The Senate has been busy ahead of the March 12 deadline to vote on bills that were introduced in this chamber. We considered 175 bills last week and will have more than 200 to vote on ahead of the deadline if we hear every bill that passed through committee. There were also several hundred bills carried over from the last legislative session that we could consider, meaning bills filed last year that did not advance could be voted on this year.

I’m the Senate author for one of these carried-over measures: House Bill 1208, which would allow cemeteries to consider plots as abandoned and resell the space after no contact has been made with the owner or heirs in 85 years. The House and Senate could not agree on amendments that were made to the bill last year, so it was taken to a conference committee this past week for compromise language to be drafted. The measure now must be passed by both the Senate and the House in order for it to go to Governor Stitt’s desk for his signature.

This legislation is extremely important to rural towns. Our cemeteries are often very small, and it is not uncommon for families to buy several burial plots at a time. If children and family members move and plant their roots in other places and choose to be buried elsewhere, the plots in our small-town cemeteries go unused, but cannot be resold to people who would like to use them.

In other news, I’m honored to carry the Senate nomination of Kyle Whitehead, pharmacist and owner of Evans Drug Center in Enid, to the Oklahoma Pharmacy Board. Kyle is an excellent pharmacist and his knowledge and expertise is crucial to the board.

I also had the privilege of meeting with the Leadership Blackwell Class of 2020 last week during their visit to the Capitol. The group toured the Capitol construction project and met with myself, Gov. Kevin Stitt, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell and Rep. John Pfeiffer. It was great visiting with this group of leaders from the Blackwell community.

I enjoyed the opportunity to host Leslie Collins, our Nurse of the Day, on Wednesday. Leslie is from Cherokee and serves as the assistant chair for Northwestern Oklahoma State University. She’s been a nurse since 2008 and enjoys working with the university and health care systems.

This past Thursday I attended the student led Enid Parent Legislative Action Committee meeting and spoke on a panel about education issues. I was asked several excellent questions by students from Covington-Douglas, Waukomis and Drummond concerning the future of education in our state. Improving our educational outcomes remains a priority of mine and I will continue to work on these issues.

Thank you for allowing me to represent you at the State Capitol. Please feel free to reach out if there is anything we can help you with. You can contact me at 405-521-5630, via email at [email protected], or stop by room 413 at the Capitol.