Friends, 

Thanks to everyone who attended our coffee last week.  We had a great turnout and some real talk.  In particular I wanted to thank Dr. Stephanie Husen’s dad for attending  – Dr. Husen lost her life as a result of a mass shooting that tragically occurred inside her medical practice at St. Francis along with 3 other people last June. His courage and bravery in working to turn something so tragic into better public safety policy is absolutely remarkable.  I think he inspired a heightened sense of responsibility in all of us to do our part to take care of one other and look for real solutions.  

If you couldn’t make it, we missed you.  Watch for our next constituent event probably some time in early October.  As promised I am sharing information about my interim studies and how to find and watch any House or Senate interim study of interest to you.  

Interim studies are taking place at the Capitol over the next few months and I am excited two of my studies have been approved by the Speaker. Interim studies are open to the public and will be streamed online live and archived on the House website for later viewing. Mark your calendars for the days below and reach out if you think you might have helpful information or ideas for either topic as I am still planning the agendas for both. 

Thursday, October 26 at 1:00 PM in room 4S5: Accessible and Affordable Childcare

Lack of affordable and accessible childcare is an important topic because it is one of the biggest barriers to recruiting and retaining a strong workforce. Most people don’t realize that all across our state, and right here in Tulsa, there are huge childcare desserts–meaning families who need childcare simply do not have access to a childcare facility.  Out of 77 Oklahoma counties, 34 are considered childcare desserts – that’s more than 55 percent of the entire population of our state.

There are a variety of levers we can pull to create more accessibility and affordability – but we actually have to act on them.  I will be bringing my bill back that offers tax credits to incentivize not only employers to help with cost and access but also works to recruit and retain child care workers.  We incentivize nurses, engineers, entrepreneurs – why not the childcare industry? No other industry is fully functioning without it.  Said another way, we can’t fix workforce issues without fixing childcare!  I am intent on pressing on every lever I can to make sure working parents have what they need to participate in our economy.  

Monday, October 30 at 1:00 PM in room 5S2: Medical Debt

Oklahoma has the third highest medical debt in the United States and for those that carry it or have carried it  – it is a heavy weight and presents individuals with extremely difficult choices.  As you may recall, I ran a bill last year to strengthen our medical price transparency laws.  The bill did not advance but I will be bringing it back in the 2024 session and have asked my colleague Rep. Mark Lepak (R- Claremore) to co-author with me.   We hope to make more progress this year.  My study will look at how price transparency relates to medical debt as well as other causes of Oklaoma’s significantly high rates of medical debt and what legislative fixes we might be able to make to help individuals better manage their healthcare costs. 

You can view all of the scheduled interim studies for the House here and the Senate here.  

I’m hoping next time I write we haven’t seen a temperature over 80 (85?) degrees for a few weeks.  

Let’s keep going-

Suzanne