OKLAHOMA SENATORS SPAR OVER WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BILL:

Oklahoma Senate Republican leaders made a case in a news conference at the State Capitol that the Senate’s Democrat leadership is refusing to allow a committee chairman access to a landmark workers’ compensation reform bill. Meanwhile, a leading Senate Democrat says they are moving cautiously because of the complexity of the issue. According to the Oklahoma Senate Communications Division, House Bill 2619 was assigned by the Senate’s Democrat leadership to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the Republicans say Judiciary Chairman Jerry Smith, R-Tulsa, has not been allowed to hear the legislation in his committee. Senate GOP Leader James A. Williamson, R-Tulsa, said the refusal indicates intent on the part of the Democrats to kill the bill. Senate Assistant Republican Floor Leader Scott Pruitt, R-Broken Arrow, accused the Democrats of being more interested in protecting trial lawyers than passing “pro-jobs legislation.” In response to the Republican criticism, Democratic Senator Cal Hobson, the Oklahoma Senate’s President Pro Tempore, stated: “The issue is a complicated one and Oklahoma has made more progress on addressing the costs associated with our system than almost any state in the nation in the last decade. I don’t think I need to remind Senator Pruitt that for a number of years he championed a completely different style of reform …. Now, Senator Pruitt is championing another all-inclusive panacea for worker’s compensation reform. This time, he says, he’s found the silver bullet. The mere fact that this bright young lawyer is singing a different reform tune today than he did just two years ago, is evidence that the issue is complex and that we should
proceed into this arena with caution and not rush to put into law the latest, greatest cure-all de jour ….”