Oklahoma State Questions--Summarized

Thought I’d do a quick overview of the State Questions on the ballot this year. Something to keep in mind about SQs in any year is they are written to advantage a group or groups of people and not necessarily designed to fix a problem.

SQ 776- Vote Yes

Simply, it affirms the legislature’s authority to pick a method of execution if one method has been ruled invalid. Also, it prohibits the death penalty from being ruled unconstitutional. This probably came about because of the botched execution of Lockett a few years ago followed by another execution where the wrong drug was used. It’s a good idea to ‘affirm’ the right of capital punishment because lethal injection as a tool is increasingly complicated. Drug makers refuse to sell certain 'killer' drugs and independent groups move to block executions. Who needs it. I’ve never had a problem with capital punishment; the method of execution is beside the point.

SQ 777- Vote Yes.

Basically this is a way for farmers and ranchers to use modern technological methods, mostly large scale production.  I am always leery of laws and amendments that make other potential laws unenforceable. The agriculture trade groups backing this bill hope to avoid be court cases by opponents over whatever silly ‘violations’ outside groups manage to drag up. The courts have to apply a strict “compelling state interest” in order to stop legal firms from using the law as an anti-competitive measure. If you pair it down the law is really an attempt to make it tough to sue farms for everyday legal farming techniques.  

SQ 779- Vote No

Teachers deserve more money in terms of salary and benefits but this measure won’t help. Any sales tax increase drives business away from local stores (Yes, I do work in one) and toward online sites like Amazon. It is a bit frustrating to see that not all the money even goes to elementary and secondary teachers, whatever it amounts to. ‘Higher Education’ also gets a slice of the pie. I guess that means TCC (Tulsa Community College) and a few tech schools will get almost 20%! This is the most frustrating part. Colleges should NOT get sales tax money. Sales taxes always have the biggest impact on those who can least afford the increase in food, gas and clothing. Who in our society can least afford it? Teachers.

SQ 780, 781- Vote No

There is an encroaching laissez-faire attitude toward drugs and drug use in the country. Prison overcrowding is a problem (I guess) and when one compares the lock ‘em up rate to other countries it seems we use prisons like others use public transportation. Squeeze a bunch of people in and keep the funding low. Yes our drug laws are tough. Prison overcrowding doesn’t worry me like kids who may become addicted does. The problem isn’t the law it’s the culture. Normalizing drug use will increase the availability of drugs (legal and illegal) and strain services meant to help addicts recover. And guess what? Those new addicts will need new treatment centers and additional state paid counselors. I’m not unsympathetic to low level drug offenses being reduced by judges or by adhering to a program for recovery. This exists already in most states. Good behavior and showing up for treatment means reduced sentencing for most offenders. This bill is unnecessary.

SQ 790- Vote Yes

Voting No will send you straight to Hell…I am pretty sure (kidding). This is a restore-our-heritage type of debate that overturns previous legislation that prevented public money from being used to pay for ‘religious’ organizations, events, displays…The problem is the phrasing on ‘religious’ was never applied in a consistent way. Sometimes private (Christian) schools got federal money under certain conditions and sometimes they couldn’t. Like most legal questions regarding State/Religious fights, we wait to see how the court rules and either celebrate the victory or start drafting the legal challenge. If you think the Ten Commandments isn’t religious (like me) but culturally and ideologically significant, vote Yes. So 790 erases the restriction on public money for religious monuments like the Ten Commandments engraving. I’m not even sure how much difference it will make since unfortunately the courts always decide these things. This is a tentative Yes.

On a side note I don’t think the Ten Commandments monument is a Christian symbol or representative of any religion. It’s a statement of principles, a set of values underpinning the Constitutional order and it gets codified in every amendment and addition to the legal landscape. The truths espoused are fundamental to right thinking citizens whether Christian, Muslim, or Atheist. Any great institution has a core set of values that acts like a rudder on a ship. Drifting off course…check the rudder.

SQ 791- Vote Yes

There is no good reason in the world why grocery stores shouldn’t be able to sell wine and high point beer. Really all this law does is take down existing barriers that liquor stores have to work around in order to comply with the current law. It allows them to sell cold high point (above 3.2 alcohol percent) beer in addition to selling cork screws, coolers and other non-alcohol related stuff. Under the current set up, liquor stores separate the booze from the goods and run two independent companies, kinda silly. I expect this measure pass smoothly, like um…beer through a funnel.

Hope that helps!