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THE SHAWNEE SUN
Editorials
Thursday, Nov. 11, 2017
Embarrassingly
Ridiculous
This is the way Josh Cockroft, the still young
but now quite experienced state representative
who serves Tecumseh and a lot of the south part
of Pottawatomie County along with quite a bit of
Cleveland County, started this week on Facebook:
Back in meetings this morning with session this
afternoon. Week 8 of special session. This is embarrass-
ingly ridiculous. I will continue ghting for solutions
to ll the cuts so we can take care of Oklahoma and get
out of session. We must compromise, work together,
and lead!
Embarrassingly ridiculous! Did you catch
that? Thats pretty tough stuff for our normally
amicable state rep. But he is on the right track.
When it came time to vote, he almost found
enough fellow travelers almost but not quite.
The bill to raise enough money to allow Gov. Mary
Fallin to run this state in reasonable comfort got
71 yes against only 27 no votes in the House.
Pretty nice margin but not nice enough. Only
in Oklahoma!
The problem is that under State Question 640
adopted in the tax revolt that followed HB 1017
in 1992, it takes a 75 percent margin to enact new
taxes. The alternative is taking it to a statewide
vote.
So now, in a column elsewhere in this edition
that we recommend you read in full, Mr. Cockroft
is in an explaining mode. Heres an excerpt:
I listened to my constituents and acted on their
wishes. Voting yes, I put my wishes aside, because I
personally had major issues with several parts of this
bill. Voting yes, I stated I dont want to govern from
crisis to crisis.
You cant run a government without revenue.
This 1992 constitutional amendment that imposes
a 75 percent legislative approval level is at the
heart of this problem. Seventy-ve percent is too
high although this time proponents got that in
the Senate and almost reached it in the House.
Furthermore, keeping the 75 percent rule gives
the minority party (thats the Democrats right
now) a veto whenever their vote count goes over
25 percent.
The only way to change this is convince the
public to either (1) repeal this thing or (2) modify
it perhaps by lowering the 75 percent to a mere
60 percent. That takes signatures, door-knocking
volunteers and, yes, advertisements even
newspaper advertisements.
And if no one gets that rolling, government
in Oklahoma will continue to be from crisis
to crisis. Frankly, were tired of these fruitless
special sessions. If nothing else, theyre all embar-
rassingly ridiculous.
Hear Our Prayer
Six years ago, one of those new Oklahoma
earthquakes rolled out of the Prague area and
badly damaged the towers at Benedictine Hall,
the trademark of St. Gregorys University. That
quake was measured at 5.7 on the Richter Scale,
then the highest ever recorded in Oklahoma.
The school moved quickly to repair the tow-
ers on the historic building. The skyline of North
Shawnee was restored. Disaster was avoided.
But not for long. This past week, we all learned
what disaster really means. St. Gregorys Univer-
sity is closing.
That is a tragedy and not just for Shawnee.
This whole area will be affected. Universities
make contributions that reach far beyond the
campus in ways most people rarely think about
contributions to society, to organizations, to
thought, to accomplishments, to thinking, to
people.
Those most affected, of course, will be the
faculty and students. Students are making plans
for quick transfers to other institutions of higher
learning. We hope that works out for every one
of them but we also hope that they all keep the
spirit of St. Gregorys in their hearts and minds.
It is a special place and they were part of it.
Members of the faculty have a different kind
of challenge. Most of us have been there. Some,
maybe most, will have to move to new commu-
nities, Most of us know about that too. Theres
pressure but it can be all for the better.
This tragedy was caused by the government
redenition of a $12.5 million government loan
the university expected to get through the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the Citizen Po-
tawatomi Development Corp. The loan was lost
after the USDA changed the requirements to say
the area affected had to be classied as rural in
the last census. Suddenly SGU didnt qualify.
There is a slim possibility that something good
might happen. That would be a miracle but the
proprietors know something about miracles, we
understand. Pray for that. God hears prayer from
all voices, we understand.
Closing Of St. Gregorys Hurts The Heart
Uprooted from home, community, careers and
education is what students, faculty and staff of St.
Gregorys University felt on Wednesday, Nov. 8,
when they were told the school will be closing its
doors following this term. Just like the leaves in
the fall, they are faced with changing their jobs,
schools, teams and possibly homes.
The university could not sustain itself anymore
due to nancial debt and the rejection of a loan
from the Department of Agriculture.
Though the real loss was the tight knit com-
munity students, faculty and staff had developed
over the course of more than a century that St.
Gregorys has been open. Not all of the students have that opportunity.
It was no secret St. Gregorys had a reputa-
tion of differentiating itself from a regular col-
lege campus, with its intricate buildings and
landscape, museum and Abbey to appeal to the
catholic community. It was the only private uni-
versity in Oklahoma framed toward Catholicism.
When the board made the decision, they sched-
uled a mandatory meeting of all students, faculty
and staff to attend that afternoon.
As a student myself, I cant imagine the fear
these SGU students felt when they were told
their college was closing in a month. The entire
student body was informed by Athletic Director
John Martin and the Campus Ministries Direc-
tor in a separate location from staff and faculty,
where they were informed by SGU President
Michael Scaperlanda at the same time. At the
conclusion of the announcement, afliates were
met by reporters.
