House OKs bill limiting AG's power

By Ryan McNeill
Published: March 18, 2005

Legislation aimed at stopping Oklahoma's top attorney from what some say is using his power to create public policy passed the House on Thursday.

The move could likely speed a lawsuit by the state against the poultry industry.

House Bill 1879 passed the House 57-42 and now goes to the Senate.

The measure requires the state attorney general to seek permission from the Legislature or governor before filing lawsuits that don't involve state statutes, said author Rep. Fred Morgan, R-Oklahoma City.

Edmondson, who calls the bill "a rotten egg," said it's an attempt by Morgan and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau to keep him from suing the poultry industry. Chicken litter from growing operations for large poultry companies is blamed by Edmondson for polluting eastern Oklahoma waters.

"While I fault no individual legislator for their vote, we cannot sit on our hands while this bill moves through the process," Edmondson said in a written statement. "This may very well force us to file quickly so our litigation will predate the new statute. I do not intend to risk this legislation being raised as a possible defense should we file a lawsuit."

Edmondson is attempting to force the poultry industry to negotiate a settlement over the pollution, using the lawsuit as a threat.

The bill wouldn't prevent Edmondson from suing to enforce statutes, Morgan said. Edmondson is planning to sue the poultry industry based on a federal law, which Morgan said is allowed under the statute.

Morgan said state attorneys general are relying on 200-year-old common law theories making them protectors of the people. These theories are prompting lawsuits similar to a $1 billion lawsuit filed in the 1990s against tobacco manufacturers.

Oklahoma sued the tobacco industry seeking reimbursement of tax money used to pay smokers' doctor bills for tobacco-related illnesses since 1980.

But one person shouldn't have "the power to destroy an industry," Morgan said. He said public policy should be crafted by the Legislature, not the attorney general.

"We don't need a more litigious society than we already have," Morgan said.

Lawsuits like the one threatened against the poultry industry are needed because "we in the Legislature don't have the guts to fix it," said Rep. Mike Mass, D-Hartshorne. He said lawmakers don't "have the guts to do our job."

"If you're waiting on this body to do something, you're going to be waiting a long time brother," Mass said. "These are the people that fuel the campaigns that get us beat when we start stepping on their toes."