Chase Congleton
he House of Representatives unanimously overrode Governor Corey Shirey’s veto of House Bill No. OSU-548.
The author of the bill, Representative Alexander Wade of Oklahoma State University, was given a chance to explain his reason why the House of Representatives should override the veto of the governor.
The speech ignited applause within all of the delegates, who all unanimously voted to override the veto with no objections recognized.
The bill will now have to make its way to the Senate where it will require a two-thirds majority vote from the delegates there to override Governor Shirey’s veto.
The bill, written by Representative Wade, called to make vaccinations mandatory for all children of the state, regardless of the religious beliefs the child or their family might hold. The bill hopes to set stricter immunization practices in order to prevent various illnesses from becoming more common.
Governor Shirey walked into the House chamber the moment after the unanimous vote from the House delegates to override his veto. In the middle of the House’s cheerful rendition of the song “Oklahoma,” many delegates of the House turned their heads toward the governor, who appeared shocked.
Governor Shirey, who vetoed the bill because of a lack of freedom of religion appearing in the text in his view, works as a youth pastor in his free time.
After the applause ended, Shirey walked toward the podium, but before he could speak, several House delegates raised their placards to be called by the chair to recognize their proposed motions.
Representative Craig Slagle of OSU raised his placard and motioned that if it was in the chairperson’s opinion that there might be a way the delegates could sue the governor for excessive use of executive privilege based on his veto of the bill.
Chairperson Jessie Hickey replied that due to her close friendship with Governor Shirey that she will leave her opinion out of that motion. Representative Brandon Swearengin raised his placard after Chairperson Hickey’s response.
“On a motion, Madame Chair?” Swearengin said. “Is it in the opinion of the chair that we just stuck it to the man?”
The chair, then, recognized Governor Shirey to speak on the podium. Shirey avoided the previous questions and made several announcements regarding the upcoming elections for the 2020-2021 positions in the executive branch.