Governor-elect Emmett Thomspon speaks about this session’s internal legislation.
Zimmerman (OU)
Delegates from across the state worked together to bring two pieces of legislation changing the point system for the competition aspect of the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature.
The collaborative effort included delegates from both chambers and many different schools. IB-001 will give more options for superlative awards.
“The idea behind that one…basically the more awards we can take home to different delegations, the more they can help recruiting people,” said governor-elect Emmett Thompson (OU).
These additional awards would not carry point values. This means they would not affect the competition.
IB-002 does have a direct impact on the competition. It restructures the point breakdown. The bill increases the value of the best delegate award.
“I think their biggest thing with the best delegate is that there are a lot more people that fall into that category than best freshman or best legislation, so it…should have a bigger stake in the competition,” Thompson said.
The bill also takes away discretionary points awarded in moot court, the house and the senate. It changes point values across other areas of the competition. Thompson said these changes sparked heated debate among the bill’s authors.
“They made a big GroupMe and added a bunch of people,” Thompson said. “Then there became a thing where they wanted to devalue press overall, that it didn’t matter as much, like it doesn’t compare to moot, or doesn’t compare to all this stuff, so that was a big deal.”
Thompson’s main concern with the bill is the loss of discretionary points.
“I’m of the opinion that statues and things…should be relatively vague because you want to be able to adapt it to the situation,” said Thompson. He sees discretionary points as a way to achieve this within the competition.
Nevertheless, he is happy to see so many delegates coming together to make improvements.
“The idea is we want to continue to evolve as an organization, continue to try to make it the best it can be, and if we’re not working towards that, what’s the point?” Thompson said.
Thompson is thankful to be part of an organization that allows its members to have a voice. As governor, he plans to continue looking through O.I.L.’s current legislation to see where it can be updated. He encourages other delegates to do the same.