A coalition of community, business, and law enforcement leaders filed papers with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission this week to oppose SQ 820, the effort to legalize recreational marijuana under state law. Official documents list former Governor Frank Keating as the chairman of the organization, Protect Our Kids No 820.
Washington, DC – Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5609- the Cattle Contract Library Act. Introduced by Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and Frank Lucas (R-OK), the bipartisan bill would direct the United State Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) to establish a contract library for cattle producers, ensuring more transparency in the cattle market for producers. Congressman Frank Lucas released the following statement praising the passage of the Cattle Contract Library Act:
“Market strains have highlighted the vulnerabilities our cattlemen and women face day in-and-day out. For far too long, cattle producers have operated under volatile market conditions, forced to accept declining prices for live cattle while the cost of beef goes up at the grocery store. In order to guarantee greater competition, price discovery, and transparency, producers must be able to leverage marketing data while negotiating the price of cattle- and the Cattle Contract Library Act does just that,” said Congressman Frank Lucas. “I thank my House colleagues for passing the Cattle Contract Library Act, which will help America’s cattlemen and women better negotiate higher prices for their cattle. As Oklahoma’s farmers and ranchers know, data drives marketing decisions and the Cattle Contract Library Act will improve transparency and give more leverage to Oklahoma’s cattle producers. I thank Congressman Johnson and Congressman Cuellar for their leadership on this issue, and I look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to move this legislation forward.”
Currently, USDA maintains a pork contract library, and following significant volatility in the cattle market and the release of the July 2020 Boxed Beef & Fed Cattle Price Spread Investigation Report, the creation of a cattle contract library was recommended by experts and stakeholders.
Oklahoma City — Oklahomans United against 805 released a statement upon the news that State Question 805 — which would have allowed repeat criminals out of prison sooner and endangered all law-abiding Oklahomans — has been defeated.
“Thank you to the voters. It proves that grassroots and Oklahomans control their own destiny. Our constitution cannot be bought by out-of-state interests. It took an incredible team, not the least of which are our elected leaders, Governor Kevin Stitt, Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell, Attorney General Mike Hunter, and so many others. When we started, it was an uphill battle, but these three leaders stood strong to do what was right -- not just that which appeared to be politically expedient.”
— Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating
"Oklahomans have shown they do not take altering our constitution lightly. I am very proud my fellow Oklahomans have recognized this, and it is my hope that future efforts fully exhaust legislative remedies before embarking on an amendment as did the out-of-state proponents of S.Q. 805.”
— Marc Nuttle, Attorney & Treasurer, Oklahomans United against 805
