We are currently looking at the best budget numbers in the entire history of our state. Last month, the Board of Equalization certified that the Legislature would have more than $10.4 billion available to appropriate for Fiscal Year 2023, which begins this July 1.
Last Monday, I presented and passed House Bill 3190 on the floor of the House. The goal of the bill is to put families back together whenever possible, and if they can't be reunified, then to ensure we don't leave the child hanging in the foster care system.
As is customary, it was a short week at the Capitol last week due to spring break, but we were still extremely productive. We had more than 70 bills on our agenda on Monday and Tuesday. Of those, two were mine – Senate Bills 1184 and 1147.
Dear editor, The 700,000 people who call Washington, D.C. home are just like any other Americans.
Dear editor, Sorrow and despair have come. Trauma and collapse have happened.
Dear editor, With the news now dominated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is natural to think of war. Inevitably, I think of that Sunday afternoon, December 7, 1941, when my family exited from the Criterion Theatre in downtown OKC to be confronted by a paper boy shouting, “Extra! Extra! Read about it: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor!” WWII started on that day and continued for 42 months.
After last week's deadline to pass bills out of committees, we spent many long days on the House floor hearing and voting on those remaining bills. I presented one of my bills on the floor, where it passed 81-15.
Since medical marijuana became legal in 2018, Oklahoma has been playing catch-up to regulating the industry boom it brought. State Question 788’s language required that the medical marijuana market open just 30 days after the vote, which led to a rushed, unregulated market that we are still working to get under control.
As many of you know, we lost a pillar of the Seminole community and friend of the entire state on March 5. Mrs. Jasmine Moran was extremely generous and cared for all of Oklahoma’s youth and students, and she will be sorely missed. The Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum has and will continue to inspire our children to think outside of the box and dream big, and I know Mrs. Moran’s legacy will live on through Seminole’s crowning jewel. Her work with Seminole State College will also be remembered as well as her love and support of all animals, evident through her founding of the Seminole Humane Society. It was an honor to attend her celebration of life ceremony, and I send my prayers for peace and comfort to Melvin, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren during this time.
Dear editor, A racial location memory is that moment when you first realized what race you are. For anyone nonwhite, it’s likely a painful memory.