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 pandemic.

Collections were led by an increase of about 120 percent in oil and natural gas taxes, a welcome sign to those in the industry. Oil and gas were one of the hardest hit industries during the pandemic, and I’m glad to see they are rebounding nicely. No doubt gas and diesel usage will be up even further over the summer months as many places are opening back...