Shawn Ashley, Quorum Call
(QC) Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed a portion of House Minority Leader Cindy Munson’s bill increasing compensation for those wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for felony crimes.
Stitt, for the first time this session used his line-item veto authority. According to the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor may line-item a bill ”making appropriations of money embracing distinct items and the remainder of the bill will become law.
HB2235 is subject to my scrutiny and line-item veto authority because it makes appropriations of money embracing distinct items, sets apart a specific portion of money to be applied to an expenditure, purchase, or expense for a specified purpose, and materially alters the conditions of funds previously specified for expenditure. The bill makes multiple appropriations, Stitt argued in the veto message.
Stitt vetoed two provisions in the bills: One that provides a person wrongfully incarcerated of a felony and entitled to compensation would be eligible to obtain group health benefits through the Department of Corrections and another that provides a free higher or career technology education for a person wrongfully incarcerated and their children.
The bill does not include monetary appropriations to the Department of Corrections, State Regents for Higher Education or Department of Career and Technology Education.
The bill requires the Legislature to appropriate funds to the Tort Claims Liability Revolving Fund for costs associated with providing the group health benefit plan coverage required by the bill. It allows but does not require the Department of Corrections to seek reimbursement from the fund for expenditures related to providing health coverage to the individual. It calls the education benefit a “waiver” and limits it to up to 120 credit hours.
Stitt wrote in his veto message: “The vetoed provision in Section 2 provides health coverage to claimants as though employees of the Department of Corrections. The bill directs that ‘[t]he Legislature shall appropriate funds to the Tort Claims Liability Revolving Fund for costs associated with providing group health benefit plan coverage by the Department to a claimant[.]’
“Similarly, Section 4 waives tuition and fees at Oklahoma colleges for claimants and their children, at the expense of the State, altering the conditions of funds previously specified for expenditure.
“I believe the other provisions in House Bill 2235 are adequate, at this time, to compensate wrongfully convicted individuals; adding legislatively appropriated free health insurance and college is unnecessary,” Stitt wrote.
Munson called Stitt’s signing of the remainder of the bill “a big win and step in the right direction for reforming Oklahoma’s criminal justice system,”“While no amount of money can make up for someone’s life lost to wrongful conviction, this increased compensation restores dignity to a person’s life. We are holding our criminal justice system to a higher standard, placing responsibility to carefully convict those who are proven guilty. Oklahomans who are proven innocent and exonerated should be able to access compensation that helps them get back on their feet, reunite with their families, and rejoin their communities to move on with their lives. I am grateful for the bipartisan support in the Legislature and for the advocacy of a wide range of criminal justice organizations who helped get this bill signed into law. I am also grateful to Governor Stitt for finding common ground to make Oklahoma a more fair and just place to live,” Munson said.
She added, “While I am disappointed the Governor line item vetoed the ability for a wrongfully convicted person to access health care and tuition benefits, I am still committed to working together to help Oklahomans access those benefits. They are both key to growing and sustaining our workforce, especially for those who were wrongfully incarcerated. I believe we can work together to get it done in the future.”
Stitt also expressed support for the intent of the bill. “I support the intent of House Bill 2235 —increasing the compensation available for individuals who have been incarcerated due to wrongful conviction. To that end, I approve all the provisions of this bill except for the appropriations directed by the vetoed provisions,” Stitt wrote in his veto message.
appropriations directed by the vetoed provisions,” Stitt wrote in his veto message. HB2235 , by Munson and Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, permits a person who qualifies for an expungement based on actual innocence established by DNA evidence or who received a full pardon from the Governor for the crime to request a hearing be set within 30 days after filing a petition for expungement. The bill requires the court to grant the request and provide at least 10 days’ notice to the prosecuting agency, the arresting agency, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and any other person or agency that the court has reason to believe may have relevant information related to the sealing of the record. It removes criteria that required persons who seek damages from the Governmental Tort Claims Act for wrongful convictions to have not pleaded to the offense charged or a lesser included offense. The bill modifies the amount that can be recovered under a Governmental Tort claim by establishing that the amount is to be $50,000 multiplied by the number of years served in prison. It provides additional compensation of $50,000 multiplied by the number of years in prison if the person served time on death row. It provides persons released on parole or under conditions of probation are entitled to receive supplemental compensation of $25,000 multiplied by the number of years under probation. The bill requires the claimant to be paid in a lump sum if the award is under $1.0 million. It requires the claimant to be paid $1.0 million in a lump sum and the remaining amount over a three-year period if the amount is more than $1.0 million. It requires the claimant receive group health coverage as if the person through the Department of Corrections for a period of time equal to the total period the claimant was incarcerated. It permits the department to seek reimbursement from the Tort Claims Liability Revolving Fund. The bill requires the Department of Corrections to provide wrongfully imprisoned persons with information regarding how to obtain compensation and a list of nonprofit advocacy groups that assist wrongfully imprisoned persons. The measure requires wrongfully convicted persons and their children to be provided tuition waivers, room and board waivers and fee waivers for attendance at Oklahoma colleges and career technology centers for up to 120 credit hours.It takes effect July 1.
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