The Purpose of the Action Alert
The legislature will adjourn Sine Die no later than May 25, 5:oopm. At this point, all measures that we've been following this session have arrived at their final destination, be it death or success. Below is a brief summary of each bill's journey.
HB 3052, Speaker Steele's criminal justice reform bill, will be signed by Governor Fallin tomorrow morning. We'll be there to lend our support, capture the moment, and thank the law makers who worked on and supported this measure. Those measures below that were not successful this session are not lost causes. It takes time to to implement a policy recommendation, and we'll continue to work toward that end via community and legislative actions.
We'd like to thank those legislators who carried and supported the bills containing our recommendations. Please take a moment to thank your legislators and those mentioned below.
THANK YOU Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman, Sen. Susan Paddack, Sen. Clark Jolley, Sen. Sean Burrage, Sen. Rick Brinkley, House Speaker Kris Steele, Rep. Lee Denney, Rep. Scott Martin, Rep. Doug Cox, Rep. Ed Cannady, Rep. James Lockhart, Rep. Harold Wright, Rep. Guy Liebmann, Rep. Danny Morgan, Rep. Anastasia Pittman, Rep. Mike Ritze, Rep. Lisa Billy, Rep. Pat Ownbey and Rep. Sean Roberts.
The purpose of the Action Alert is to keep you informed on the development and progress of legislation relevant to Town Hall recommendations. Whether you support the measures or not, we encourage you to be in contact with your legislators!
You can learn more about these bills, other pieces of legislation and members of the Senate and House on the Oklahoma Legislature's homepage.
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2011 Town Hall: Developing the Oklahoma Economy
The 2011 Town Hall focused on developing methods and policies that accelerate economic prosperity in Oklahoma's private economic sector. The background document and prioritized recommendations from the 2011 Town Hall are available from the Oklahoma Academy's online library. Legislation relevant to the recommendations from this Town Hall follows:
SB 1257, Sen. Paddack & Rep. Denney, creates a cabinet level position for a Oklahoma Native American Liaison. This is a recommendation from both the 2007 and 2011 Town Halls.
SB 1257- successfully passed through the Senate and its assignment to the House General Government Committee. However, Rep. Denney was unable to get the bill heard in general order due to, we've been told, a backlash from ongoing water litigation.
SB 1827, Sen. Jolley & Rep. Scott Martin, creates the Universal Brand Study Taskforce to determine if Oklahoma should have a consistent brand for products made in Oklahoma.
SB 1827 -successfully passed through the Senate but died in the House Rules committee.
SB 1828,Sen. Jolley & Rep. Scott Martin, authorizes the development of public-private partnerships for certain purposes within the Deptarment of Commerce.
SB 1828 - successfully passed through the Senate, successfully passed through the House committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Financial Services, but was voted down on its third reading in the House.
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2010 Town Hall: muni.ok.us
The second of the Oklahoma Academy's 2010 Town Halls focused on Municipal governance, revenue and expenditure. You can access the background document, full final report and prioritized recommendations from the 2010 Town Hall in the Oklahoma Academy's online library. Legislation relevant to the recommendations from this Town Hall follows:
HB 2267, Rep. Cox
(coauthors: Reps. Cannday, Lockhart, Denney, Wright, Scott, Liebmann, Morgan, Pittman, Ritze) & Sen. Burrage
, Tobacco Preemption restriction, permits governmental subdivisions to adopt local ordinances to further control smoking.
HB 2267 - successfully passed through the House, died in Senate Health and Human Services committee.
HB 2586, Rep. Ownbey
& Sen. Brinkley, related to revenue and taxation, would modify various sales tax provisions. This bill captured the spirit and intent of several 2010 Town Hall recommendations aimed at leveling the playing field between community and internet retailers, finding a means of more efficiently and effectively collecting existing tax liabilties, producing a revenue-neutral reduction in state income tax, preserving existing sales tax revenues, and preserving local police and fire operations, which are highly dependent on sales tax funding.
HB 2586 - successfully passed through the House Appropriations and Budget committee but failed its third reading in general order.
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Criminal Justice Town Hall
The Oklahoma Academy's 2008 Town Hall focused on Criminal Justice in Oklahoma. You can access the background document, full final report and prioritized recommendations from the 2008 Town Hall in the Oklahoma Academy's online library. Legislation relevant to the recommendations from this Town Hall follows:
HB 3052, Rep. Steele
(coauthors: Reps. Roberts, Billy) & Sen. Bingman, Corrections, sets up a grant program for local law enforcement agencies to implement aggressive violent crime reduction strategies, requires post-release supervision of all felons, and initiates a series of other strategic reforms designed to control prison growth so resources can be reinvested in programs proven to increase public safety. HB 3052 also pursues additional funding for mental health beds during this year's appropriations process to improve services for the mentally ill. Click here
to read Speaker Steele's recent editorial.
HB 3052 - scheduled to be signed by Governor Fallin tomorrow!
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