Thursday, May 22, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor Mary Fallin today issued the following statement after House Joint Resolution 1092 failed to pass in the Oklahoma House of Representatives:
"A little more than a year ago today, seven children had their lives cut short when Plaza Towers Elementary School was ripped apart by a tornado in Moore. Those children would have been alive today if that school had a safe room.
"House Joint Resolution 1092 would have helped Oklahoma communities build storm shelters and saferooms in their schools. It would have saved lives.
"It failed today because of a politically motivated and intentionally misleading smear campaign. Critics of the bill said HJR 1092 would have raised taxes. It does not. It would have allowed local communities to increase their bonding indebtedness only if those communities voted to do so. It is a local control measure that supports decisions made by local communities.
"Some critics implied HJR 1092 was not only a tax increase, but the 'largest tax increase in state history.' That statement is not only false, it is intentionally misleading, mathematically impossible and patently ridiculous.
"The 2014 legislative session will now adjourn having offered the people of Oklahoma – and the children of Oklahoma – no assistance when it comes to tornado safety. Speaking as a mother as well as the governor, I am dismayed by this Legislature’s inability to act on solutions that would better protect our students and teachers."