SENTENCING SAGA IS STILL UNFOLDING

Lawmakers Again Fail To Come To Terms With Corrections Bill.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- It was deja vu all over again Friday for lawmakers dealing
with truth in sentencing.

For the second year in a row, state legislators failed to reach an accord on
truth in sentencing, prompting Gov. Frank Keating to promise a special
legislative session in June to deal with the issue.

If no action is taken, House Bill 1213, the original truth in sentencing law
that was passed in 1997, will take effect July 1. Keating and legislative
leaders have indicated they won't let that happen. Law enforcers have loudly
complained the original law was too soft on many of the worst offenders.

The law has become a political albatross around the neck of the Legislature.

House and Senate committee conferees had reached an agreement Monday on a
bill to substantially revise the controversial law by eliminating the
complex sentencing grid contained in HB 1213 and making violent offenders in
11 crime categories serve at least 85 percent of their sentences and other
serious offenders serve at least 75 percent of their terms.

However, the revision unraveled after the Department of Corrections and the
Office of State Finance each estimated the measure would carry a $19
million price tag in its first year due to additional prison
inmates. Senate President Pro Tem Stratton Taylor, D-Claremore, said the
measure pitted education against corrections.

On Friday, the Senate pushed through a bill that would have repealed truth
in sentencing but would have implemented a statewide community sentencing
pro gram. Senate Bill 614, which contained a community sentencing program
crafted by Sen. Herb Rozell, D-Tahlequah, sailed through the Senate by a
unanimous vote with no debate.

But the Senate bill hit strong turbulence when it came to the House.

House Republicans, who were enamored with the earlier truth-in-sentencing
revision, questioned the community sentencing provisions of the bill and
whether the repeal provisions could lead to the return of unpopular early
release programs. House Minority Leader Fred Morgan, R-Oklahoma City,
criticized the measure, saying it had no funding attached to the proposed
community sentencing program, creating an unfunded mandate on counties.

The Senate measure hit even more trouble when it was learned that Senate
committee conferees refused to approve a House proposal to simply delay
truth-in-sentencing for another year to give lawmakers another chance to fix
the law.

With no debate, the House voted 97-3 to kill the Senate bill. Morgan
attempted unsuccessfully to revive the bill and insert the language of House
Bill 1003, the truth-in-sentencing revision measure that would require
violent felons to serve 85 percent of their prison terms.

The House then unanimously passed a resolution by Benson expressing its
displeasure with the Senate. That resolution said Senate Bill 647 was "an
unfunded mandate to counties" and that the Senate refused to sign the report
on the bill to delay truth in sentencing until July 1, 2000, "making it
impossible for the Legislature to take action on the measure."

Keating said Friday he is willing to delay truth in sentencing another year.
Benson said he'd just as soon see the measure repealed.

Brian Ford, World Capitol Bureau reporter, can be reached at (405) 528-2465
or via e-mail at brian.ford@tulsaworld.com.