Old battles re-fought in special session
Capitol Spotlight for weeklies for week of June 25, 2006
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau
They re-fought some old battles, championed causes that could be Election Day winners for their parties and sometimes complained of being left out of the deal that brought them back to the Capitol.
It might not have been the best formula for enacting more than $600 million in tax cuts, raising teachers' pay $3,000 across the board, adding $270 million to the state road budget, giving higher education $130 million more and feeding a state opportunity fund - to mention just a few of the issues involved.
No one said it was going to be easy, although leaders of the House and Senate and the governor had publicly agreed to all of this in a broad framework.
Here's how it went on the scheduled last day of the special session:
"I was not a party to the agreement," said Sen. Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, after proposing to accelerate the date for elimination of the estate tax to January 2007 from 2010. "How can I be held accountable for something I didn't agree to?"
Three Democrats were missing from the chamber, meaning a motion to advance the big tax bill without the amendment failed. The bill was then held over, slowing progress toward adjournment of the special session.
The snag in the Senate caused a major setback in the House, which delayed action on the agreed-to spending of $7 billion on state government for fiscal 2007.
"The agreement was to run the tax cut and appropriation bills at the same time and if there was a problem to lay the bills over," Coffee said.
Coffee said he would not withdraw the amendment and "negotiate with myself," but said he would consider an alternative proposal if the Democratic leadership proposed one.
The office of Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, indicated Coffee had broken the agreement.
"Elimination of the estate tax was part of our program," Coffee said. "I told Sen. Morgan and Sen. (Johnnie) Crutchfield that."
Crutchfield, D-Ardmore, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, negotiated much of the agreement with House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Chris Benge, R-Tulsa.
The logjam broke late in the afternoon when, bolstered by the presence of more Democrats, the Senate voted again to advance the bill without the Coffee amendment and prevailed, 24-23, and went on to approve the bill, 43-4. 
Coffee and Senate Floor Leader Ted Fisher, D-Sapulpa, then shook hands.
Coffee, a possible pro tempore if Republicans take over the Senate next year, later issued a statement saying, "this vote is a clear indication of where senators stand on eliminating the death tax." 
As amended by Coffee and Sen. Mike Mazzei, R-Bixby, the bill also provides immediate relief to non-lineal heirs such as nieces and nephews.
"The elimination of the estate tax will allow us to attract jobs and keep retirees in the state," Mazzei said. "More importantly, it eliminates a tax that prevents families from passing their hard-earned assets to future generations."
The estate tax was the subject of prolonged debate in the House, where Rep. Debbie Blackburn, D-Oklahoma City, named Thomas Jefferson, patriot Thomas Paine, economist Adam Smith, Presidents Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt as well as investors Bill Gates Sr. and Warren Buffet among advocates of the estate tax as a bulwark against European-type aristocracy.
But Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Del City, taxation and revenue chairman who is a congressional candidate, said the "death tax" was "immoral."
"It's 'big brother' government coming in and taxing a family because of death," he said.
The education bill containing the $3,000 pay raise passed both houses by big margins.
"I hope the Legislature next year makes this pay raise look like a pittance," said Sen. Stratton Taylor, D-Claremore, Senate education chairman.
Fending off attacks on the GA bill in the House, Benge reminded House members they were just eight days from the start of a new fiscal year and it had to be funded, "very quickly." 
He said he had found, while trying to control the cost of government, that vital services of government have grown more expensive the same as those in the private sector.
"If we're going to avoid any chaos and confusion and funding of vital programs of government we need to pass this bill," he said.
The bill passed 78-13.
The road bill went to the governor late in the day. Drivers will soon see construction signs across the state.















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