Legislative Action Needed Now!

Greetings All:

You received an earlier communication related to advocacy calls, e-mails and visits to the Capitol to get a hearing on several Criminal Justice reform proposals before the Legislature this year. Below is a list and synopsis of some of the critical criminal justice reform bills proposed.  To date, Senator Anthony Sykes, Chair, Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Judiciary, is refusing to hear these Bills. The last week to get the bills out of committee is next week.

To be clear, IF EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO SUPPORTS THESE BILLS DOES NOT CALL SEN. SYKES, SEN. COFFEE, OR VISIT THEIR OFFICES—WE WILL LOSE THIS OPPORTUNITY.

CALL Senator Sykes at 405-521-5569, EMAIL sykes@oksenate.gov and/or VISIT his office in the State Capitol, Room 426.

CALL Senator Coffee at 405-521-5636, EMAIL coffee@oksenate.gov and/or VISIT his office in the State Capitol, Room 422.

SAMPLE SCRIPT / STATEMENT:

This is to request that you please hear these Senate Bills in committee next week.  Given the current budget crisis, these proposals can save millions of dollars. Thank you very much for your consideration:

SB 2326 – Creates a measure to require compliance by the Governor with existing law.   Title 57 O.S. § 332.16 provides, “No recommendation to the Governor for parole shall remain under consideration and in the possession of that office for a time longer than thirty (30) days.”  SB 2326 requires that parole is deemed granted if Governor does not act on said recommendation as statutorily required. The MGT Audit indicates a savings of $40 Million in the next ten years by removing the Governor from this process.

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SB 2329 – Creates a emergency Non-Violent Offender Alternative Placement Program, which provides for placement of persons convicted of non-violent, non-drug property offenses on GPS monitoring, house arrest, early parole supervision and other places as an alternative to in prison beds.  If enacted, this measure will result in a cost savings of at least $118 Million to the State of Oklahoma without measurable impact to public safety.

SB 2328 –Allows enhancement of criminal punishment beyond statutory maximum when an offender has committed two prior violent offenses (21 O.S. § 51.1).

SB 2325 – Disallows “Life without the Possibility of Parole” as a punishment for drug offenses (63 O.S. § 2-415), and provides for numeric sentence re-calculation by the Pardon and Parole Board for the 36 people currently serving LWOP for drug offenses.

A review of these 36 case files demonstrated that these offenders were arbitrarily characterized as drug traffickers, relative to other offenders similarly situated:

a. who are currently or were previously in custody for drug possession of larger

quantities, and/or

b. whose drug activities clearly demonstrated entrepreneurial intent.

SB 2321 – Creates an Office of the Ombudsman as an additional point of review of DOC inmate grievances; categorizes the Office as an administrative remedy; and requires exhaustion before an inmate may bring a tort claim or action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in federal court.  Potentially reduces the need for costly judicial reviews through improved DOC policy compliance in resolving inmate issues.  Such an Office could also help prevent litigation such as Battle v. Anderson and its progeny, which resulted in more than 20 years of federal oversight of Oklahoma’s prisons and the spending of millions in state dollars.