Court Opinion

ID: 9796641
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:01:23.662423+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:50:53.223732
License: Public Domain

KATUGER, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part: -
1 1 I agree that: 1) the petitioners, members of the House of Representatives, have *688standing; 2) HB 1570 violates the single subject rule of the Okla. Const. art. 5, §§ 56 and 57; 3) the President Pro Tempore should be allowed to intervene; and 4) the cause should not be continued.
2 My concern is that the order automatically sets an instantaneous "drop-dead" date. Ordinarily, the majority of this Court's decisions are not considered final until the twenty-day time frame for filing rehearing has expired or the mandate has issued in the cause.1 Here, because of the peculiar procedural posture, the twenty-day rehearing period does not stay the effectiveness of the order. Original proceedings are treated differently pursuant to Rule 1.198, Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules, 12 0.8. Supp.1997, Ch. 15, App. 1 which provides in pertinent part:
"In all original proceedings other than those to review a decision of the Workers' Compensation Court or to impose bar discipline, the decision of this Court, unless it is stayed with or without bond, shall be- : come effective when its opinion or order is filed with the clerk. ..."
T3 The effect of today's order-an original proceeding-is immediate upon its filing with the Court Clerk. Because Rule 1.198 results in these litigants being treating differently from the norm, I would suspend the rule and allow the rehearing process to proceed-providing the parties an opportunity to challenge the order in the rehearing process-an option which does not exist absent the Court's staying the effectiveness of Rule 1.198, Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules, 12 0.8. Supp.1997, Ch. 15, App. 1.
{4 The Legislature continues in special session.2 Should the Governor choose to add the questioned funding issues to the legislative agenda,3 the possible disruptions to state payroll or contracting procedures pointed out in the dissent could be minimized or totally eliminated. I would afford this opportunity by staying the effectiveness of the order until rehearing proceedings could take their ordinary course.4
T5 Because the respondents, the Director of State Finance and the State Treasurer, are required to withhold payments onee the order is filed, irreparable damage may be done in a situation where none need occur. Therefore, I dissent from the majority order only to the extent that it does not provide the usual twenty-day rehearing period.

. See, Rule 1.13, Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules, 12 O.S. Supp.1997, Ch. 15, App. 1 providing in pertinent part;
"(a) Petition. Applications for rehearing and a brief in support thereof, unless otherwise ordered by the Court, shall be made by petition to the Court, signed by counsel, and filed with the Clerk within twenty (20) days from the date on which the opinion in the cause is filed...."
[Emphasis in original.]
In original proceedings involving review of a decision of the Workers' Compensation Court or those imposing bar discipline, the rule is the same. See, Rule 1.193, Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules, 12 O.S. Supp.1997, Ch. 15, App. 1.

. Special sessions may be called by the Legislature or by the Governor. Because the session is in progress, it is unnecessary for the members to convene through the two-thirds vote required by art. 5, § 27A. The Okla. Const. art. 5, § 27 provides:
''The Legislature shall hold regular annual sessions as herein provided, but this shall not prevent the calling of special sessions of the Legislature by the Governor."
The Okla. Const. art. 5, § 27A provides:
"(1) The Legislature may be called into special session by a written call for such purposes as may be specifically set out in the call, signed by two-thirds (%) of the members of the Senate and two-thirds (%) of the members of the House of Representatives when it is filed with the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives who shall issue jointly an order for the convening of the special session. (2) Nothing in this section shall prevent the calling of a special session of the Legislature by the Governor, as provided by the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma."

. The Okla. Const. art. 6, § 7 provides:
''The Governor shall have power to convoke the Legislature, or the Senate only, on extraordinary occasions. At extraordinary sessions, no subject shall be acted upon, except such as the Governor may recommend for consideration."

. Rule 1.13, Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules, 12 O0.S. Supp.1997, Ch.App. 1.