Capitol Week In Review: Opioid Settlement Takes Center State At Capitol

A busy week in state government with more fallout over a huge opioid settlement.  

The Senate took up House bills, and the House took up Senate bills. In all, about 400 bills were heard out of the initial 3,000 filed.

“It’s very difficult for a bill to become law and it’s difficult for a bill to become law on purpose. That’s the point. At the end of the day, if we’re doing something, we are taking away our citizens rights and we are telling them they can’t do something, so we do that process slowly,” said Representative Jon Echols (R) Majority Floor Leader.

Lawmakers expressed concern about Attorney General Mike Hunters $270 million opioid settlement with Purdue Pharma. The bulk of the cash goes to OSU, it was done without lawmakers’ knowledge, and a so-called bridge entity was set up to oversee the money. That bridge entity would not be subject to open records requests.

Read Related Story: AG Mike Hunter Explains Decision To Drop Most Claims In Opioid Lawsuit

“These folks that have been put in the position to now oversee $200 million of the people’s money are non-elected persons that have been asked to do something that’s not their purview,” said Representative Jason Dunnington (D) Oklahoma City.

Attorney General Mike Hunter said, “It was an important step to take, but nobody should view that as something that lacks checks and balances.”

The settlement gives huge tax breaks to the families that run Purdue. This week, Purdue has sent the state $102.5 million as part of the settlement.

“I am very concerned with how the money is going to be spent,” said Representative Echols.

A bill advanced in a State House of Representatives committee to help authorities better track rape kits. Testing rape kits can yield evidence that can lead to convictions, but the state of Oklahoma has an estimated 7,200 rape kits that remain untested. 

Read Related Story: Bill To Track Rape Kits In State House Committee

And former Texas legislator Jerry Madden, who is responsible for criminal justice reform there, spent a couple of days with Oklahoma lawmakers, discussing ways to reduce the prison population. It includes focusing more on drug rehab and mental health care – which worked for Texas.

“We’ve closed eight prisons. Eight. We’ve reduced our prison population by roughly 10 or11,000,” said Madden. “Recidivism is down. Our crime rates are the lowest they’ve been since the 60’s.”

See Related Story: Former Texas Lawmaker In Oklahoma To Talk About Criminal Justice Reform

Expect to hear more about criminal justice reform in the coming weeks. There are still about 30 criminal justice reform bills alive in the legislature.