August 11th 2019 Newsletter
Chickens Coming Home to Roost
The 2019 Oklahoma Trump Index is Out
On Monday I was having a conversation with a couple of activists about Dean Davis, the drunken state legislator recently arrested again for DUI in Tulsa County. They two were worried about losing “one of the good ones” and were quite shocked when I pointed out that Drunken Dean's annual score on the Trump Index was a mere five points, 18 out of 19 of his votes were wrong. They had supported his campaign, thought he was a nice man and a conservative only to find out he had totally betrayed their trust.
But you just don't know if you don't look at their voting records and do the work to research and tally the index. It is a lot of work, 19 votes, 149 legislators, 26,961 individual votes to record but we have some low cost labor overseas that does an excellent job on this sort of work.
And as usual we find out just how liberal and corrupt Oklahoma Republican legislators can continue to vote. The Democrats have also pulled away from supporting the slim conservative Republican faction as well, mainly because there are now so few that even a coalition has any power. RINO Republicans ruled this session and the scores prove that.
However there will be a price to pay for the continued liberal votes and the massive support of corporate welfare. People can see that Oklahoma Republican legislators have abandoned their President and are actively working against him. Once Republican seats begin being lost they will either wise up or go down with the ship they have created.
Here are the bills in the 2019 Oklahoma Trump Index:
1. HB1014 Finger Print Bill allows the OSBI to access drivers license finger prints and bio metric info without a court order. The legislation is supposed to help those that are missing, endangered, or deceased. The first two categories are wide open to interpretation and thus subject to abuse. We were told that these real ID bio metrics would be kept confidential but once the data is out there it will show up anywhere and be abused. This increases privacy abuses without a corresponding benefit for security. Trump has supported privacy protections and wouldn't have signed such a bill. In fact, Trump made it a priority to fully staff the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to ensure that bio metric data was used wisely and against illegals and other threats and not citizens.
2. HB 1089 Hospital Subsidy Program Extension This legislation extends the supplemental hospital offset payment program fee for five years. The system taxes the hospitals, then uses the money to provide care for welfare recipients and trigger federal dollars to flow in to Oklahoma. For 2019, hospitals will pay SHOPP assessments of $204 million, and receive supplemental payments of $475 million. This is bad legislation, people ought to have skin in the game for medical care and pay for the majority of their own needs which helps keep all medical care costs down. Trump hasn't been supportive of Medicaid Expansion and this is little more than that. In fact, Trump is actively trying to impose rigid limits on Medicaid Expansion.
3. HB 1100 slashes the penalties for selling drugs in school zones and makes it much harder to prosecute criminals for selling drugs to school students. It reduces the distance from a school from 2000 feet to 500 feet and only allows the use of the statute during hours of school operation. So a drug dealer targeting a school isn't going to be doing business while class is in session but will conduct business before or after the school is let out. The bill cuts prison time from seven years to life in prison to not more than ten years in prison. Trump believes in helping inmates after they have paid their debt to society but weakening the penalties for selling drugs on school grounds. Both the Supreme Court and Trump have been unwilling to support clemency for drug pusher despite changes in California law that made the career criminals previous felonies now misdemeanors. That case is about a three strikes career criminal charged with distributing over a metric ton of weed.
Do the math, a typical defendant will spend a year awaiting trial then serve no more than one fifth to one third of his sentence after good time behavior. So you could be seeing a two year sentence, minus the year awaiting trial, one year in prison. Worse, they plead these cases down to misdemeanors or simple possession all the time and even with felony sentences they give our far more suspended and deferred sentences than they do actual prison terms. The sad fact is that you usually go to prison for refusing to pay the court costs and fees rather than selling drugs to school kids. The bill didn't make it through the process so is still a live round for next session.
4. HB 1263 Zero Emission Tax Credit This bill extends the zero emission tax credits for up to ten years and allows the credits to be carried further than 10 years but refundable at 85%. These tax credits don't create jobs, they reward businesses that bribe politicians. Trump believes in rolling back regulations and taxing fairly but not so much on tax subsidies for industries that ought to survive based upon their financial sustainability. Trump's budget slashed this wasteful corporate welfare.
5. HB 1269 Scrubbing Criminal Records Act This bill allows for a simplified and accelerated expungement of the criminal charge and conviction if a person had been convicted of a felony for a crime that is now considered a misdemeanor. It also allows the Pardon and Parole Board to release convicted felons if the crime they were convicted of is now a misdemeanor. Even felons out on suspended or deferred sentences that are revoked for committing more crimes or refusing to pay the court fines and fees or restitution can be released if the new misdemeanor sentence is shorter than the time they already served in county jail awaiting trial or while out in the world serving a suspended sentence. Trump believes in helping inmates after they have paid their debt to society but no shortening sentences and removing the consequences of a criminal career. See #3 HB 1100 for the link showing that both Trump and the Supreme Court have rejected the idea that a change in law changes sentencing of former felonies.
