By Journalist Macy Baca (SE).
Who knew that minerals would be so controversial? This morning, a divided Senate cast their votes for Representative Baughman’s (SE) bill concerning proper taxation of mineral rights in the state of Oklahoma.
Under current Oklahoma law, property can be dually owned, with one individual, company, or entity owning the surface of the land and another owning the rights to the minerals below. The owner of the mineral rights may, in some cases, provide compensation to the surface owner for damage caused to the surface, but they are not required to pay property tax on the land. Instead, this responsibility is placed entirely on the surface owner. Baughman’s bill amends the current statute to lessen the tax burden on surface owners.
After the author’s explanation, time for questions, and a brief recess for caucusing, the senators cast their votes. The bill had failed the Senate by a single vote. Almost immediately, however, several confused senators approached the dais to clarify the results with Senate leadership.
As it turned out, Deputy Gilmore, Senator Howell, and Senator Baca had independently kept track of each senator’s votes, and they reached the same conclusion: there had been a miscount. One vote, the one that made all the difference, had been misheard, causing the bill to fail.
Once this information came to light, the parliamentarians worked tirelessly to rectify the situation. Senators worked together, both proponents and opponents of the legislation, to go back in time to vote again. The votes were tabulated for the second time, with nine votes in the affirmative, eight in the negative, and two abstentions.
After a bit of a struggle, both the bill and the author had successfully made it through both chambers. “I haven’t really seen anything quite like that before,” says Baughman. “I appreciate my fellow delegates looking out for myself and the best interests for Oklahoma, and all in all, it was a good day.”
Governor Thompson signing SE-501 this afternoon.