The Fifty-second Oklahoma Legislature was the meeting of the

legislative branch A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

of the

government of Oklahoma The government of the U.S. State of Oklahoma, established by the Oklahoma Constitution, is a republican democracy modeled after the federal government of the United States. The state government has three branches: the executive, legislative, a ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

from January 3, 2009, to January 4, 2011, during the second two years of the second administration of Governor

Brad Henry Charles Bradford Henry (born July 10, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician who was the 26th governor of Oklahoma from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected governor in 2002. Henry won re-election for a second term ...

. It was the first session in state history where the Republican Party has controlled both houses of the legislature.

Dates of sessions

*Organizational day: January 3, 2009 *First regular session: February 2, 2009 – May 29, 2009 *Second regular session: February 4, 2010 – May 30, 2010 Previous: 51st Legislature • Next: 53rd Legislature

Major legislation

Enacted

*Abortion - HB 1595 prohibited a mother from having an abortion based solely on the sex of the child. *Health care - HB 1127 provided $7 million to allow the Oklahoma State University Medical Center to continue to operate. *Sales tax exemption - SB 318 created a gradual elimination of the state

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a gove ...

on groceries. *

Silver Alert A Silver Alert is a public notification system in the United States to broadcast information about missing persons – especially senior citizens with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, or other mental disabilities – in order to aid in locating th ...

- HB 2030 creates an alert system for

senior citizens Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

who have gone missing, similar to the

Amber Alert An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert ( SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children. The system originated in ...

used to find missing children. *

Tort reform Tort reform refers to changes in the civil justice system in common law countries that aim to reduce the ability of plaintiffs to bring tort litigation (particularly actions for negligence) or to reduce damages they can receive. Such changes a ...

- HB 1603 required Oklahomans wishing to file a

medical malpractice Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The neglige ...

lawsuit to prove before a third party that the case is not frivolous.

Failed

*Charter schools - SB 834 would have allowed school districts to easily convert schools into

charter schools A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

, a move that would exempt them from most state mandates. The legislation was vetoed by the governor. *Embryonic stem cells - HB 1326 would have made it a crime for a scientist to perform any form of

embryonic stem cell research Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre- implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist ...

, but was vetoed by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. *Insurance - HB 1312 would have mandated insurance coverage for children with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

. It failed to get enough votes for passage in the

Added to 2010 ballot as a referendum

English-only The English-only movement, also known as the Official English movement, is a political movement that advocates for the use of only the English language in official United States government operations through the establishment of English as the o ...

- HJR 1042 asked voters whether or not to make English the official language of Oklahoma. *Voting - SB 4 asked voters to decide whether or not to require voters to produce a state-issued ID at the polls. *Workers compensation - SB 609 allowed voters to decide whether or not to require

workers compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

judges' appointments to be confirmed by the

Oklahoma Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for ex ...

Jari Askins Jari Askins (born April 27, 1953) is an American judge, lawyer and Democratic politician from the US state of Oklahoma. She was the 15th lieutenant governor of Oklahoma, being the second woman and the first female Democratic Party member to hol ...

(D-

Duncan Duncan may refer to: People * Duncan (given name), various people * Duncan (surname), various people * Clan Duncan * Justice Duncan (disambiguation) Places * Duncan Creek (disambiguation) * Duncan River (disambiguation) * Duncan Lake ...

) * President ''pro tempore'': Glenn Coffee (R-

)

Republican caucus

* Majority Leader: Todd Lamb * Assistant Floor Leader:

Brian Bingman Brian John Bingman (born December 9, 1953) is an American Republican politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma serving as Secretary of State and Native American Affairs and was formerly the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate. He curr ...

* Assistant Floor Leader: Mike Mazzei * Assistant Floor Leader: Clark Jolley * Whip:

Mike Schulz Mike Schulz (born March 5, 1964) is an American politician who served as a member of the Oklahoma Senate from 2006 to 2018. A farmer from Southwestern Oklahoma, Schulz was first elected to office in 2006. Early life and education Schulz was bor ...

* Whip: Cliff Branan * Whip: Anthony Sykes * Caucus Chair: John Ford

Democratic caucus

* Democratic Leader: Charlie Laster * Assistant Floor Leader: Jay Paul Gumm * Assistant Floor Leader: Sean Burrage * Assistant Floor Leader: Tom Adelson * Assistant Floor Leader: Tom Ivester * Assistant Floor Leader: Richard Lerblance * Whip: Susan Paddack * Whip: Debbe Leftwich * Whip: Roger Ballenger * Whip: Charles Wyrick * Caucus Chair: Kenneth Corn

House of Representatives

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

: Chris Benge *Speaker Pro Tempore:

Kris Steele Kris Steele (born July 11, 1973) is a United States politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma who served as state representative. Steele served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives as the Speaker of the House, a position he took over after ...

Republican caucus

* Majority Floor Leader: Tad Jones * First Assistant Majority Floor Leader: Ron Peters * Caucus Chairman: John Wright * Majority Whip: Mike Jackson

Democratic caucus

* Democratic Leader: Danny Morgan * Democratic Floor Leader: Mike Brown * Whip: Ben Sherrer * Caucus Chairman: Chuck Hoskin

Party composition

Senate

House of Representatives

Membership

Changes in membership during session

*July 15, 2009 Ryan McMullen (D) resigns from representing HD-55 to take a federal position as Oklahoma’s director of rural development. *October 21, 2009

Todd Russ Todd Russ (born January 8, 1961) is an American politician who has served as the Treasurer of Oklahoma since 2023. He previously served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives representing the 55th district from 2009 to 2022. He was term limited ...

(R) is sworn in to represent HD-55, filling the seat vacant from Ryan McMullen's resignation.

Senate

House of Representatives

References and notes

External links

Oklahoma Legislature Homepage

State of Oklahoma's Website

{{Oklahoma Legislatures Oklahoma legislative sessions 2009 in Oklahoma 2010 in Oklahoma 2009 U.S. legislative sessions 2010 U.S. legislative sessions