The last legislative deadline week ahead of sine die was met with gridlock at 23rd and Lincoln. The major issue affecting nonrelated legislation is the difference of opinion over an education package and tax cuts. The House and the governor have spent most of the session in nearly lockstep on both of those issues while the Senate has had a considerably different opinion. This week the governor began vetoing nearly all Senate bills on his desk, issuing a message that he would continue doing so until the Senate threw their support behind his education and tax cut plans. The Senate […]

The Oklahoma State Legislature returned to the House and Senate chambers for the first week in a two-week floor work period. Both chambers have until next Thursday, April 27, to approve bills from the opposite chamber of origin. HB 1847 by Rep. John Kane and Sen. Grant Green passed the Senate this week with an emergency clause allowing it to go into immediate effect upon approval by the Governor. HB 1847 adds two members to the Emergency Drought Commission, which would allow two members from the Commission to meet and discuss ideas ahead of official meetings without being in violation […]

The legislature crossed another deadline threshold this week finishing up the second and final committee deadline of the legislative session. While Senate bills assigned to House Appropriations and Budget still have one more week, all other bills were required to be passed out of their assigned committee from the opposite chamber of which they originated from. Initial numbers show that there are roughly 500 bills and joint resolutions remaining available for consideration ahead of the next deadline on April 27, which will require bills to be passed off of the floor of the opposite chamber. Following the April 27 deadline, […]

Both chambers returned to the Capitol this week with full committee schedules. Since no House committees met last week and only a handful of Senate committees took up legislation, legislators only had two weeks of committee work to advance their bills through committee and onto chamber floors. HB 2053 by Rep. David Hardin and Sen. Brent Howard passed out of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee Thursday. HB 2053 clarifies who qualifies as an interested party in a groundwater permit application protest. Specifically, those appealing a groundwater permit based solely on the industry or entity applying to utilize the water […]

Nearly 60 Oklahoma Farm Bureau members advocated for agriculture and rural Oklahoma in the nation’s capital during OKFB’s Washington, D.C. Summit March 27-31. Members had the opportunity to talk with Oklahoma’s congressional delegation who are making decisions that impact farmers, ranchers and rural Oklahomans. “We had a lot of wonderful opportunities to sit down with our senators and representatives and talk face-to-face and ask those hard questions,” said Jacob Beck, OKFB Young Farmers and Ranchers district three representative. “It has been very eye-opening and reassuring that our delegation is thinking about us in agriculture.” Senators James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin […]

This week was a busy one at 23rd and Lincoln as the Legislature was up against the second major deadline of the session. Thursday was the final day for bills to be passed off the floor of their chamber of origin. Following the first deadline at the beginning of the month, around 1,000 bills were still left for consideration. As bills now switch sides to be considered by the opposite chamber, there are roughly 800 bills alive. Oklahoma Farm Bureau members were pleased that HB 1921 by Rep. Lonnie Sims did not receive consideration on the House floor. HB 1921 […]

This week was the first full week of floor work for the Oklahoma legislature. While it is technically a three-week period from the start of floor work to the March 23rd deadline for bills to be passed off the floor of their origin, next week is expected to be a light week with only two days of legislative work. This week and the deadline week are the only full weeks for the House and Senate to consider bill measures. The Senate moved several bills this week, while the house saw a bit of a slow down due to some internal […]

This week marked the first major deadline for the 2023 Legislative Session. Thursday was the final day for all bills except budget bills to be passed out of their assigned committee from their chamber of origin. While numbers are not yet finalized, there are around 1,000 bills and joint resolutions left alive after the Thursday deadline. SB 669 – Non-resident driver’s licensing One bill that was passed out of committee this week was SB 669 by Sen. Michael Brooks. SB 669 would allow non-residents who file state taxes to utilize their individual tax identification number instead of a Social Security […]