexed format which enables the form to be searched by specific term.
Finally, to develop a website named "Oklahoma State Government IT
Project Monitoring and Transparency Initiative". The Chief Information
Officer shall develop and maintain an online web presence at the web
address "projects.ok.gov".  The site shall allow the public to monitor
the status of every information technology project resulting in
expenditures in excess of $100,000.00.  A report of each project subject
to the terms of this initiative shall be updated regularly and provide
the public with updates as to the status of the project's estimated
completion time, deliverables and cost.  Projects shall be judged
against clear metrics which shall be articulated on the website prior to
the commencement of each project.

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on May 16, 2011 with a
vote of 86-10.  The legislation passed out of the Senate on May 17, 2011
with a vote of 40-0.    Representative Murphey agreed to move the
effective date of section 2 to July 1, 2012.  The bill has been sent to
Governor Fallin for her consideration.    

SB 541// Senator Anthony Sykes and Representative Jason Murphey// The
bill directs state agencies to use the Trip Optimizer for trips that
exceed 100 miles.  Additionally, the bill directs the Office of State
Finance to perform an assessment of state agencies financial services.
Those agencies ranking in the bottom 10% of the performance assessment
will enter into a contract with OSF for the provision of financial
services.  The State Regents and the institutions are exempt from this
section of the bill.  The legislation to not allow state agencies to
expend funds on computers, software, telecom, information hardware,
firmware or information technology services before July 1, 2011.  

UPDATE:   The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on May 16, 2011.

Concealed Weapons// Open Carry 

SB 856// Senator Steve Russell and Representative Paul Wesselhoft// The
legislation makes certain conduct between individuals and licensed
dealers or private sellers unlawful.

UPDATE:  The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on April 7, 2011.

HB1652// Representative John Enns and Senator Steve Russell// The
legislation allows concealed handgun license holders to carry a
concealed handgun on certain technology center school property.

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on May 17, 2011 with a
vote of 75-5.  The legislation passed out of the Senate on May 19, 2011
with a 35-12.   

HB 1255// Representative Wade Rousselot and Senator Kim David// The
legislation allows any US Attorney or Assistant Attorney to carry a
firearm anywhere in Oklahoma if they have completed the specified
training course.  

UPDATE:  The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on April 19,
2011.  

Tuition 

No pending legislation at this time.  

Academics

HB 1456// Representative Lee Denney and Senator Clark Jolley//  The
legislation requires the State Department of Education to prepare an
annual report on school achievement.  

UPDATE:  The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on May 4, 2011.  

SB 264// Senator Clark Jolley and Representative Jason Nelson//  The
legislation creates the Quality Assessment and Accountability Task
Force.  The Oklahoma State Regents shall provide support and information
as requested by the task force. 

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House April 27, 2011 with a
vote of 74-0.  The Senate refused House amendments.  The measure was
sent to the House Conference Committee on Government Modernization and
Rules.  The Senate names Jolley, Ford, Halligan, Stanislawski, Rice and
Burrage as a conference committee.  

Retirement/Pensions/Benefits 

SB 891//Senator Mike Mazzei and  Representative Randy McDaniel// This
measure changes benefit calculation for TRS for members who first join
the System after June 30, 2011.  The calculation  shall mean the average
of the salaries for the last five years on which contribution to the
Teachers' Retirement System was paid.  Only salary on which required
contributions have been made may be used in computing average salary.
The measure also changes normal retirement age for members who join
after June 30, 2011 from 62 to 65.  Individuals who become a member
after June 30, 2011 shall be employed by public school or state colleges
or universities for a minimum of eight and be a contributing member for
8 years to qualify for monthly benefits for TRS.  The legislation now
states any retiree participating in the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement
System will be eligible for part-time employment at a college or
university within the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education, subject
to the limitations of part-time employment of the college or university.

UPDATE:  The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on May 18, 2011.

SB 377// Senator Mike Mazzei and Representative Randy McDaniel // The
legislation relates to teachers retirement.  The bill eliminates the
Rule of 90 and sets the minimum retirement age at 65 for new OTRS
members joining after Nov. 1, 2011.  

Update:  The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin May 10, 2011.

HB 2132 // Representative Kris Steele and Senator Brian Bingman// The
legislation removes provisions allowing a cost-of-living adjustment to
be used in a non-fiscal retirement bill.

UPDATE: The legislation was signed by Governor Fallin on May 10, 2011.

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