News Stories

Oklahoma Farm Bureau this week hosted Senate and House redistricting committee chairs Sen. Lonnie Paxton and Rep. Ryan Martinez to discuss Oklahoma’s ongoing redistricting process. Every 10 years, the state Legislature is tasked with redrawing state legislative and congressional district lines following the decennial census. The new boundaries will be used for elections beginning in 2022 through 2030. Below, read about seven things we learned while visiting with Sen. Paxton and Rep. Martinez. 1. Every legislator is involved in the process Just like standing legislative committees, the House and the Senate each created redistricting committees to carry out the process […]

After the state Legislature surpassed its first major deadline where bills were required to advance out of their committee of origin to remain alive in the legislative process, the total number of proposed bills were reduced from more than 3,000 to only a little more than 1,000. Below, learn about some of the remaining bills on Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s list. PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS HB 1135 by Rep. Scott Fetgatter Allows landowners to use purple posts to indicate no trespassing in lieu of a readable sign. For one year, purple posts would need to be accompanied by a sign explaining that […]

Oklahoma Farm Bureau is encouraging members to contact their state legislators to urge a NO vote on House Bill 2092 by Rep. Lonnie Sims and Senate Bill 189 by Sen. Dave Rader. The legislation would allow county commissioners to create a hazard mitigation district funded by a new property tax, upon approval by 60% of voters in the county. The district would include all territory within the county, except for land within city limits that is zoned for agricultural use. Unincorporated land in rural areas is not exempted, which would subject farmers, ranchers and landowners to an additional property tax […]

The state Legislature this week saw its first significant deadline of the 2021 legislative session as Thursday was the final day for bills to be passed out of a committee of their chamber of origin. The week’s deadline reduced the number of active bills and resolutions from the more than 3,000 originally filed. Lawmakers will now have two weeks to pass the remaining bills off the floor of their chamber of origin. Unfortunately, House Bill 2092 and Senate Bill 189, which would each create hazard mitigation districts funded by a new property tax, both advanced out of committee. OKFB has […]

As was the case with most of the rest of life in Oklahoma, winter weather heavily impacted week three of the 2021 legislative session. The Oklahoma Senate canceled all activities for three days and the House of Representatives shut their doors for one day. Coming at one of the busiest times in the legislative calendar, these delays could result in problems over the next few weeks. Similar to the furious final weeks of the 2020 session, dangerous things can get moved along in the process without the proper consideration when unusually large amounts of legislation are hurried through in a […]