GOP legislator prods House leadership for truly open legislative process

State Rep. Jason Murphey said he supports proposals to stop waiving the 24-hour rule before House votes in the last two days of the session and to force House conference committees to meet publicly before signing off on bills.

But the Republican said his party's leadership in the Legislature must do more to dismantle the closed legislative process that has "proven to be so conducive to corruption."

"Each year that goes by without a complete overhaul of the system makes it more likely that the new Republican majority will become co-opted by the process and become defenders of the status quo," wrote Murphey in a column published Tuesday in The Edmond Sun.

Murphey represents House District 31, which encompasses Logan County and part of north Edmond.

Murphey said that when he took office in 2007, he realized the "new generation of Republican legislative leaders in the House had taken significant steps toward making the legislative process more open and transparent, but had in no way dismantled the closed system that had been in place for many years."

Though not included in his newspaper column, Murphey has said since March that he will introduce a bill next session to remove the Legislature's self-imposed exemption from the Open Records law.


Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Media and Stratetgic Communication