We kicked off session last Monday morning before convening in joint session for Gov. Stitt’s State of the State Address. I hope you were able to watch or listen.
I’m excited to work with his administration again this year. Gov. Stitt has a vision of where he wants the state to be but unlike most politicians, he’s set incremental goals to achieve top ten status. So many have big ideas – lower crime, improve education, lower incarceration – but no defined plan or set way to measure “success” of the plan. Being a good businessman, Gov. Stitt provides both and it’ll be interesting to see how his plan meshes with the goals of legislative leadership.
A major focus this session will be the state budget. As the Governor said, oil and gas revenue are down and that affects multiple streams of revenue in our state, which is why it has been so hard on the state budget in the past. However, the legislature has worked hard in recent years to encourage diversification of our economy and create new streams of revenue. For this reason, we’re looking at a flat budget, rather than a decline.
We, as the legislature, are going to look at where we can get the best return on our constituents’ money. These are your hard-earned dollars. We want to make sure they are spent efficiently on services that are truly beneficial to the public.
One way of benefitting the public is always to have a robust savings account for hard economic times like those experienced in the last decade where the state faced billion-dollar shortfalls. Hundreds of state employees had to be laid off, services had to be cut, schools were shut down. It was not a good situation and should never have to happen again.
Last year, Gov. Stitt asked that $200 million in additional revenue be put into the Rainy Day account to prevent such situations. This year, he’s calling for another $100 million to be saved to be used during such extreme difficult times.
I’m excited this administration is taking health care outcomes seriously and is working with the federal government to enhance reimbursements to our local hospitals. I look forward to seeing the details on the Medicaid waiver, and hope we can work with health care providers to ensure coverage and well-being for all our families in need.
This session, I’ve filed nearly 15 bills. They encompass a large array of topics from ad valorem taxes, workers’ compensation and trusts to bonds, adoption proceedings and pesticide law. You can see all of my bills as well as all of the more than 2,200 bills filed this session on the Senate website at www.oksenate. gov.
Being the second session of the 57th legislature, my committee assignments have remained the same. I’m serving on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services as well as the Agriculture and Wildlife, General Government and Judiciary Committees.
You’ll find our meeting schedules, Floor agendas, press releases and other helpful information regarding the legislative process on our website. You can also watch or listen to committee meetings and Floor proceedings live.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the Governor’s budget proposal and other policy and budgetary ideas coming out of the Capitol. My door is always open to you. If you’re ever in the Oklahoma City metro, I hope you’ll stop by for a visit. You can also reach me by calling my office and speaking with my assistant Pam Nordstrom or emailing me. To contact me at the Capitol, please write to Senator Brent Howard, State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 536, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105, email me at Brent. Howard@oksenate.gov, or call (405) 521-5612.
Sen. Brent Howard represents Senate District 38 in the Oklahoma State Legislature.