Too many legislators?

Last week as a member of the rules committee, I attended an interim study to examine a proposal by Representative Gary Banz of Midwest City. Representative Banz intends to amend his House joint resolution 1021 in the 2012 session to send a constitutional amendment to the voters that would reduce the Oklahoma legislature by approximately 10%. What that would mean, in numbers of House members, is that it would reduce 101 representatives down to 91. It would reduce the number of State Senators from the current 48 down to 43. The House fiscal staff estimated that this could reduce legislative expenses by approximately 1.2million dollars annually which at first glance sounds great, especially if you say it real fast. There are several schools of thought on this issue and before I go any further, let me say that in my opinion Gary Banz is a good man. I consider him well intentioned and I believe that he has no malice in his heart toward any specific legislators or particular districts. Gary Banz is a former educator and I am thoroughly convinced that it is nothing more than a mathematical equation. There are some venomous attacks from some concerned groups on his character which I believe are totally unwarranted. I know Gary well and I know that he just sees this as a cost savings and an opportunity to reduce the size of government. That being said let me give you a rural legislator’s perspective on why this may not be such a good idea. First of all, I was the chairman of the Southwest region last session when we drew the new maps and I saw first hand the size and square miles of many of the rural districts. My concern is that you can overburden a rural legislator because many times rural districts are comprised of several hundred square miles. When I had House staff give me a rough estimate of the square miles of my district it was about 1500 square miles with numerous school districts and taking in two county seats. There is a stark difference between an urban district that may be made up of square blocks. Now this measure, should it pass, really will not affect me because I will be termed out before it could possibly take effect, but if you’ve ever tried to make all the different civic events and school functions, parades and festivals in a rural district you’ll know exactly what I mean. I’ve got ten school districts in district 63 and in each of those communities they like to see their Senator or Representative from time to time and if you don’t make the rounds often times they get offended. In rural districts folks usually at least know who their legislators are and in many cases they know them personally. Its much like living in the country, you probably know your neighbor a mile down the road and in many big cities people may not know the neighbor next door. I believe that Representative Banz may not be as in touch with the size and scale of rural districts. Again, as I said earlier I don’t think he intends any harm I just think, to him, the mathematical equation says we will save money. There is another school of thought that some have expressed that says that some folks will be under represented and that it will make it tougher to gain access to legislators and I might tend to agree due to the size of districts that will be created. Under Representative Banz’ proposal the average number of constituents per House district would increase from today’s 37, 142 to 41,224. This would add about 4,000 people for a House member to have to reach, or from the other side of the equation, it would be 4,000 more people that would have to struggle for access to their Representative. Senate districts would increase from 78,153 to 87,241 constituents. If this measure went to the vote of the people in November 2012, the change would be implemented in 2021 following the next census and redistricting process.

Banz contends that many other state legislatures have districts of similar size noting that legislators in 28 other states currently represent more constituents per capita than Oklahoma lawmakers do. Two figures tossed out for consideration were that in 1921 in Oklahoma there were just 92 seats in the House but in 1953 there were 124 members in the State House. Banz also feels that with technological changes in communication over the past several years that access to government officials and the governing process is easier than any other time in our state’s history. While he is technically correct I still think we have to be extremely careful to not make the job of being an Oklahoma legislator so cumbersome that we cannot get good people to run. We need to be very cognizant of anything we create as far as obstacles.

I know that many of you, at first glance, think that any time we can shrink government its better. I think we need to think on this one long and hard and look at all the possible scenarios before we jump off this cliff. I’d be interested to hear how some of you see it. Love to hear from ya’ just shoot us an email with your thoughts.

If you would like to contact me at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call 1-800-522-8502 or email me at donarmes@okhouse.gov.

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.- Ernest Benn