Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan said Wednesday that he was able to reach a resolution to the stand-off with Republican Leader Glenn Coffee and Lt. Governor Mary Fallin by keeping the lines of communication open.

Under the agreement that ended the stalemate, Morgan consented for Fallin to preside over a single vote during Wednesday’s session before handing him back the gavel.

Senate dispute ends

State Capitol, Oklahoma City – Senate Democrats backed down Wednesday from their efforts to keep Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin from presiding over Senate proceedings and avoid a vote on real workers’ compensation reform.

Senate Democrats continued to ignore the Oklahoma Constitution Tuesday in their effort to protect trial lawyers from real workers’ compensation reform.

Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan and Senate Democrats again ignored Lt. Gov Mary Fallin’s presence in the presiding officer’s chair of the Oklahoma Senate Tuesday – but Fallin gaveled down Morgan, whom she ruled out of order, as the Democrat leadership ordered her microphone to be turned off.

Citing his constitutional authority Monday, Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan presided over the Oklahoma State Senate while standing beside his desk on the Senate floor, reaffirming his control over the day-to-day business of the legislative body after Lt. Governor Mary Fallin’s second failed attempted to hijack it.

Democrats violate State Constitution

In flagrant disregard of the Oklahoma Constitution, Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan ignored Lt. Gov Mary Fallin’s presence in the presiding officer’s chair of the Oklahoma Senate Monday.

Oklahomans should know more about House Bill 2046, the workers’ compensation reform measure being pushed by Lt. Governor Mary Fallin, than Republicans are telling them.

Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee and Senator Scott Pruitt are using gross generalities to mislead the public about the bill and the reasons Democrats oppose it in its current form, Senate Judiciary Chairman Charlie Laster said Friday.

State Capitol, Oklahoma City – Senate Republicans have requested that Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin continue to preside over the Oklahoma State Senate on Monday in an effort to secure an up-or-down vote on a real workers’ compensation reform bill – a request Fallin says she will honor.

“This battle is about whether we’re going to save and create Oklahoma jobs with real workers’ comp reform, or whether the Democrats will succeed in protecting trial lawyers,” stated Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.

Assistant Majority Leader Jeff Rabon said after Lt. Governor Mary Fallin and Senate Republicans pulled their petty political stunt Thursday, it was obvious that they were the party quickly becoming the road block for true workers’ compensation reform.

Rabon, a Hugo Democrat, said there are still four weeks left in session and two measures still alive to address the issue before session adjourns on May 27th.

Senator Jeff Rabon, Assistant Majority Leader and Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural Resources and Regulatory Services, stated today that rural Oklahoma is not getting its fair share of the pie in the latest budget agreement announced by both Senate and House leaders.

Vital programs that benefit rural Oklahoma were removed from the budget agreement that was announced last week in a press conference. Services that already took a deep cut two years ago during the fiscal downturn.