Mary Fallin’s Special Session Begins

Mary Fallin has called a special session, which begins today at noon.

This is the first time since 2006 that a special session has been held.

Representative Steve Vaughn said that the reason behind the session is because there were too many items rolled into one bill.

“The tort form bill is one bill, there is probably going to be 25 to 30 bills we will individually vote on, which will be part of that tort reform,” Vaughn said.

Supreme court ruled bill 1603 unconstitutional nearly 40 days ago.

Some of the topics that will be discussed are school suspension, frivolous lawsuits, seat belts and non-economic damages.

Senator Eddie Fields said now is the right time to handle this.

“After looking at the facts and everything I think it is going to be better to go ahead and address it now,” Fields said. “Get it done and have it in place, so that way we have it all out of the way.”

Senator Fields said this session should last six to 10 days.

There are currently 13 lawsuits against hospitals and other companies that are the main reason behind the special session.

“I do think that is one thing we probably need to look at this next legislative session starting in February,” Fields said. “Is look how we can define what a single subject is and those perimeters that need to be set on single subject. That way we don’t have to go into special session and cost taxpayers money to address issues like this when our supreme court has said that they are unconstitutional.”

Fields said he does believe this is a good step for Oklahoma.