Coffee focuses on lawsuit bill

By Ron Jenkins

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Republican legislative leaders, thwarted by vetoes of key agenda items, finally have something "major" to brag about as they point toward a planned early adjournment Friday.

A bill making changes in the civil justice system in an effort to reduce lawsuits was approved and sent to Democratic Gov. Brad Henry, who has indicated he will sign the legislation.

Also, Henry and GOP legislative leaders agreed on a budget Friday that gives lawmakers a chance to wrap up their work a week earlier than the May 29 deadline in the state Constitution.

"It looks like everyone's going to be able to enjoy their Memorial Day without having to worry about coming back," said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.

Coffee had a lot of reasons to celebrate passage of the civil justice measure by the House and Senate.

Although the bill originated in the House, it was one of the key initiatives Coffee and other Senate Republicans outlined in early January as their top goals.

Some of the Senate GOP proposals have not yet made it through the legislative process, are dead for the session or have been vetoed by the governor. They include Senate bills to deregulate public schools and require voter identification at the polls and Coffee's proposal for an "office of accountability" inside the legislative branch.

A GOP-sponsored Senate bill to expand the sales tax holiday prior to the school year also was not part of the budget agreement, which utilizes $631 million in federal stimulus funds.

It died along with other tax cut bills that have been passed by the House and Senate, ignoring the reality of a revenue shortfall that at one time was estimated at about $900 million.

It's been an especially rough session for Coffee, No. 1 leader of the first Republican Senate majority since statehood.

He came under scrutiny for a federal income tax debt and a bank loan to pay it off. Television and newspaper ads were taken out raising questions and Senate Democrats demanded late last month that Coffee give up his leadership post if he did not provide more details.

Meanwhile, a pro-business group countered with ads supporting Coffee and saying there was an attempt to smear him by opponents of the civil justice bill.

As Coffee looked toward adjournment, he did not mention all the political fighting as he praised Senate GOP budget writers, House Speaker Chris Benge and Henry for their contributions to the agreement.

"This was a test for the GOP majority," Coffee said of last week's action on the budget and the civil justice bill.

Republicans hold only a 26-22 edge over Democrats in the 48-member body, meaning that they have only one vote to spare to get the 25 votes needed to pass legislation.

The final version of the measure designed to reduce frivolous lawsuits got bipartisan support in the House and Senate. Henry said the bill looked a lot like a plan he previously offered that was rejected by Republicans.

Henry said the budget agreement reached with GOP leaders was made possible by federal stimulus funds. In the end, health care and education wound up getting funding increases.

"Obviously, we would have liked to do more to shield services from cutbacks, but the budget reality just would not allow it," he said.

Total spending in the plan is $7.2 billion, but without the stimulus money, allocations to state agencies would have been slashed by about $500 million.

Overall, most general government agencies are being cut by 7 percent. Exceptions include the Department of Corrections, which got the same funding as last year.

Rep. Ken Miller, R-Edmond, said the budget spares Oklahomans from broad-based fee increases and permits tax cuts already in law to take effect as scheduled. They include an increase in the standard deduction on income taxes and an estate tax cut.

Leaders said they were proud the budget plan preserves almost $600 million in the Rainy Day Fund and does not spend about $600 million in stimulus dollars. Those funds can be used next year, if necessary.

Legislative leaders said it will be up to agencies to decide where to make cuts, but they did not think furloughs or layoffs will be necessary.

Benge said agency directors should be "very careful" in their spending, keeping in mind that the budget situation could be even worse next year.

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