Keating signs 12 bills, vetoes three

Wednesday, May 8th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Gov. Frank Keating signed 12 bills into law Wednesday but vetoed three others, including a measure to allow high school students who transfer from out of state to obtain a diploma regardless of whether they meet Oklahoma's graduation requirements.

House Bill 2312 would have required the state Board of Education to adopt rules by Aug. 1 for students who transfer after their sophomore year to receive a standard diploma in spite of differing graduation requirements in the state where they had been enrolled.

Keating said allowing district boards of education to grant exceptions to state graduation requirements ``undermines the very purpose of these requirements _ to ensure that our diplomas mean that every student receiving them has met certain minimum standards.''

Among the measures Keating signed was Senate Bill 1635, which directs the Department of Health to develop the Volunteer Health Care Provider Program to increase access to health care by expanding the number of health care volunteers.

Keating has now vetoed 275 measures since taking office in 1995. None have been overridden.