So there is no longer a toll for breaking the law if you are out on suspended sentence or deferred sentence. This tactic is used a lot to get criminals off the street without a lot of expense by the state. They get their day in court but it is a very quick hearing. It is great that an ex con can clean up his record after five or ten years of good behavior but it is another thing to scrub the criminal records so that employers or potential partners/spouses cannot find a felon's criminal record.
6. HB 1411 Affordable Housing Builder Credit In Metro extends the affordable housing tax credit, expands the counties where the credit is available and limits the carry forward to two years from five years. Pure corporate welfare, these houses would be built regardless of any tax credit. This is just businesses and a trade association bribing legislators to get money back. Trump has never supported corporate welfare for industries that can survive on their own. Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is actually taxing these tax credits given by the state.
7. HB1774 route 66 commission act was pushed by idiot Lt. Gov. Matt Pinell. The idea is to spend millions preparing for a centennial celebration for Route 66. What a waste of tax dollars, spending millions just so a greasy turd politician gets some publicity. This is the kind of wasteful spending that Trump has been cutting.
8. HB 2009 the Reduced Prison Time for Sex Offenders Act reduces sentence on second conviction for non violent and sex offenders. Now sex offenders face up to twice the original sentence if they are caught and convicted again. Had this bill passed this year sex offenders would face only up to one quarter of original sentence plus whatever sentence is handed down for the second offense. Keep in mind that most crimes are pled way down to avoid the cost of a prosecution and trial so the majority of these child molesters never face serious prison time under the 85% rule. Luckily the bill failed to pass but it is still a live round for next session. Don't even ask if Trump would support support letting sex offenders back out on the street.
9. HB 2095 Clean Fuels Credit Extension Extends the tax credit on clean fuel vehicles seven more years, removes hydrogen fuel cells from the list of acceptable technologies, but lowers the tax credit amount for passenger cars and trucks and massively raises it for heavy trucks. Limits it to $20 million a year but this is basically welfare for trucking companies and large fleet owners. Trump doesn't support corporate welfare for alternative energy being pushed by radical environmental activists. See #4 HB 1263 for the proof that Trump doesn't support wasteful tax credits
10. HB 2218 Waive Court Costs for Criminals Act This bill waives fines, costs, and fees if a parolee is enrolled in work training, school, or vo tech center. The law credits the value of a forty hour week at minimum wage against court fees and costs. Nothing states that the parolee or ex con has to complete the classes or pass, attendance alone will chop off $290.00 per week so in ten weeks of class the average convicted felon will have his court fines and fees paid. Considering that the vast majority of convicts rarely pay a cent of their court fines and fees and if they do it is at $40.00 per month, this seems excessive and at the same time it violates Trump's policies of helping ex cons get back on their feet. It also drives a lot of career criminals into school for a few months without asking if they are even a candidate for straightening up their lives. A change to requiring a completion of a degree would help, as would allowing them $40.00 per month credit to keep the court off their back while they are in school. But allowing over $1,100.00 in fees and fine credit for nothing is a very bad idea and subject to abuse. Don't confuse Trump's First Step Act with eliminating the three strikes rule, it just made sure the three strikes were for serious crimes like the ton of weed case discussed earlier.
The bill also makes a maximum of two years on DA supervision and limits the cost to $40 per week. That is actually a decent idea although $40.00 a month plus drug testing would be enough for a parolee. The law also allowed a judge to consider if the convict was working a job and allow weekend incarceration instead of revocation and prison yet judges already have the ability to do this and more. The law also limits deferred sentences to four years and community supervision to one year. And what is community supervision? The Court “supervises” the convicts, as in they walk in the door, lay down a check, and leave. Parts of this bill are good and meet Trump's policies that once a criminal pays his price to society they are helped to get back on their feet but if they don't pay their fines and fees all they have lost was a few months or years of their liberty and lets face it, if that was precious to them they wouldn't be criminals. With additional work this bill could meet the Trump standard but it doesn't in the current form. First they are continuing to use the ex cons as cash cows to finance the criminal justice system
11. HB 2273 The Parolee Protection Act waters down the parole violation process and allows acceleration in the last six months of the convict's sentence. Keep in mind how little of a sentence is actually served, from one fifth to one third of the time the sentence lists. You will find convicts with six year sentences going into prison one year and coming out the next and this legislation would cut that time in half if a pardon was requested. Again, this doesn't help an convict that has served his time, it shortens his time to a ridiculous amount and provides a graduated scale of punishments, limits the sentence after a parole violation to two years. Once again the Trump First Step Act kept harsh sentences for criminals while making sure they fit the crime. Nothing in that bill advocated a revolving door, Trump remains tough on violent crime and career criminals.
12. HB 2367 Workers Comp Subsidy To Insurers Expands the ability for workers to get benefits for repetitive injuries by striking out the clause that required 180 days of work at the company before repetitive injuries could be claimed. This bill was pushed by the corrupt Rep. Chris Kannady to pay off his lawyer donors. The half year requirement made sense to avoid workers comp fraud by workers. Working in a factory is physically demanding but workers get used to it and shouldn't expect a workers comp check for normal aches and pains from working. No way the businessman Trump would approve of lawyers lining their pockets by filing fraudulent workers comp claims.
