Increasing the Governor's powers

The Oklahoma Legislature is considering a bill that could dramatically expand the powers of the Governor, but only in case of a major emergency. <br><br>It's called the Catastrophic Emergency Health

Thursday, April 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The Oklahoma Legislature is considering a bill that could dramatically expand the powers of the Governor, but only in case of a major emergency.

It's called the Catastrophic Emergency Health Powers Act. It would give the governor the authority to basically take over county governments.

The governor would also have the power to quarantine people in the event of biological warfare, and to suspend all rules and regulations of state agencies. Governor Keating says lawmakers should approach the bill with caution. "I'm very open-minded, but obviously I'm very careful about signing anything that will expand inappropriately the power of the executive."

Keating says more attention needs to be focussed on making radio communications compatible among all the different law enforcement agencies.