A Look At Interim Studies Requested By State Reps.

Interim studies are the way lawmakers often do research on controversial issues, issues they think need some fleshing out before pushing specific legislation.

News 9's Alex Cameron looked at House interim studies as far back as online records go, and then some and, as interesting as some of this year's promise to be, it will be the fewest since at least 2006.

State representatives requested a total of 71 studies for this interim period.

None of the requests were denied, although many were consolidated due to overlapping subject matter.

At this point, it looks like there will be 51 interim studies compare that to last year when there were 122 requests, or 2009 when there were 167.

What will be studied? 

Well, there seems to be significant interest in looking at the health insurance costs and benefits for state employees.

Several lawmakers requested studies on civil asset forfeiture and how to get rid of feral hogs.

There will be a study on radical Islam and its impact on Oklahoma, options for recycling oil and gas wastewater, and even a study on the use of cursive handwriting in Oklahoma.

It's interesting to note that just 41 of 101 lawmakers requested interim studies, and five of them are leaving office, either because of term limits or they were defeated in the primary.

The Senate interim studies haven't been announced yet.