It’s officially the second week of session at the Oklahoma Legislature, and we’ve already hit the ground running.
Last Monday, we started the new legislative session by joining with my colleagues in the Senate to hear Gov. Kevin Stitt deliver his second annual state of the state address. We were joined by members of the state courts, cabinet members, statewide elected officials, and scores of constituents watching in person and from home.
In his address, Gov. Stitt highlighted several reforms he considers a priority to turn Oklahoma into a “Top Ten” state. He discussed his ideas for increasing economic development, continuing the reduction of government waste, and increasing our state’s financial stability.
Building off the work of the Legislature last year, he requested additional appropriations to the state’s Rainy Day Fund. Last year, lawmakers appropriated nearly $200 million into our state’s Rainy Day Fund, bringing t to just over $1 billion. The reasoning behind this is so that when we inevitably hit financially difficult times again, we’ll have money set aside to continue to provide state services without cutting their budgets.
The state of the state address marks the official start of a new session, and since then, we’ve spent hours upon hours in our committees to consider which bills should move forward in the legislative process.
This year, a total of 1,361 new House Bills were filed. However, we also consider legislation introduced in the last legislative session, which is still viable for consideration if it hasn’t been voted down in committee or on the floor yet.
This adds up to a lot of reading in the first few weeks of session! The deadline to vote on bills in committee is Thursday, Feb. 27, and we have a lot of work to do before then to move forward meaningful legislation.
As we continue session, the House remains committed to making education a priority. Over the last two years, the Legislature’s investment in education increased by 26%. Last year, our budget included an average $1,220 pay raise for teachers and an additional $74 million directly into the classroom to provide for the needs of our teachers and students. We also introduced $18M for career tech centers to increase pay for their employees and teachers, as well as $28M for higher education to bolster research programs and provide a salary increase for professors.
Education remains a priority for the Legislature because it presents new opportunities to students and opens doors throughout their lives that may be otherwise inaccessible. Our goal as a state should be to prepare Oklahoma’s children to find good jobs right here in our state after graduation, whether high school or college, so they’ll stay in Oklahoma and become leaders within their communities.
An investment in our children’s education is an investment into our future. I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues in the House on how we can continue to improve the state of education within Oklahoma.
As always, please reach out to my office with questions about legislation or if you plan to visit the Capitol. Thank you for the blessing of representing District 65!
Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, a Republican, represents District 65 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, which includes Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Grady and Stephens Counties.