The Norman Transcript
May 22, 2008 10:42 am
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Transcript Staff Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY --?For state Rep. Scott Martin, it had nothing to do with politics -- and everything to do with his son.
Last week, Martin -- a Norman Republican completing his first term as a state Representative -- became a central player in a titanic struggle being fought in the Oklahoma House.
On one side are the supporters of a measure known as Nick's Law, a bill which would require insurance companies to cover the diagnosis and treatment of children diagnosed as autistic. Written by state Sen. J. Paul Gumm, D-Durant, the bill includes a $75,000 cap and three-year time limit.
On the other side is the House's Republican leadership, who said the mandate will drive up the cost of health insurance policies and make it unaffordable for many Oklahomans.
Though Nick's Law cleared the Oklahoma State Senate, it stalled in the House, being locked in committee and opposed by the House's GOP leadership. The bill remains locked in limbo with just two days remaining in the legislative session.
With House leadership saying the mandate would increase the cost of state employee health insurance by $6 million a year, Gumm and state Rep. Mike Brown, a Democrat from Tahlequah, hoped to make use of an arcane legislative maneuver to force a vote on the bill.
The pair circulated a discharge petition which, under House rules, requires House leadership to bring Nick's law to a vote before the entire House. Discharge petitions in the House require 68 signatures; so far, Gumm and Brown have 48.
Most of the petition's signatures fell along party lines -- 44 of the 48 belong to Democrats.
But Brown and Gumm did gather four GOP signers -- Rep. Charlie Joyner of Midwest City, Rep. David Dank of Oklahoma City, Rep. Doug Cox of Grove and Martin.
And it's there that Martin moved from being member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives back to being a father. Though Martin downplays his action, many lawmakers said the Norman Republican showed "incredible political courage" in signing the petition.
"I think it took tremendous courage," Gumm said. "I'm very impressed. It's not easy to buck leadership during your first term."
Martin said his signature on the petition wasn't about politics, but, instead, about his infant son.
"To me it's not a partisan issue," he said. "As a new Dad with a 1-year-old at home, I think it's the right thing to do."
He said the process of trying to raise a healthy young boy at home has "suddenly made him more concerned" about the health risks infants face.
Those concerns reached their apex after Martin met with parents of autistic children.
"As a new parent, when you hear about the rising rates of autism, it certainly raises eyebrows," he said. "I've gotten a new education after I met with the families of autistic children. It was very heartwarming. Many of these families had healthy children who were born fine, then something triggered their child's autism."
A self-described "conservative Republican," Martin said he remains concerned about rising insurance costs.
"I take these types of mandates extremely seriously. You don't want to add to the cost, you don't want the average person's health care to go up."
But the families who came to see him, he said, were "hard working people" who are facing huge financial problems not of their own making.
"What are we gonna do about these kids? If there is something we can do now so that these kids don't have to rely on the state for the rest of their lives, then I think we should take those steps."
It was at that point Martin signed the petition.
"The Speaker already knew that I had some sympathies toward that issue," Martin said. "I talked to (him) after the caucus meeting. And while the leadership certainly has their point of view on the issue, and they would like us to agree with their point of view, there were no threats."
And though Martin's action -- along with that of this three GOP colleagues -- has been considered controversial by political observers, for one Norman family, the lawmaker is a hero.
"He's awesome," said Jill Moore. "I think everyone in that building should be like him."
Moore and her husband Brian are the parents of an autistic child, which she said, has forced the family into bankruptcy.
"Autism is financially debilitating. Occupational therapy is close to $800 per month and medication is, probably, another $200 per month. Very few people have that type of money left over."
Moore said her husband was forced to turn down a job promotion and a raise in order to make sure the family qualified for SoonerCare, which covers their child's therapy.
"It doesn't make much sense," she said. "Why they wouldn't do something for autistic children?"
Should Nick's Law become law, Moore said she and her family could begin to rebuild the financial component of their lives.
"If it doesn't, I don't see anything getting any better," she said. "If it passes it would change our world."
For Martin those reasons -- and the fact that he is now the father of a small child -- were motivation enough.
"As a parent there's nothing I wouldn't do to take care of my children. And there are parents out there mortgaging their houses and depleting their savings. We can sit up here and argue the merits of this bill, but the fact remains that each year you have kids that are further and further away from some type of normalcy."
Though he's unsure if the bill will survive the session, Martin remains hopeful that lawmakers will eventually pass autism legislation.
"I respect everyone's opinion," he said. "It's part of the process. But when I did this I wasn't looking for great PR. I just knew, for me, it's the right thing to do; the thing for me to do so I could sleep at night. I go home each night to my wife and baby boy with the thought that I did what's best for them today."
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