HOUSE REFUSES TO RELEASE NONVIOLENT STATE INMATES

The Oklahoma House of Representatives declined to open the cell doors for
nonviolent inmates Friday -- a proposal designed to ease state Corrections
Department expenses. Members spent more than an hour asking questions about
and then debating Senate Bill 803.

The bill by Sen. Ben Robinson, D-Muskogee, and Rep. Ron Kirby, D-Lawton,
was turned away 47-49.

Kirby threw the bill on his desk in disgust after the vote.

SB 803 proposed to release up to 800 inmates into an electronic monitoring
program. The program would have used a satellite-based global positioning
system to monitor the whereabouts of inmates, supporters said.

Opponents said the bill would turn loose people Oklahomans don't want in
their neighborhoods.

Child abusers and driving under the influence offenders would qualify for
the program, critics said.

"This is the gambling-with-prisoners system," said Rep. Mike Wilt,
R-Bartlesville.

Kirby told House members only inmates who would shortly be eligible for
non-supervised release would be eligible for the program initially.

"Give this bill a chance to work," Kirby said.

House members considered other bills the last day of the session, including:

SB 81, which allows for an increase in a variety of court fees.

The fee changes, which legislators approved, will allow the court system to
raise an additional $9.9 million to fund itself in the coming year.

A variety of fees increase, including, filing for divorce, which goes up
from $82 to $135, and filing a civil action of less than $10,000, which
goes up from $82 to $147.

Various House Republicans didn't like the measure, saying it interfered
with the rights of residents to use the courts to settle their differences.

"Without our courts, arguments would be settled by guns and fists," said
Rep. Frank Davis, R-Guthrie.

"This bill says we want justice, but only for those who can afford it.
Don't support this bill," Davis said.

Rep. David Braddock, D-Altus, carried the budget bill on the House floor.

Braddock told members the bill fulfills part of the budget agreement
reached by Republicans and Democrats earlier this year.

"It's not unjust to raise these fees," Braddock said. "What would be unjust
is to not fund our education system or our health care program."

The House approved the measure 66-31.

House members did not approve a bill that would have moved administration
of the underground tank storage fund from the Oklahoma Corporation
Commission to the Department of Environmental Quality.

Members discussed the measure for a couple of hours Friday afternoon before
abruptly dropping it to go into caucus sessions.

They did not take the bill back up after returning to the House floor to
resume the session's final hours.