(From the desk of Rep. John Talley, District 33)
(Oklahoma City, OK) — With the clock to session counting down, the State Capitol is bustling with legislators and staff busy preparing for the upcoming session.
Our regular session starts Monday, February 5, but our deadline to file bills was Thursday, January 18.
I filed four new bills this year, and I want to overview them briefly:
- House Bill 2969 makes it a felony to assault a postal worker while they’re working. This is already a felony under federal law, so we’re ensuring Oklahoma’s law is the same.
- House Bill 3544 clarifies some things about master teachers at child care centers in order to help alleviate the child care crisis.
- House Bill 3545 changes the membership of the Child Care Facility Peer Review Board to emphasize leaders of licensed facilities and expands what state agencies the Board can consult about their rules.
- House Bill 3752 amends the membership of the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board to include the director of the Dept. of Corrections. This change was requested by the Board.
I’ll also continue to work on passing several bills I filed last year, including House Bill 1028, which prohibits the use of corporal punishment on students with certain disabilities.
I’m still working on language for a bill requested by the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth. House Bill 1382 would exempt Post Adjudication Review Boards from the Open Meetings Act due to the sensitive subject matter they deal with.
I also am pushing to pass House Joint Resolution 1002, which would amend the Oklahoma Constitution to allow legislators to teach immediately after leaving office. There are dozens of former teachers currently serving in the Legislature, and they should be able to quickly return to the classroom instead of being barred from teaching for two years as our State Constitution currently requires.
Thousands of bills will be voted on before session ends in late May. Just over 1,200 House Bills were filed before Thursday’s deadline, and there are still 1,463 House Bills filed last year that are eligible to be considered this year.
To look up a bill, you can visit oklegislature.gov. The Bill Search can be found under the “Legislation” tab. Simply type in the abbreviated number to find it. For example, if you’re looking up House Bill 2969, you’ll type in “HB2969” to search for it.
From there, you can find a lot of information about the bill’s history, its summary, versions of the bill, the vote history and any co-authors. On the right side of the page should be a link to receive email updates for the measure. By following that link, you can create an account to receive the latest news on a bill as it moves through the legislative process.
This year, the start of session looks a little different because lawmakers will actually return to the State Capitol a week earlier than usual.
This week, Gov. Kevin Stitt called the Legislature into a special session, set to begin Jan. 29, to vote on a 0.25% reduction in the personal income tax rate. The House is prepared to answer the call and put this tax cut to a vote once again.
A week later, on Monday, February 5, our regular legislative session will begin with the Governor’s annual State of the State address. I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting back to work to pass thoughtful legislation that betters the entire state.
As always, please contact me at 405-557-7304 or [email protected] with any concerns I may be able to assist with. Thank you for the honor of representing House District 33 at the State Capitol!
