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Oklahoma House Democrats walked out of the chamber today because they say their opinions were being ignored. During that walkout, the remaining Republicans passed two bills without debate or discussion. >> KOCO 5 INVESTIGATES: ‘Bill mills’ and who’s writing your lawmakers’ legislationThe Democrats were livid at what happened. Debate wasn’t allowed on a bill to ban abortion after detecting a fetal heartbeat, and the Democrats say the majority party doesn’t care enough about issues that impact Oklahoma. The Republicans say the two parties had an agreement that broke down. “It’s unconstitutional and illegal, and that’s why they don’t want to hear us, because if we speak they know that they’re wrong,” said Rep. Collin Walke, D-Oklahoma City.>> Related coverage: Oklahoma House sends Texas-style abortion ban to governorSenate Bill 1503 bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected and is enforced through civil lawsuits. No debate or questions were allowed, leading to the Democrats walking out in protest. Before the Democrats were able to return, the House had moved on to Senate Bill 615. A recent change to that legislation says students in schools can only use the bathroom that matches their biological sex assigned at birth. “They just want to muzzle the people that actually might have something substantive to say about the stupid stuff that they’re doing,” said Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City.Across the aisle, Rep. Kevin West said the outcome was supposed to be avoided and that there had been talks between the parties to not debate the abortion bill. >> See also: Oklahoma lawmakers hope part of McGirt ruling is rolled back“From what I’ve been told, there was an agreement that we were going to press straight to a vote because we had debated a very similar bill just a couple of weeks ago. There either wasn’t an agreement or something went awry with that,” said West, R-Moore. The bill now goes to the governor. But since the bathroom bill had some last-minute changes, more work will be needed from lawmakers first.
OKLAHOMA CITY —
Oklahoma House Democrats walked out of the chamber today because they say their opinions were being ignored.
During that walkout, the remaining Republicans passed two bills without debate or discussion.
>> KOCO 5 INVESTIGATES: ‘Bill mills’ and who’s writing your lawmakers’ legislation
The Democrats were livid at what happened. Debate wasn’t allowed on a bill to ban abortion after detecting a fetal heartbeat, and the Democrats say the majority party doesn’t care enough about issues that impact Oklahoma. The Republicans say the two parties had an agreement that broke down.
“It’s unconstitutional and illegal, and that’s why they don’t want to hear us, because if we speak they know that they’re wrong,” said Rep. Collin Walke, D-Oklahoma City.
>> Related coverage: Oklahoma House sends Texas-style abortion ban to governor
Senate Bill 1503 bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected and is enforced through civil lawsuits. No debate or questions were allowed, leading to the Democrats walking out in protest. Before the Democrats were able to return, the House had moved on to Senate Bill 615. A recent change to that legislation says students in schools can only use the bathroom that matches their biological sex assigned at birth.
“They just want to muzzle the people that actually might have something substantive to say about the stupid stuff that they’re doing,” said Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City.
Across the aisle, Rep. Kevin West said the outcome was supposed to be avoided and that there had been talks between the parties to not debate the abortion bill.
>> See also: Oklahoma lawmakers hope part of McGirt ruling is rolled back
“From what I’ve been told, there was an agreement that we were going to press straight to a vote because we had debated a very similar bill just a couple of weeks ago. There either wasn’t an agreement or something went awry with that,” said West, R-Moore.
The bill now goes to the governor. But since the bathroom bill had some last-minute changes, more work will be needed from lawmakers first.