By Journalist Alondra Perez (OU)
During an interview, Representative Sherer noticed her bill was not what she intended it to be after it had passed the house this morning around 10 am.
While the bill was being presented on the House floor, Rep. Sherer accepted a friendly amendment that she heard over the microphone. This struck Rep. Sherer’s initial amendment of 25 years after the discovery of the crime and added “can be commenced at any time after the assault has been perpetrated” in section 2 subsection C.
While the interview was being commenced, Rep. Sherer noticed that the amendment had been entered as striking section 2 subsection C in its entirety. Panicked, Rep, Sherer needed to get her bill fixed before the senate summoned her.
With quick thinking, Rep. Sherer immediately brought this to the attention of the chief clerk. To the chief clerk’s discretion, if the author of the amendment agreed that their amendment was not properly represented based on their intent reading it over the mic, then the Clerk would be able to fix it without the bill needing to be seen again.
The author of the friendly amendment is a zero star who is new to submitting amendments. With the hope of there being a misunderstanding, Rep. Sherer and chief clerk found amendment author Sahleh (TU) to answer some questions.
Fortunately, Representative Sahleh was able to clarify that the way the bill had been amended was not her intention, and the problem was able to be resolved before it ever hit the Senate floor. Crisis averted.