OKLAHOMA CITY (March 22nd) – The Senate approved Senate Bill 681 Tuesday, which requires any backseat passenger that is 16 years old or younger to wear a properly fastened seat belt. Sen. Roland Pederson, R-Burlington, authored the measure that aims to reduce the number of injuries and deaths of youth involved in car accidents.
This past week was a busy one in the Legislature as it relates to approving legislation addressing marijuana reforms. Since the recreational marijuana state question went down in flames, legislators have made it clear that they interpret the results as voters indicating that medical program is in need of reining in.
I've bundled several press releases on related legislation into this post. Read on down to get the following:
OKLAHOMA CITY (March 23rd) – The Senate overwhelmingly passed a pro-family measure Wednesday that protects women’s freedom to access birth control. Senate Bill 368, by Sen. Jessica Garvin, R-Duncan, and Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, includes protections for contraceptive drugs, surgeries such as tubal ligation, and other treatments provided by authorized healthcare providers. It passed in the Senate with a 40-7 vote and now goes to the Oklahoma House of Representatives for consideration. All five Republican women in the Senate voted in favor of the bill.
OKLAHOMA CITY (March 23rd) – The Oklahoma House of Representatives has approved the Women's Bill of Rights, preserving biological sex as a distinct legal category.
Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, authored House Bill 1449, which clarifies how people of both biological sexes are treated under state law by defining 'sex' as a person's biological sex, whether male or female, at birth. It also forbids unfair sex discrimination but allows for recognition of the differences between sex on issues related to biology, privacy, safety or fairness.
Washington, D.C. (March 23rd) – Congressman Josh Brecheen announced that he will host his first telephone town hall on Tuesday, March 28th at 7:00pm CT.
The telephone town hall comes after Congressman Brecheen has held 18 in-person town halls throughout Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District and recently announced 10 more in April.
Huh. This anti-trafficking measure passed the House by a vote of 76-15. Of the 19 Democrats in the House, 15 voted against it, 4 voted for it, 1 missed the vote.
Bizarre. Sex trafficking disproportionately victimizes minority, immigrant, and at-risk women. The criminals that exploit them need to have the book thrown at them, not be coddled by leftist politicians.
OKLAHOMA CITY (March 22nd) – Rep. Eric Roberts, R-Oklahoma City, on Wednesday passed legislation in the Oklahoma House of Representatives that increases penalties for those who purchase prostitution services.
House Bill 2054 increases the penalty for someone who purchases prostitution services from a misdemeanor to a felony.
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Senate approved legislation Tuesday to keep marijuana grow operations away from Oklahoma’s religious institutions. Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, authored the legislation to extend the same protections to churches as schools currently have regarding where grows can be established. Senate Bill 116 would create a 1,000 feet setback requirement from any place of worship for medical marijuana commercial grower facilities.
As I've said before (sarcastically, of course)... if there's just one thing Oklahoma needs more of, it's gambling. 🙄
OKLAHOMA CITY (March 21st) – The Oklahoma House of Representatives gave the stamp of approval Tuesday to legislation to legalize sports betting and potentially bring in over $9 million a year to the state budget.
OKLAHOMA CITY (March 20th) – Rep. Terry O'Donnell, R-Catoosa, today passed a bill in the House designed to continue protections of state pension funds from strategies that would be harmful to the state's energy industry.
House Bill 2547 would prevent any state-run pension fund from delegating its votes by proxy to entities that do not subscribe to Oklahoma's investment strategy as outlined in the measure. The bill is a follow-up to legislation co-authored by O'Donnell last year that restricts the investment of Oklahoma pension funds by firms that adopt strategies akin to Environmental Social Governance (ESG).
This text has been adapted from Congressman Josh Brecheen’s first House floor speech. You can watch the full speech here, or below.
