The Oklahoma Press Association's Capitol News Bureau reporter Jim Campbell begins his coverage of the 2006 Oklahoma Legislature Jan. 20 for OPA business member newspapers.
Each week during the legislative session, Campbell will write two articles-Capitol Report for daily newspapers and Capitol Spotlight for weeklies. 
The columns will only be available in for download on OPA's web site in text format on OPA's Web site at http://www.okpress.com/membersopen/CapitolNews/
Every Friday member newspapers will receive an e-mail from OPA telling you the columns are ready to download.
Logos for both columns will be made available also on OPA's Web site at http://www.okpress.com/membersopen/CapitolNews/Artwork/
Jim retired from United Press International in 1993 as bureau manger, state editor and regional editor. 
His nearly 35 years with UPI included two stints in Oklahoma City lasting nearly 16 years.
He also worked for the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise and the Cushing Citizen.
Jim began writing the Capitol Spotlight and Capitol Report columns for the OPA Capitol News Bureau in 1995.
For more information about the Capitol Report or Capitol Spotlight call the Oklahoma Press Association toll free in Oklahoma at 1-888-815-2672 or (405) 499-0020.
Medicaid panel hears pleas for help


No equalization proposed for cocaine penalties 
Capitol Spotlight for weeklies for week of Jan. 22, 2006
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau 
The Oklahoma Sentencing Commission, a bipartisan body that makes recommendations lawmakers often set aside as politically untenable, will not ask the Legislature this year to equalize quantity thresholds for crack and powder cocaine punishment.
Instead, the issue will be referred to a task force to be created for a study of the best use of state funds for drug treatment and punishment.
Advocates for change have argued that crack cocaine is most often the choice of the underprivileged while powder cocaine is more often used by the more affluent. 
 The U.S. Sentencing Commission had recommended that Congress change the thresholds in federal law to address "racial disparities and correct irrelevant differences," according to a state commission finding. Congress has not done so. The state body has several times considered the question.
By a vote of 6-5, the commission voted for a motion by District Attorney John Wampler of Altus to strike the cocaine recommendation from its report to the 2006 session.
The commission considered seven proposals intended "to help balance the demands of the prison system while maximizing protection of the public." The corrections department is constantly in crisis for funds to meet needs of incarceration.
An agenda item proposed by member Ged Wright of Tulsa, dramatized by photos of two drug trafficking offenders given starkly different sentences, was blocked from a vote by Rep. Fred Morgan, R-Oklahoma City, the commission chairman.  Morgan said he was not comfortable with an immediate vote on trafficking reform, preferring that members study it prior to the next meeting. 
The visibly upset Wright, a former state senator, said the life without parole law he authored was intended for first degree murder and not to such defendants as Sheila Devereux for trafficking 6 grams of crack cocaine. She received life without parole in Tulsa County at an estimated cost of $680,000 while Arturo Galindo received a 20-year term and served three years and 10 months in Oklahoma County at a cost of $60,800 for trafficking 100 pounds of marijuana.
Devereux was sentenced on the basis of a third offense, although she received probation after previous arrests. Bob Ravitz, chief Oklahoma County public defender, said when legislators voted for life without parole they meant it for someone actually imprisoned twice.
In addition to the study of modifying drug treatment and punishment, the commission voted to recommend:
--Jurors be advised that offenders convicted of 85 percent crimes are not eligible for parole until that percentage of their term has been served.
-- Victims should be advised that offenders convicted of 85 percent crimes must serve that percentage before becoming eligible for parole or time credits.
-- Review and refine intermediate sanctions, which are intended to divert offenders on parole or probation to jail rather an immediate return to prison, for minor rule violations.
-- Promote re-entry programs that reduce recidivism.
Commissioners tabled a proposal to study civil commitment of sex offenders as a post release supervision tool.
The 85 percent recommendation, approved 9-2, sparked the most discussion.
Sen. Richard LeBlanc, D-Hartshorne, said if jurors know an offender of the 85 percent rule, "you know darn well they're going to give him the max."
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Unlike issues known months in advance, some shove their way into legislative priority through public outrage or fears for public safety.
Wild fires blown in on the hot breath of extended drought and the October death of two-year-old Kelsey Smith-Briggs of Meeker from blunt force trauma illustrate how known agendas are sometimes overcome by events.
The Kelsey Briggs Child Protection Act, proposed by Speaker Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville, and House Republicans, seeks nine new provisions in child abuse laws. They include a requirement that judges explain, in a form to be made public, why they rendered custody decisions.
Kelsey died four months after a judge returned her to her mother despite allegations of abuse.  Her stepfather, Michael Lee Porter, 25, is charged with first degree murder and her mother, Raye Dawn Porter, 26, is under investigation.
Other changes would allow the Department of Human Services to seek a hearing on child placement decisions, authority now given only to the child's attorney or the district attorney, and authorize an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation inquiry upon DHS request.
Fires, forecast to threaten the state well into spring, prompted House Democrats to propose a package of laws that would provide at least $40 million in firefighting help.
Among the Protect Our Prairies bills are measures to raise the limit of volunteer departments from 25 to 30 firefighters and to shield volunteers from being fired for firefighting job absences.
Some of the bills had previously been proposed by individual members of the House and Senate and officials of both parties.
House minority leader Jari Askins, D-Duncan, said she expected "much support for our plan because every corner of Oklahoma has been touched.
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