Welcome back to Stay in the Loop, House District 70’s legislative update for Oklahoma’s 59th legislature.
We have hit the halfway mark of the legislative session – the point at which bills cross to the opposite chamber. Some days it feels like we’ve been here six years and some days it feels like we were sworn in yesterday!
District Town Hall
Despite some heavy rain, we had a good turnout at the most recent House District 70 town hall and folks were well informed and ready for a good discussion. I am amazed at how well voters of the District stay up with the issues. You all set a great example for civic engagement.
We were honored to have Senator Rader of Senate District 35 join as our guest. I am grateful to him for his willingness to attend and work together in a bipartisan manner. This is an important goal for me and something I know the District wants – leaders working together everywhere we can. As a member of the minority party, it’s something I must do to advance the work of our district and I will.
Senator Rader discussed several bills, especially interesting were his bills around carbon capture, a large effort around criminal legal system offense reclassifications, and an effort to restore state cost sharing for those incarcerated and seeking to attend college. He also spent time explaining the changes to (HB2775 and HB1935), the education plan the House voted to send to the Senate.
The education bills along with HB2177 denying transgender healthcare brought forth strong opinions. I encourage everyone to continue raising their voice by continuing to reach out to leaders about their thoughts and concerns on these and other bills that will truly impact each of our lives in a variety of ways. The link to all things Oklahoma legislature is here and if you have specific questions about committee assignments etc. don’t hesitate to contact me.
Second Half
As the bills cross over, they are again assigned to a committee before they are heard on the floor of the House or Senate. House District 70 bills headed to the Senate bill are HB2451, HB1328 and are assigned to Finance, Health and Human Services and Public Safety respectively. Often, when a bill has a fiscal impact it will be “double assigned” which means it goes through two filters to assess the cost – this is true of HB2451, so after Finance it will head to Appropriations. You can read more about my childcare/workforce legislation, HB2451 and HB2452, here. House Bill 1328 is the bill working to reduce the continuing surge in catalytic converter and copper theft by authorizing forfeiture of property used in the commission of the theft. Senator Rader is the Senate author and will work to push that through on that side.
The two bills that I did not move deal with consumer protection and emergency price stabilization. The latter, HB1904, did not move because there was a very similar bill in the House authored by Rep. Mark McBride, a Republican state representative from Moore. The language I proposed was more comprehensive and I do plan to inquire about an amendment to McBride’s bill on the Senate side.
The other bill, HB1890, is an extension of the state’s Transparency in Healthcare Prices Act adding an enforcement mechanism should providers fail to make prices readily available for the top procedures. This is the second year in a row that a version of this bill has not advanced. Opponents of the bill believe that the federal parallel law is enough.
I continue to believe, given that Oklahoma has the fifth highest medical debt in the United States, we need to offer patients easy access to this information and will be continuing to push to address this issue. The Tulsa World has an article about this issue and its impacts that you can read here. I plan to request an interim study on the topic so we can all learn more about how to better manage healthcare costs.
Connecting at the Capitol and in the District
I was honored to host more than 80 seventh and eighth grade students from Carver Middle School and Amiens, France. I am proud they were able to see our Capitol and get some insight into the work that goes on in the people’s house.
I also attended the ceremony breaking ground for the new psychiatric hospital that will double the number of beds available and serve as a state-of-the-art teaching hospital. The $70 million plus hospital is a powerful example of what can be done for our community when we work together. State and local government, Oklahoma State University and private philanthropy worked together to leverage American Rescue Plan dollars to serve our community’s deep mental health needs. It was moving to hear leaders from across the state discuss how committed they are to improving our mental health facilities and capacity not only for our loved ones but also for the hard-working staff that care for patients.
Finally, I also attended an event at the Parent Child Center to denote Child Abuse Prevention Month where my predecessor Carol Bush was honored for her years-long work to protect our kids. If you drive by The Parent Child Center, you will see their annual pinwheel display. The pinwheels represent the 2,592 substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect in Tulsa County. Visit parentchildcenter.org to learn how you can help. It takes all of us to care for our kids.
Please don’t forget to let me know about HD70 happenings and invite me to attend events – my favorite place to be is in Tulsa! And let me know if you will be visiting the Capitol – my favorite people to see at the Capitol are Tulsans! Finally, don’t hesitate to inquire whether there might be an opportunity to recognize a veteran, an achievement, or victory on the House floor. We honor awesome Oklahomans every day and I know HD70 has plenty.
Things are going to move quickly in the second half of a session but I will continue to read your emails and try to return your calls and texts so please keep reaching out. It helps me to prioritize my focus. When I hear about bills my constituents are following, I evaluate and spend time on them to make sure I understand your interest and concerns. I value your input and take it very seriously when I hear from you. Keep it comin’!
It’s an honor to serve you. Let’s keep going –
Suzanne