House approves Tulsa Riot Commission measure

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma House voted Monday to allow the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission to resume its work more<br>quickly.<br><br>The House voted 74-27 for an emergency provision that permits

Monday, April 3rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma House voted Monday to allow the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission to resume its work more
quickly.

The House voted 74-27 for an emergency provision that permits legislation recreating the commission to go into effect immediately
after it is signed by Gov. Frank Keating.

Without passage of the emergency clause, the measure would have gone into effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns May 26.

The House had voted Wednesday to accept Senate amendments to House Bill 2468 by Rep. Don Ross, D-Tulsa. But lawmakers rejected the emergency clause.

Rep. John Wright, R-Broken Arrow, urged lawmakers to defeat the emergency provision in order to permit emotion over the deadly riot
and the commission's work to ease.

"I believe that we need a cooling-off period in the city of Tulsa," Wright said.

But other lawmakers said the commission should be allowed to complete its work as soon as possible. Legislation that recreated
the commission says it must finish its work and submit a final report on the riot no later than Feb. 28, 2001.

"This bill is about a beginning of some closure," Ross said.

Among other things, the measure permits Oklahoma State University to transfer to the Oklahoma Historical Society land in the Greenwood area of north Tulsa where the riot occurred. The land will be used for a memorial.

"Not to continue it on to its conclusion is ludicrous," said Rep. Betty Boyd, D-Tulsa. "We will be looked upon as not finishing our business."

The commission has spent two years investigating the violence that occurred May 31, 1921, between blacks and whites. Its
authorization ran out earlier this year under the state's "sunset" law.

Historians believe as many as 300 people, mostly blacks, died in the violence.

On another matter, the House passed a bill that will permit taxpayers to donate a portion of their state tax returns to the proposed memorial and three other causes.

Senate Bill 1343 by Sen. Lewis Long, D-Glenpool, originally allowed donations to the Oklahoma animal Adoption Revolving Fund,
the School for the Deaf/School for the Blind Revolving Fund and the Silver Haired Legislature Revolving Fund.

An amendment offered by Rep. Wayne Pettigrew, R-Edmond, added the Tulsa Race Riot Commission Revolving Fund.