Legislature approves $4M to help relocate USS Batfish

After five years of languishing following the 2019 Arkansas River flood, the USS Batfish finally has some good news: 

Top: April 2019 - middle: May 2019 - Bottom: June 2019

OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE APPROVES $4 MILLION TO RELOCATE USS BATFISH

Oklahoma City, OK (May 29, 2025) - One of America’s most decorated World War II submarines—and a beloved Oklahoma landmark—is one step closer to safe harbor. On May 22, the Oklahoma Legislature approved HB2794, allocating $4 million in FY26 funding to the USS Batfish. The state appropriation will be used to relocate the historic military vessel to its future home at Three Forks Harbor.

Efforts underway to save USS Batfish with proposed Oklahoma War Memorial & Museum

Count me in. The USS Batfish is a hero of WWII, and an Oklahoma treasure, and deserves saving. A big thanks to Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell for his years of support for securing the Batfish for generations to come.

EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO SAVE THE USS BATFISH WITH PROPOSED OKLAHOMA WAR MEMORIAL & MUSEUM

Muskogee, OK (March 10, 2025) - The USS Batfish, a legendary World War II submarine and beloved Oklahoma landmark is at risk of being lost forever if not relocated to a new site. After devastating floodwaters in 2019 displaced the vessel from its foundation, the submarine suffered damage and was forced to permanently close to the public. With critical flood mitigation efforts underway and necessary controlled access measures required at the entrance to the current site, relocating the Batfish to a permanent home at Port Muskogee’s Three Forks Harbor is essential to its preservation.

Former Rep. George Faught files for re-election to HD14

FAUGHT FILES FOR RE-ELECTION TO HOUSE DISTRICT 14

MUSKOGEE (April 9, 2020)  –  Muskogee small businessman and former state representative George Faught has announced that he has filed for re-election to the State House District 14 seat. Faught previously held the seat from 2006 to 2012 and 2014 to 2018. District 14 is made up of eastern Muskogee County and western Cherokee County, taking in half of the city of Muskogee, and the towns of Fort Gibson, Braggs, Webbers Falls and portions of Hulbert.

“As Oklahoma faces this unprecedented crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, we must have experienced policy makers at the capitol to help us navigate the rough waters we find ourselves in. More than 75% of the legislators currently serving in the State House have less than 4 years of experience, and those years had high revenues with an excess of cash to spend,” said Faught. “Having previously served through both good times and bad, especially during the last prolonged national recession, I have a proven track record of making those important and often extremely difficult decisions.”

“With businesses shut down across the state for who knows how long, there will definitely be a sharp drop in the revenues which fund our core services. Decisions made this next term will determine the futures of our children and grandchildren. With the right experienced leadership and our resilient Oklahoma Spirit we will weather the storm and come back stronger than ever,” continued Faught.

While in office, Faught served 8 years on the Administrative Rules and Government Oversight committee which reviews and approves rules and policies that affect how our state agencies, boards and commissions operate. Six of those years he served as committee Chairman. During his tenure he also served as Vice-Chair of the Economic Development and Financial Services committee and Assistant Majority Floor Leader.

Faught has been married to his wife, Becky for 37 years and they have three grown children and four grandchildren. As owner of Clean Pro, a Muskogee-based carpet and tile cleaning business that specializes in water damage restoration, Faught has served thousands of customers in surrounding communities for the past 33 years.

OCPA releases Legislative Scorecard for tracking session votes

From the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs:

At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs announced that we would produce a legislative scorecard to be updated throughout the session.

The OCPA board of trustees and staff came to realize that there wasn’t an easy-to-use guide for constituents to understand just how their lawmakers are voting on issues related to free markets, limited government, individual initiative, and personal responsibility. So we decided to change that.

At the beginning of the legislative session, we launched our new Legislative Scorecard, which can be found at scorecard.ocpathink.org. In addition to the scorecard itself, we released a watch list of bills that are eligible to be included on the scorecard. You can view the watch list at ocpa.co/WatchList.

