HJR 1021 - calling for the reduction of number of Senate and House districts.

              INTERIM STUDY REPORT
Rules Committee
Rep. Gary Banz, Chairman
Oklahoma House of Representatives
Interim Study 11-045, Rep. Gary Banz
September 20, 2011
HJR1021-Calling for the reduction of number of Senate and House Districts
Rep. Banz
Opening statements and overview of interim study
o Can we afford the current number of House and Senate members?
o Can we reduce the size of the Legislature without limiting access to elected officials?
o Reviewed a draft HJR and bill summary, included in the packet, which if approved by
the voters would, beginning in 2023, reduced the size of the House from 101 to 91
and the Senate from 48 to 43.
Oklahoma legislative membership history
o Reviewed Article 5, Section 10A of the Oklahoma Constitution which provided for
the composition of the House based on the counties in the state.
o Rural areas of the state were grossly overrepresented in the House and the urban areas
were underrepresented.
o In 1962. the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Baker v. Carr established the basis
of the one person, one vote doctrine.
o Beginning in 1964 the number of House districts was set by statute. In that year the
number of House districts were reduced from 121 to 99 and the Senate was increased
from 44 to 48. In 1972 the number of House districts was set at the current number of
101.
o Since the 1960’s control in the legislature as moved away from rural areas to urban
and suburban areas where the people are.
o In response to a question, it was noted that roughly 5 states have increased their
legislature’s size and about six have decreased the size since the 1960’s.
o Some members of the committee raised concerns about increasing the square miles of
a district.
Mark Tygret
Fiscal Director
Oklahoma House of Representatives
Fiscal impact
o Discussed the expenses that factor into the annual cost per House member of $83,289.65.
o The numbers for the Senate may vary some but should be somewhat comparable to those
for the House.
o The total cost savings, in today’s climate, of reducing the size of the Legislature by 15
members would be about $1.2 million.
Rep. Banz
Per capita impact and state comparison
o Reviewed the spreadsheet in the packet (item #3) entitled “2010 Population and
Legislative Size” to compare Oklahoma’s district sizes and rank to states in the region as
well as states with a similar population figure.