Alva Review-Courier -

With about a week to spare, we successfully passed the Fiscal Year 2023 budget. As required by our state’s constitution, we approved a $9.7 billion balanced budget that utilized our state revenues in a variety of ways – bolstering our savings...

We’re onto the final countdown for this year’s legislative session. Only about two weeks remain before we are constitutionally required to adjourn sine die, which means we’ll end our legislative business with no set date to resume for the...

We’ve wrapped up our last legislative deadline, and we’re nearing towards the end of this year’s session. Constitutionally, we must adjourn by 5 p.m. on the last Friday in May, but it’s possible we could adjourn sooner. We’re getting...

With less than a month left before the legislative session must be completed per our state’s constitution, we’ve officially wrapped up voting on measures from the opposite chamber and will now shift our focus to approving or denying any amendment...

Many of you may have received a piece of mail this past week misrepresenting my voting record here at the Capitol. These types of media campaigns are filled with half-truths and meant to inflame constituents, so I wanted to take a moment to set the...

As the Easter holiday is now behind us, I hope each of you enjoyed special time with family and friends to celebrate the gift of everlasting life given to us by Jesus Christ. His sacrifice was great, but on the third day, the tomb was empty, saving...

We’re quickly approaching the April 14 deadline to approve House bills out of our Senate committees, which is a big hurdle in the legislative process for bills that originated in the opposite chamber. While a measure may have been approved by the...

One of my favorite things during session each year is seeing all of the groups and industries that set up booths for their advocacy groups at the Capitol. The last two legislative sessions have been much quieter than usual due to Covid-19...

We’re now entering into the second half of the legislative session. We’ve advanced Senate bills from our committees and floor to the House, and we’ll now begin studying and voting on the measures our colleagues across the rotunda sent to our...

We had a busy few days last week before we adjourned for a shortened spring break. While we are approaching our deadline of March 24 to hear Senate bills in our chamber, we’ve had some lengthy agendas, and I expect that trend to continue. When we b...

As we continue to hear legislation on the Senate floor ahead of our March 24 deadline to pass measures out of our chamber, we’ve approved a myriad of bills that will position our state for continued success. I know many of you dealt with the...

We’re now shifting focus at the Capitol after a busy week finishing up in our Senate committees. We’ll be spending the majority of our time on the Senate floor up until the March 24 deadline to pass these bills, further discussing and voting on t...

Winter weather rolled in last week and shortened our work at the Capitol, but I was still able to get an important measure passed out of the Senate Education Committee. My Senate Bill 1544 would prevent any public, charter, or virtual school in the...

Another busy week at the Capitol has come and gone. All in all, we approved another 150 measures out of our committees ahead of the March 3 deadline to approve bills that originated in our chamber. We’ve also passed about 30 measures off the...

We hit the ground running during the first week of session and have already completed a full week of committee hearings. I filed eight measures this session and have five bills I carried last year that are still eligible for consideration. I’m...

The 2022 legislative session has officially kicked off with the governor’s State of the State address, and we’ll be tackling a variety of issues important to Oklahomans across the state over the next few months. The governor highlighted the need...

Redistricting is completed and our bill requests have been submitted. While we work with staff on drafting our bills, we also must continue work on the budget. This is a year-round process. As soon as a legislative session ends, work on the next...

Shortly after the 2021 legislative session ended in May, leaders of the Senate and House created the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding, a bipartisan, bicameral panel tasked with vetting and making recommendations to the governor on the use...

Last week, the Legislature met in special session to complete our work passing updated maps for all legislative and congressional districts. Under the law, we must keep those districts as close to the same population size as possible. In order to do...

Next week, on Nov. 15, the Legislature will convene in special session to complete our work on redistricting. Every 10 years, following the year in which the U.S. Census is conducted, the members of the Senate and House have the responsibility of...

Things are ramping back up at the Capitol as we begin interim studies. These are in-depth looks at specific topics that are of interest for the Legislature and may turn into legislation for the upcoming session. As the vice chairman for the...

We’ve officially adjourned the 2021 legislative session, and with it we accomplished many items that will move our state forward. We focused on a number of priorities, including expanding broadband access, protecting the unborn, increasing health o...

We’re officially winding down the 2021 legislative session, and with it, we’ve concluded work on the final versions of some very important policy bills that have been in progress throughout the last few months. One of these is Senate Bill 131, wh...

After months of collaboration and discussion, Senate and House leadership have released the proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget, which will begin on July 1. I’m thrilled this budget makes substantial investments in public education, to the tune of an...

We’re going to start with a little good economic news this week – Oklahoma’s April tax collections rose 38 percent in comparison to April 2020 – a clear sign that our economy is recovering from the devastating impacts of the Cobif-19...