Lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence
Has as a primary nighttime residence a publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations
Has as a primary nighttime residence a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings
Or
Persons and families who do not have access to normal accommodations as a result of violence or the threat of violence from a cohabitant.
That last bullet point is particularly evil IMO, but not surprising in the least.
The sponsor, receiving flak for including domestic violence shelters with homeless shelters, acknowledges the “unintended consequences” of her bill and will remove that portion. Cite.
That’s utter B.S.! The way the bill was written, domestic violence shelters weren’t just sucked into a broad definition of homeless shelters, the last clause of the definition is a clear description of a domestic violence shelter! This newbie senator either fully intended to ban Oklahoma municipalities from spending on domestic violence shelters and outreach, or she didn’t read her own damned bill.
I’d point out that three months ago she was accusing Democrats of controlling the weather and calling it a bad thing, but cultists like her believe more mutually contradictory things before breakfast than most people do all day.
It’s amazing and disheartening that to get a job these days one has to jump through hoops, have their background checked, and spew perfect, corporate blather, yet a hateful, not too bright, mentally ill woman can be a member of congress.
It appears that her parents were able to buy her a degree from UG. Or, maybe she actually earned it – people with a degree in Biz Admin have varying levels of broad intelligence, often mostly constrained to their field of study.
I’m pretty sure she didn’t read her own damned bill, at least not with the thoroughness it deserves.
The bill comes in with a definition of homeless, which is fairly (and rightly) expansive - it’s intended to include people who are couch-surfing with friends, sleeping out of doors, in cars, or in shelters, and everyone in between. So it makes sure to include those people who might have a key to an apartment somewhere, and their name might even be on the lease, but if they go home they are taking their life into their hands. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got this definition of homeless from a group that tries to fight homelessness and maintain the rights of those who are homeless.
So put that together with an exclusion on providing shelter or outreach to such people, and boom! You’ve outlawed helping DV shelters without realizing it.
There are probably hundreds of bills with similar issues of unintended consequences introduced in state legislatures all across the country. While I would oppose this bill on general principles, I wouldn’t assume the person who drafted it is intending to eliminate support for DV centers, any more than I would think a programmer splicing together two bits of code intended for a bug to show up because of some incompatibility in how variables are used between the snippets.
When you interview for a real job, generally you’re being evaluated by a professional with experience and expertise who knows what to look for in a candidate and has standards you need to meet.
When you run for office you’re being evaluated by a horde of randos going by whatever they saw or heard on social media.
