Rep. Todd Russ gives state of state update

The legislative session started Feb. 1 with the governor’s State of the State Address.

I’m proud of the work the governor has done in his first two years in office. Under his leadership, our state is in a much stronger position than it could have been. We’ve stayed resilient even with many challenges over the past year, partly because we saved back $1 billion dollars for hard times like these.

When many other states shut down businesses and services for months on end because of the threat of COVID, our governor allowed the state to reopen in June, putting us months ahead in our economic and employment recovery. I know our small business owners and workers are grateful. The governor said he hopes that by summer most things in Oklahoma will be back to almost normal. Based on the data at the time of this writing, the trends are becoming much better for Oklahoma.

The governor has been meeting with House and Senate leadership to draft priorities for this year. Those include keeping burdens low on our taxpayers and small business; supporting our energy industry and protecting it from radical liberal policies from Washington; fighting for our farmers and ranchers and the Oklahoma way of life; enacting business friendly policies; protecting the rights of unborn children and standing up for the personal and religious freedoms of Oklahomans.

This plan looks bright, and I’m behind much of what the governor detailed in his speech.

The State of the State address signals the beginning of the legislative session. We have a lot to accomplish this year. Many bills had to be refiled that stalled in the process last year when we had to shut down state government for about six weeks because of COVID. Many of the bills filed this year have already been assigned to committees, which have been meeting for some time. Over the next few weeks we’ll begin hearing bills on the floor.

My committee assignments did not change from last year.

I am still chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee for Transportation. I am also on the full Appropriations and Budget Committee as well as Common Education, Insurance, Leadership, and the Redistricting Committees.

I’m looking forward to this being a productive year.

We can make lots of positive outcomes for the citizens of my district and our state.

As always, thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent you at the Capitol. God bless you, and God bless Oklahoma!

If I can ever help you in any way, please contact me at Todd.Russ@ okhouse.gov or (405) 557-7312.

Todd Russ is the state representative for District 55 in Oklahoma. His district covers Beckham, Greek, Kiowa, Roger Mills and Washita coutines.