Nearly three weeks after a State House committee okayed a measure creating a task force to study the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the full House has also given approval.
House bill 1377 would create a “Twenty-first Century Corporation Commission Task Force.” Approval came on a 91-0 vote meaning even those who questioned the measure in committee supported it on the House floor this week.
Rep. Weldon Watson, Tulsa authored the measure and continued calling it a work in progress, much the same as he said in the early-March committee hearing.
His bill calls for a 14-member task force to study the Corporation Commission and do a performance assessment of agency workload levels, time required to process the workload and the agency’s reputation among its stakeholders. It also asks for a structural assessment of the composition of the Commission and the impact of Open Meetings Act requirements. The review includes a determination whether the Commission is properly funded and properly staffed to meet its mission.
Under HB 1377, the task force would be required to deliver a final report by Dec. 1, 2018 to the Governor, the House speaker and the Senate President Pro Tem.
Listen to some of the questioning of Watson regarding his bill.