Riley Kills House Bill 2470

I received this press release from the South Tulsa Citizens Coalition detailing how State Senator Nancy Riley (Democrat) derailed a bill that would have forced the proposed toll bridge in South Tulsa to be competitively bid.

For the past nine months, the South Tulsa Citizens Coalition (“STCC”) has been working with Oklahoma State Representative Pam Peterson and Oklahoma State Senator Clark Jolley to firm-up Oklahoma’s law regarding the types of public contracts that are subject to competitive bid. House Bill 2470 clarifies the definition of a “public construction contract” under the Oklahoma Competitive Bidding Act by expressly including those types of public contracts that are derived from other forms of consideration besides cash, such as the pledging of a certain percentage of revenues or toll charges to a public entity.

On February 16, 2006, House Bill 2470 passed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives by a vote of 94 to 3. On April 25, 2006, the bill passed in the Oklahoma Senate by a vote of 43 to 2. However, Oklahoma State Senator Nancy Riley had the title of House Bill 2470 stripped*. Instead of the bill being sent to Governor Henry to be signed into law, Senator Riley’s actions basically killed House Bill 2470.

STCC spokesman Michael Covey said, “It just makes sense that a bridge that will cost over $30 million to construct should be put out for competitive bid. I can’t believe that our legislative system allows one senator, who received numerous campaign contributions from the principals of IVI, to derail a bill that had such overwhelming support of the people. Nevertheless, STCC will continue to work with state lawmakers to make sure that a situation like the South Tulsa bridge situation never happens in Oklahoma again.”

* - to change the title of a bill to a few words which are briefly descriptive but constitutionally unacceptable. The major intent of this action is to ensure that the bill will go to a conference committee. The same effect may be achieved by striking the enacting clause. Any Senate legislation being reported out of a Senate committee, with the exception of an appropriation bill, must have an enacting clause or resolving clause and a Senate and House author.

Technorati Tags: Oklahoma
Nancy Riley
Pam Peterson
Clark Jolley
Toll Bridge
Arkansas River
HB 2470
Infrastructure Ventures, Inc.
South Tulsa Citizens Coalition