After a near-unanimous approval by the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the Knights Law bill increasing sentences for certain sex offenders was not allowed to go to the Senate floor for discussion and hoped-for passage this year.
That law was written in answer to the May 2023 murders of five Henryetta teens by convicted rapist Jesse McFadden.
A problem with the projected monetary cost of Knights Law bill was said to have kept it from being heard by the Oklahoma Senate.
That was the reasoning according to bill author state Rep. Scott Fetgatter Friday.
Speaking at the May Henryetta Legislative Forum, Fetgatter said senators looked at the bill and decided the cost would be too great.
He explained the bill would cost around $129 million but, “that would be over a long period of time.” He said the cost would be spread out over 20 to 30 years but senators looked only at the total dollars instead of the estimated $4 to $6 million each year.
Fetgatter said it would have increased the sentence for criminals convicted of six most heinous crimes and included life sentences.
He said that bill will be brought up again. “Next year the fiscal impact will be the same but we will rewrite the annual fiscal impact,” he said.
The complete text of the bill can be found HERE.
He pointed out that bill passage is a process that involves a lot of people. “Sometimes you write a bill and it flies through with no problem. Sometimes it takes a while to get people to understand the complexity of the law. There has been a big push for criminal justice reform.”
He said that reform should be across the board. Should these bills be too much or not enough.”
The immigration issue was one of the biggest concerns for legislators this year he said.
“Immigration is the number one issue people want to talk about,” he said.
“We passed a bill that said if a person commits a crime in Oklahoma and cannot prove they are here legally, the first offense is a misdemeanor. They have to pay a fine and serve a short jail time then have 72 hours to get out of Oklahoma.” That bill said if a person is found guilty of a second offense, it becomes a felony.
“I would contend that if the federal government is not taking care of it, we should. We should have the right to protect our citizens.”