^Senator David Holt, R-Oklahoma City, praised the final passage of Senate Bill 1875, a measure allowing counties in Oklahoma to create community service programs for convicted criminals, putting offenders in position to make a positive contribution to their communities while serving their sentence.
The legislation, authored in the House by Rep. Gary Banz, R-Midwest City, was named the “Safari McDoulett Community Service Act,” after an employee in the office of Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan.
Maughan’s SHINE program is the model for the bill, and McDoulett helped administer the program until her untimely death earlier this year. SHINE stands for Start Helping Impacted Neighborhoods Everywhere.
“Passage of this bill will ensure that Oklahoma County continues to enjoy the benefits of SHINE, but it also gives every county in the state the opportunity to create their own community service program,” Holt said.
Holt’s legislation gives counties the authority to create a community service program, and then authorizes judges to assess a fine on criminals they sentence to community service. That fine would then pay for supervisors and equipment so local governments can put those offenders to work removing graffiti, picking up litter or doing other projects to enhance the community.
SB 1875 was approved unanimously in the Senate by a 41-0 vote and now heads to the governor’s desk for consideration.
^ Senator Jerry Ellis says the House got it right when members amended a Senate Bill dealing with water policy in Oklahoma. The House voted last Thursday to amend a section of the Senate Bill 1327 dealing with the creation of regional water groups. He’s urging the Senate to accept those changes.
“In the Senate version of the bill, politicians in Oklahoma City would decide who they wanted to serve on those regional boards. The House amended that section so local voters from each region would choose,” said Ellis, D-Valliant. “This is called democracy, and it would mean the interests and needs of local communities would have representation in the decision making process.”
Ellis, an outspoken advocate for water rights in southeastern Oklahoma, said letting politicians pick the local water region representatives would create another layer of bureaucracy while ignoring the concerns of local communities. He said critics of the proposed regional planning groups argue it would create division and rivalries. Ellis contends voicing different opinions is simply part of the democratic process.
“With members elected by the local citizens of each region, the advisory water planning groups would be able to provide valuable information so that good policy decisions can be made,” Ellis said. “This is our most valuable natural resource, so people need to ask themselves why the rich and powerful are afraid to let local citizens have a say in these decisions.”
Ellis noted legislation introduced at the beginning of the session to allow Oklahomans to vote before their water could be sold out of state was never even given a hearing. He said rejecting the House amendment would be another attempt to exclude local citizens from the process.
“The citizens of our state know the importance of water and are willing to serve on these regional boards with little or no compensation, just like our local school boards,” Ellis said. “If there is any cost, it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the $16 million spent on the statewide water plan.”
So we raise the TAXES (READ fees) on bad guys to PAY for MORE government employees to watcfh bad guys do community service? I thought the GOP stood for LESS government and LOWER taxes and fees. The letters behind the names change from D to R but more government, higher taxes and fees and more employees never seems to change. Let’s wait for the scandals to begin at the local level when this goes into effect.
According to SB1327, these Regional Councils have only an advisory role. Why would anyone get excited about electing the members if they have no power to actually represent us? No thanks!