13. HB 2369 created the Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission, a new 13 member commission studying soft on crime solutions to the prison over crowding. No good will come of this committee as they left out law enforcement and the bail industry representatives in favor of liberal non profits that are bleeding the criminals dry by shuttling them through one of their own non profits that charges hundreds of dollars a month. Note that this isn't about helping ex cons transition back into society or keeping a job, it is about funding the “non profits” like Kris Steele's TEAM organization. See the links on other tough on crime legislation that Trump supported and signed, this isn't about low level drug offenses, this is about releasing armed robbers, home invaders, and rapists back out on the street so Kris Steel can shower them with love or at least make a buck off watching them.
14. HB 2739 Gov.'s Closing Fund Subsidy This is pure corporate welfare, a slush fund for the Governor, added $5 million dollars to the quick closing fund. See the previous links to Trump's opposition for corporate welfare
15. SB 184 DNA on arrest bill. This law allows the capture of DNA on arrest and it throws the door wide open on who is allowed to collect the DNA instead of relying upon trained law enforcement officers. It also changes the use from law enforcement purposes to DNA identification purposes. Once again this violates Trump's belief that privacy is important and it waters down the security and reliability of DNA records. See the #1 bill HB 1014 for the link showing Trump wouldn't support this, Trump is big on privacy with bio metrics for citizens.
16. SB 200 expanded tax credit for films. Another Lt. Gov. Matt Pinell supported scheme to provide corporate welfare for campaign donors. The legislation was passed years ago but Pinell bragged in one of his mail outs about extending the corporate welfare program. Once again Trump doesn't support wasting tax dollars on films that would be made regardless of any tax subsidy.
17. SB 252 Catch and Release Bill This law would have made judges lower bail bonds as bail cannot be set higher than the person can afford to pay or high enough that the lack of ability to pay might prevent their release. In other words, a mentally ill person will simply be let out of jail as they have no income to pay for bail. Or career criminals that refuse to hold a job so as to avoid paying court fines and fees or restitution. It doesn't matter if the defendant's family has the ability to pay, it is his ability to pay that has to be considered. If no bail granted the judge must make a finding of clear and convincing evidence that the person is guilty of the crime, which is a scary thing when a court pre judges someone guilty of a crime.
The law would also remove the ability to withhold bail for those caught manufacturing drugs or drug addicts that commit crimes to pay for their drug habit. In place of that the law would allow a pre trial release program to vouch for the inmate. The bill aslo allows OR, own recognizance bonds, someone's promise to show up for court to be given to all defendants except those that have already escaped jail or prison, those charged with domestic abuse, violation of a protective order, or stalking. Basically if a man commits a crime against a woman he isn't eligible for OR bond at no cost. Other changes in the law are requiring a specific threat must be present to a specific person, changing the law from a history of violating court orders to a history of violating protective orders, and again it removes the drug or alcohol use history of the criminal from being considered. Once again Trump doesn't support soft on crime, he supports punishment that is swift and sure and helping once the debt to society has been paid. He does support giving relief for LOW level drug crimes.
18. SB 608 Liquor distribution law change. This was pushed by a big donor to Rep. Chris Kannady, a guy named Hendershot out of Tulsa who runs a liquor operation. Hendershot and Kannady were very bold in skirting ethics rules and state law to the point of distributing checks during the legislative session and making it very obvious that the checks were quid pro quo for supporting this legislation. The law basically forces suppliers to sell to all wholesalers regardless of quality standards and regardless of the amount of markup on the liquor. Whether it is good for consumers or not isn't being debated; but the strong handed corruption involved is enough to question anyone that took Hendershot's cash and voted for this legislation. The measure also may well violate the state constitution by restricting free choice of who a manufacture can sell to. We have alredy published enough links to prove thatTrump would never sign such legislation designed to provide a windfall for a few companies.
19. SB 749 Infrastructure Funding Assistance to Corporations serving Military. Sounds good but it actually expands Oklahoma Development Finance Authority loans to for profit businesses. AKA corporate welfare for companies that would have zero problem qualifying for a loan from a bank. Once again corporate welfare that would never have Trump's support.
Most of the remaining conservative legislators kept their heads down this year and that was likely a good survival tactic. The highest score was 74, Gann and Hardin tied for that spot, followed by Jim Olsen with a 63. Was the index too tough? We always do a common sense survey of the results before releasing and look at how the good guys scored and how the usual bad ones scored. There were four bills that the good guys supported that cost them around 20 points:
HB 1089 Hospital Subsidy Expansion
HB1774 RT 66 Pinell's Commission
HB 2367 Workers Comp Fraud Enabling Act
SB 749 Infrastructure Funding Assistance to Corporations serving Military
Rural legislators might well support the hospital subsidy yet it isn't Republican values nor Trump values. You simply cannot make a case for supporting any of the bills as a conservative. Our indexes were never about protecting pet legislators, chips fall where they may, and the legislators earn the bad points because they voted bad. With men like Ritze and Murphey out of the legislator there are few left to set an example of voting consistently.