Check out the live scorecard and share it with your family and friends, it even has an easy-to-use locator so anyone can easily find their lawmaker.

I checked out the Muskogee area legislators to see how they've been voting so far this session.

Ouch.

The city of Muskogee is covered by Rep. Avery Frix (45%), Rep. Chris Sneed (47%), and Sen. Dewayne Pemberton (36%).

Pemberton has the lowest rating for any Republican Senator, and fourth lowest in the entire Senate. Half of the Democratic caucus rates higher than him. 24 of 77 House Republicans have lower scores than Frix, while 30 have lower scores than Sneed.

Randleman and Thompson cover far southern Muskogee County, Fetgatter has portions of far western Muskogee County, while McDugle is across the border in Wagoner County. Sen. David has portions of western and northeastern Muskogee County.

OCPA's scorecard has already resulted in fireworks. BatesLine has the details, including a member of the House directing obscenities and giving OCPA's president Jonathan Small "the finger" inside the Capitol building.

Lawmakers comment on eliminating surprise medical billing

Lawmakers Comment on Surprise Medical Billing

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Reps. Marcus McEntire (R-Duncan), Chris Sneed (R-Muskogee) and Tammy Townley (R-Ardmore) commented today on the ongoing discussions to eliminate surprise medical billing in Oklahoma.

A surprise medical bill is a bill an out-of-network health provider issues to a covered insured person for health care services in an amount greater than the patient’s cost-sharing obligation that would apply for the same services by an in-network provider. What makes these bills surprising is the patient has no knowledge the provider rendering his or her health care services is out of the patient’s network.

"Surprise bills commonly occur when a patient receives care from an out-of-network physician in an in-network hospital," McEntire said.

Negotiations about surprise billing between the Legislature, the Oklahoma Insurance Department, health care providers, and health insurers occurred in earnest last session, but neither consensuinsuras nor a compromise could be reached before the session ended.

“After the last session, we were discouraged about the pace of the surprise billing negotiations,” McEntire said. “However, we are extremely pleased with the pace of negotiations over the interim. We are happy to announce an agreement with health providers and insurance companies to hold enrollees harmless to surprise bills and prohibit the practice of surprise billing. Both the insurance companies and health providers emphatically stated in our meeting that patients should be held harmless.”

Townley said, “It was wonderful to see health insurance companies and health care providers come to the table in a positive environment and work on the legislation for surprise billing in Oklahoma. Our goal from day one was to take care of our Oklahoma consumers! I am so proud of the efforts that have been made in regard to surprise billing.”

Sneed added. “We are excited to be moving forward for Oklahomans with surprise medical billing this session. The majority of parties involved have been to the table numerous times during the interim to work on the issue.”

McEntire said, “We intend to run a bill prohibiting surprise billing during the early part of the upcoming session, but there is still hard work and tough decisions ahead. The difficult challenge is to find an agreed-to method for insurance companies to compensate out-of-network providers. We have encouraged health care providers and insurance companies to negotiate a fair system of compensation or a mediation process and bring it to us. We want to see a payment system on which both sides can agree and a system that does not cause insurance premiums or the cost of health care to rise more than it already is.”

Interim Study focuses on Arkansas River Navigation System

McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System Focus of Interim Study

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Reps. Chris Sneed (R-Fort Gibson), Terry O’Donnell (R-Catoosa) and Avery Frix (R-Muskogee) held an interim study today to review critical maintenance issues of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS), the impact of the system on surrounding communities, and current and future economic growth plans.

The study took place at the Capitol before the House Transportation Committee.

“The importance of this navigation system to the economies of Eastern Oklahoma, the state and the nation cannot be overstated,” Sneed said. “It is imperative we examine issues surrounding how we maintain this system to prevent future flooding and to ensure the continued reliable delivery of products from this important shipping channel.”

