April 30, 2008 11:56 pm
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The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — State lawmakers are moving cautiously as they consider legislation that asks voters if they want to convene a constitutional convention to rewrite all or parts of the Oklahoma Constitution.
A bill that seeks a statewide vote on the issue was sent to a House-Senate conference committee Wednesday to give lawmakers more time to study the possible consequences of convening a constitutional convention, including how convention delegates would be chosen and the influence of special interest groups.
The measure’s author, Rep. Gary Banz, R-Midwest City, said fear of the unknown may be raising concerns among some members of the House and Senate as they consider placing the referendum on the November ballot.
“Is what replaces this worse than what we’ve already got? That’s a legitimate fear,” Banz said. Any new draft of a state Constitution would have to be ratified in a statewide vote before it went into effect.
Banz said he filed the measure because the current Constitution requires that voters be given the opportunity to call a convention every 20 years. Banz said no statewide vote has been conducted since 1970.
Other votes were conducted in 1926 and 1950. In each instance, voters rejected the idea of a constitutional convention.
If voters approve a convention this time, it would start on July 15, 2009. Banz has said a 180-day convention would cost $2.6 million. An amendment Banz placed on the measure sets the maximum time a convention would last at 90 days.
At about 50,000-words long, Oklahoma’s is one of the longest constitutions in the world. Legal scholars have said the state Constitution contains an anti-big business bias that is detrimental to the state’s economic development.
If voters authorize a constitutional convention, a Constitutional Convention Commission would be created to oversee selection of the 112 delegates who would consider changes to the Constitution.
A total of 76 delegates would be selected by lot from the Legislature, 52 from the House and 24 from the Senate. Another 14 would be chosen by lot from government agencies, boards and commissions, eight from the Judicial Department and 14 from the public at large, according to the measure.
Half of the delegates would come from east of Interstate 35 and the other half from west of the highway to equally represent both sides of the state.
Banz said lawmakers have already identified a couple of areas of the 100-year-old state Constitution that might be rewritten if a convention is called.
One of them is the document’s declaration of the flashpoint of kerosene. It is officially established by Section 2 of Article XX of the state Constitution as 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another is the governor’s role in the pardon and parole process, Banz said. Oklahoma is the only state in the nation in which the governor must sign off on every inmate parole request.
Banz said the measure provides safeguards against wholesale rewriting of the Constitution.
“The current Constitution serves as the first draft,” he said.
The measure requires a two-thirds vote of delegates to consider changes to any article and approval by four-fifths of the delegates to consider repealing or revising constitutional amendments created through the initiative petition process.
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