SPECIAL SESSION NEXT FOR SENTENCING BILL

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Gov. Frank Keating said Friday that he will call a special
session to deal with a truth-in-sentencing issue lawmakers failed to resolve
on the final day of the regular legislative session.

A bill to delay for a year the implementation of a controversial new
truth-in-sentencing law that is scheduled to take effect July 1 sailed
through the House late Friday with no problems. But it cratered in the
Senate a few minutes later when lawmakers ran out of time before the
mandatory 5 p.m. final adjournment of this year's Legislature.

``We cannot allow this law to take effect,'' Keating said shortly after the
Legislature adjourned.

He did not set a time for the special session, but there was speculation
that the most likely time is the second week in June.

On the previous day, Keating had threatened a special session if lawmakers
didn't fix what the governor perceives to be problems with the law, which
was approved last year, or delay its implementation.

Senate President Pro Tem Stratton Taylor, D-Claremore, said he will ask
Keating to limit the special session to the single issue of truth in
sentencing. That appears likely, since weary lawmakers will not want to
spend any more time than necessary at the Capitol in an election year.

Because of constitutional requirements, it will take a week to pass a bill.

``I am confident there are the votes in the Senate to delay
implementation,'' Taylor said. ``Unfortunately, we ran up against the wall
of a shortened legislative session.''

Legislative aides literally ran copies of the bill from the House chambers
on one side of the Capitol to the Senate on the other side. But the bill
arrived only 10 minutes before the final adjournment deadline.

Taylor immediately stopped routine action and took up the truth-
in-sentencing delay. But angry lawmakers who have struggled with the issue
for more than a year served immediate notice that they intended to stall
until time ran out.

In a desperate effort to pass the bill, Taylor had removed the original 11
Senate conferees on the measure and replaced them with new conferees,
including himself.

Sources said the original conferees refused to sign a conference committee
report on the measure because they were angry at Keating. Others were
unhappy with Taylor and his ultimate decision to remove them from the
conference committee.

``We either resigned or were fired,'' said Sen. Ged Wright, R- Tulsa, one of
the original conferees. ``I've never been fired in my life.

Taylor refused to say he fired the original Senate conferees.

``It's like when a coach sometimes puts other players on the field,'' he
said. ``I put other players on the field.''

``We've worked on this for two years,'' Wright said. ``Who doesn't like it?''

The answer to that is Oklahoma district attorneys, headed by Oklahoma County
District Attorney Bob Macy and one of his aides, Richard Wintory, who
lobbied against the truth-in-sentencing law the entire legislative session.

District attorneys, who were silent when the bill passed last year, argued
that it is full of loopholes and isn't tough enough on criminals.

Keating, who praised the bill last year when he signed it, joined the
district attorneys in demanding revisions in the law.

When the bill originally passed a year ago, legislative leaders said the
July 1, 1998, effective date would give them plenty of time to fine tune it
and work out problems.

But House lawmakers, intimidated by threats from the district attorneys,
made costly demands the Senate wasn't willing to meet.

``We worked on this for two years,'' Sen. Gene Stipe, D-McAlester, said
during the brief debate before time ran out Friday.

``This is a good bill. The governor said it's a good bill. Let it go into
effect July 1,'' Stipe said.

Under the current version of truth in sentencing, violent offenders would
serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentences. Others would serve at
least 75 percent of their terms, while those convicted of the least serious
offenses would be sentenced to community-based programs.

Except for death penalty cases, judges would sentence offenders using a
complex matrix that takes into account the offense, aggravating factors and
how many prior convictions he or she has.

Keating and the district attorneys have demanded that the current version be
changed to provide for tougher sentences in many cases.

Chuck Ervin can be reached at (405) 528-2465.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett