From the Desk of Rep. John Talley
Before I close out my weekly update series, I want to say what an incredible honor it has been to serve House District 33 over the past six years. Being entrusted by my peers to represent their voices at the State Capitol was an immense privilege, and every day, I never forgot who sent me there.
November 19 officially marks the end of my time in office, and I am proud of what I have been part of accomplishing over the years.
During my time at the Legislature, we’ve made major strides for education and poured more new money into public education since 2019 than in the prior 27 years combined. From 2019-2024, we invested $1.45 billion for an average of $290 million in new funding every year. Since the teacher walkout in 2018, our hard-working educators have seen an average pay increase of $16,000.
I am especially proud of the Play to Learn Act which empowers preK-3rd grade teachers to let children learn through play. We also passed six weeks paid maternity leave for educators, a scholarship program for aspiring teachers and employment incentives to improve retention.
We’ve made historic strides toward prison reform, including passing the Sarah Stitt Act to ensure people leave incarceration with important documents and job training to increase their chances of not returning to prison.
For the past four years, I’ve had the privilege of serving as chair of the House Children, Youth and Family Services Committee. In this role, I have worked to bring increased accountability and reform to the Oklahoma Dept. of Human Services, and I passed several bills to help accomplish that.
I had a total of 13 bills signed into law by the governor:
HB1112 (2021) allows the Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife to set trapping seasons for furbearing animals.
SB45 (2021) added a fingerprint-based national criminal history record check to the DHS background check requirements to ensure our kids are in trustworthy hands.
HB3045 (2022) clarified the management of surplus county property and was requested by the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma.
HB3073 (2022) was developed with my constituent Tamera Stewart as well as former Congressman J.C. Watts and ensures Oklahomans with sickle cell disease receive the pain prescriptions they need.
HB3205 (2022) lowered court costs, including counsel fees and probation fees, for children involved in the juvenile justice system.
SB1248 (2022) clarified confusing law so counties can pay employees by direct deposit rather than physical check.
SB1781 (2022) required dealers transferring aircraft ownership to include in their reports to the Tax Commission whether it is exempt from the aircraft excise tax.
HB1029 (2023) directed the State Dept. of Education to issue a form for reporting on student homelessness in order to direct these students toward resources.
HB1066 (2023) clarified how county commissioners declare surplus property in order to expedite that process.
HB1072 (2023) helped ensure courts schedule hearings within 60 days of a child being placed in a qualified residential treatment program to more quickly determine whether that program is the most appropriate care for the child.
HB1382 (2024) exempted local post-adjudication review boards from the Open Meetings Act since these boards exclusively deal with confidential records of cases for deprived children and meet in executive session.
HB3752 (2024) empowered the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board by granting it access to records from the Department of Corrections (DOC) and added a new board member from the DOC.
SB1638 (2024) required that reports submitted to law enforcement about a child missing from foster placement must include a photo of the missing child, a detailed description of their physical features and information about potential endangerment.
My final update will be next week. In the meantime, if you need assistance with an issue, please call my office at (405) 557-7304 or email me at [email protected] if there’s anything I can help with.
