Oklahoma House Speaker Pro Tempore Gus Blackwell (R-Goodwell) issued the following statement Thursday regarding actions on the House floor by Rep. “Lucky” Lamons (D-Tulsa) during the debate on House Bill 2100. Lamons tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to merge the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics with the Department of Public Safety.

“Like any lawmaker from either party, Representative Lamons is required to follow the rules of floor debate. It’s against the rules to debate something that isn’t under consideration. Representative Lamons was warned three times that he was violating the rules, but he ignored the warnings every time.

“Representative Lamons has a history of flaunting the rules. He apparently thinks the rules don’t apply to him, unlike the other 100 members of the House. This is just another example of Representative Lamons disrupting regular order when he is unable to manipulate the process to his advantage.

“Representative Lamons tried to amend the bill twice. Both his amendments failed. In fact, for the last 20 years, this amendment has failed consistently, both under Democrat and Republican leadership. Instead of abiding by the wishes of the majority, he continued to try and promote his own amendment in debate. But the rules require he debate the bill before the members. It’s my job to uphold the rules of the House.”

HB 2100 would create a commission to “identify and eliminate waste, duplication, and inefficiency in state agencies.” The powerful ten member commission would consist of four members of the House; four members of the Senate; one person from the private sector appointed by the Governor; and one person from the private sector appointed by the Lieutenant Governor.

The members will be charged with reviewing the policies and procedures of all state agencies once every twelve years. They’ll seek public input through hearings and will make recommendations on each agency to the full Legislature. The commission will have the power to abolish agencies if the legislature doesn’t vote to continue them.