The day of, when all of the cheerleaders were
calling me and crying, it was a feeling of utter
hopelessness, said St. Gregorys Head Cheer
Coach Mandy Gerszewski. She wasnt on campus
that day.
Not only are students losing their place in the
universitys classrooms, but many of them are los-
ing their place in the universitys athletic teams as
well. According to Gerszewski, about 75 percent
of the student body is on an athletic scholarship.
Anyone knowledgeable in college athletics
knows that its not that easy to nd a school to
Its Just A Ride On A Merry-Go-Round
Its the merry-go-round that just wont stop. My
peers in the Senate and I are beyond frustrated
with the games that a small group in the House
of Representatives continue to play with our state
budget. I know you all are just as upset.
Because of SQ 640 approved in 1992, the
Oklahoma Legislature cannot increase taxes
without approval from a supermajority, or two-
thirds, of each chamber. Oklahoma is one of only
three states that have this restriction on raising
taxes. While this protects the citizens of our state
from run-away legislatures constantly increasing
taxes, it is also what has caused us to be in special
session.
The legislatures job is the pay the states bills.
These include funding all state services, projects
and programs within our many state agencies.
The reason why we had to come into special
session was to ll a $215 million budget hole
caused by the cigarette fee that was passed during
the regular session was unconstitutional. Those
funds were allocated to the Department of
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services,
the Oklahoma Healthcare Authority and
the Department of Human Services. We are
constitutionally required to pass a balanced
budget so when this revenue stream was ruled
unconstitutional, the legislature had to address it.
Gov. Fallin called us into special session not
only to fill that revenue hole but to address
other issues like a teacher pay raise, sales tax on
commercial vehicles and to strengthen the states
budgetary structure.
Remember that revenue measures must start
in the House and the problem weve had the
last several weeks is that no budget bill has been
approved by that chamber. After weeks of bill
failures and continued negotiations, the House
and Senate leadership authored HB1054X, also
known as the A+ Budget Proposal. This bill
included a $1.50 cigarette tax, a tax on low-point
beer, a six-cent per gallon increase to the motor
fuel tax and raised the gross production tax (GPT)
from two to four percent.
The bill also included cuts to some state agency
budgets. It will close the revenue hole while
also providing a $3,000 raise to all certified
school personnel and a $1,000 raise to all state
employees. The bill failed in House committee
with a tie vote. Some members walked their
R E A L Ta l k
By Toni Ross
Intern
play at and offer a scholarship in such a short
amount of time. Gerszewski was lucky to have
contacts at other schools to offer scholarships and
incentives for SGU cheerleaders next semester.
Native American students on the Potawatomi
Nation scholarships will have to transfer and may
not get the same coverage at a different university.
Undergraduate and graduate students that
paved their way through St. Gregorys courses
and requirements will have to receive a degree
from a different university.
Coaches and staff who arent professors last
day will be Nov. 21. The rest of the faculty will be
released Dec. 8, when the doors to St. Gregorys
University ofcially close.
The devastation is present for all afliates of
SGU though there are many colleges reaching out
their hands to help.
With the short amount of time to apply, enroll
and transition to another college, all official
transcripts will be available at Oklahoma Baptist
University.
With holidays and next semester shortly
approaching, many supporters have created
gofundme accounts. An account was created by
students to provide aid to faculty and staff that
lost their jobs. Visit gofundme.com/st-gregorys-
christmas to donate.
My heart hurts for those so deeply affected by
the closing of St. Gregorys University. This insti-
tution was not only a place for education, it was
a place for opportunity represented by the his-
tory and culture it proudly served to its students,
faculty and staff and the Catholic community.
SENATE INSIGHTS
State Sen. Jason Smalley
vote and most of the Democrats voted against
the measure.
This put the legislature at square one again. Then
DHS announced that they were going to be
forced to stop programs that help the elderly and
disabled. It was also found that the Department
of Health has been lying about their nances for
some time and needs more money as well.
The Houses solution was, and is, to drain the
emergency Rainy Day Fund. While this revenue
failure does warrant an emergency and use of the
fund, the Senate doesnt believe this is scally
responsible and is simply a temporary x and
will leave us with an even larger shortfall (around
$600 million) next session and no emergency fund
should there be a natural disaster or something
next year.
Trying to put an end to the madness, the Senate,
although many of dont think its a perfect
solution, amended a bill the House had sent
us before with the language of the A+ revenue
plan and we approved the measure 37-5 in an
overwhelming super majority to show the House
if theyd approve the measure, it would pass the
Senate and be sent on to the governor bringing
an end to the special session.
We were so hopeful after HB1054X passed out
of House JCAB 19-6 but unfortunately the bill
failed in the House 71-27. Revenue measures
must pass with a super majority or two-thirds
vote, which is at least 76 votes in the House. I am
proud of our local representatives, however, who
did vote in favor of this important bill.
So our work continues. The House is focused
on using our reserve cash and making drastic
cuts to state agencies. The Senate is still hoping
the House will reconsider their vote on HB1054X
for the good of the state.
To contact me at the Capitol, please write to
Senator Jason Smalley, State Capitol, 2300 N.
Lincoln Blvd. Room 416, Oklahoma City, OK,
73105, email me at smalley@oksenate.gov, or call
(405) 521-5547.