Before being elected to the House, I spent 19 years as an educator. While I rely on my background in education for many of my responsibilities in the House, my years teaching in a middle school classroom prepared me well for one role in particular: a House presiding officer.
Presiding over the House is at times not entirely different than a classroom full of seventh graders who need to be reminded to take their seats and focus on the task at hand. The presiding officer runs the day-to-day activities on the House floor from the speaker’s chair, and they must keep decorum and order in the House at all times.
They also recognize members to speak and interpreting the House’s rules. Representatives are not just allowed to ask questions or debate freely; there’s an order to proceedings. The presiding officer directs members’ attention to the bills being presented and makes sure during questioning that members stay on topic.
If questioning or debate become excessive or duplicative, the presiding officer must decide when to bring the member to order. Serving as presiding officer is a balancing act of allowing enough questioning to ensure transparency in running the people’s government without bogging down the process to the point that no legislation gets passed.
Presiding officers also are sometimes called upon to rule on whether members are adhering to House rules. One must be careful to be fair and objective, but with any ruling there is a real risk of angering one side or the other.
They often must call for order in the House and ask members to take their seats or take their conversations outside the chamber. As you can imagine, with 100 representatives, staff members and high school pages all in one space, as well as people filling the House gallery, it can become a noisy and distracting place.
Not every member has the opportunity to serve as a presiding officer, and it’s one I cherish each time I'm in the seat. It's humbling to oversee the House's work and a great reminder that we are there to work for the people of Oklahoma.
Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, a Republican, represents House District 65 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Her district includes Cotton County and portions of Comanche, Stephens, Grady and Caddo counties.