O’Donnell echoed those sentiments.

“The reliability of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas Navigation System Channel is vital to the transportation needs of businesses and manufacturing of the region,” O’Donnell said. “Last spring’s flooding demonstrated the need for our state to be in a position to respond quickly to emergencies affecting the waterway. I am hoping this study sheds some light on what we can do as a state to ensure the safety and efficacy of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation Channel going forward.”

Frix said he joined the study because of the channel’s importance to the Port of Muskogee and the surrounding region.

“This shipping channel directly affects jobs, the economy and the recreation activities afforded residents in my House district,” Frix said. “I wanted to make sure our interests are considered and that we have a say in measures that are adopted to keep this port functioning at top capacity and protected as we consider future growth.”

Other presenters at the interim study were David Yarbrough, director of the Tulsa Port of Catoosa and chairman of the National Waterways Conference; Scott Robinson, director of the Port of Muskogee; Fred Taylor, director of Oakley’s Port 33; and Bob Portiss, port director emeritus of the Tulsa Port of Catoosa and former chairman of the National Waterways Conference.

Yarbrough discussed the value to the nation of the MKARNS, which is part of the largest inland and coastal marine transportation system in the world. The system, maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, moves an estimated 1.4 billion tons of agriculture, minerals and other products, valued at $2 trillion, from the American heartland to national and overseas markets. This is 98% of all U.S. imports and exports and provides 20% of all U.S. jobs (63,000 full time positions in Oklahoma and Arkansas) and 1/3 of the nation’s gross domestic product. Projects on the MKARNS itself serve over 7 million utility customers and provide a return of nearly $37 million every year to the U.S. Treasury.

In addition to the movement of products, the system provides 6.5 billion gallons of drinking water nationwide each day, helps to prevent flooding, provides recreation opportunities and habitats for fish, fowl and other wildlife.

The MKARNS and its system of waterways and reservoirs also enhance the region’s outdoor recreation, presenters said. As an example, BassMasters is planning to return to the Three Forks Harbor in Muskogee in 2020, an event that is expected to positively impact the local economy.

Yarbrough also made the argument that waterway navigation is much more energy efficient, with a smaller carbon footprint, than movement by train or trucks. He said a barge can move one ton of cargo 616 miles per gallon of fuel versus a rail car that could move the same ton only 478 miles and a truck only 150 miles. He said to move an identical amount of cargo by rail generates 30% more carbon dioxide than by barge, and that is 1,000% more emissions by trucks than by barge.

Yarbrough explained that cumulative flood damages prevented by Arkansas River Basin projects in fiscal year 2018 exceeded $20.1 billion. He said this year, because of flooding, the amount of products moved on the waterway systems will be down but will rebound.

Robinson further detailed the effects of last spring’s floods on the Port of Muskogee and its 11 flood storage reservoirs. He said seven states’ waterways drain into Oklahoma and end up in Muskogee. He showed startling images of the devastation caused by this year’s flooding and explained how the Corps attempts to manage flooding to keep surrounding residents safe by releasing water from different dams in the system.

Taylor also discussed the flooding impact on Oakley’s Port 33. Both Robinson and Taylor detailed damage to local buildings and machinery, the cost of lost shipping or increased shipping costs as well as job loss and revenue loss, which is estimated to be at least about $200 million. Both said Oklahoma is still struggling to recover from the flooding.

Portiss discussed the history of MKARNS, which initially was planned as a flood-control project but led to the navigable waterway, conservation and recreation areas that exist today. He also detailed future hopes for the system, including a possible future public-private partnership between Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. He expressed a desire for legislative support of and funding for the on-time completion of the White River Entrance Channel cut-off planning engineering design phase in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ work plan as well as a desire to increase congressional appropriations to address the approximate $250 million in backlog of crucial maintenance issues in the three-rivers’ feasibility study area.