Small: Critical race theory’s harms widespread

Critical race theory’s harms widespread

By Jonathan Small

What do Pepé Le Pew and a high-school student in Las Vegas have in common? Both are targets of adherents of Marxist-derived “critical race theory” and its offshoots—and many Oklahomans could soon join them.

Pepé Le Pew drew attention when a New York Times columnist, soon joined by other critics, complained the cartoon skunk “normalizes” rape culture. That the female cat in the cartoons is always fearfully, frantically trying to escape Pepé’s embrace is proof, they say.

Yet anyone who has seen the cartoons knows that’s not what’s occurring. The cat is desperately trying to flee—first and foremost—because Pepé is a literal skunk. His foul odor can be physically viewed wafting through the air as a dark cloud. All who cross his path run fleeing, man and beast alike.

The joke is that a guy who thinks he is irresistible to women actively repels them. That’s not condoning rape. It’s making fun of boorish men. While the laws of that time may not have dealt with sexual harassment as forcefully as today’s statutes, Pepé Le Pew cartoons show such men were not viewed as role models in the past but were instead objects of ridicule.

How does this tie to a student in Las Vegas? Keep reading.

Attorneys General ask Treasury Secretary Yellen to clarify stimulus language infringing on states' rights

Attorney General Hunter Asks Treasury Secretary Yellen to Clarify Position on Federal Control of State Finances 

OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General Mike Hunter today sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asking her to clarify whether the last-minute provision added to the latest coronavirus stimulus package strips state legislatures of their authority to provide further economic relief to their citizens by reducing state tax rates, or risk paying back federal aid.

The letter, signed by 21 attorneys general, says if the intent was to deny states the ability to cut taxes in any manner whatsoever, the act would likely constitute the greatest attempted invasion of state sovereignty by Congress in the history of the Republic.

The troublesome language in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 prohibits states receiving a portion of the $1.9 trillion relief package from cutting taxes until 2024. If a state fails to comply, that state’s government would be required to repay the Department of the Treasury the amount equal to the tax cut.

Attorney General Hunter said the Treasury Department has given little guidance on what the language means, and that it could discourage actions by states intended to help citizens.

State House passes resolutions asserting state sovereignty, challenging federal overreach

Resolutions Asserting State Sovereignty Adopted by Oklahoma House of Representatives

OKLAHOMA CITY – House Resolutions 1009 and 1010 sponsored by Rep. Jay Steagall, R-Yukon, were adopted in the Oklahoma House of Representatives today. The two resolutions assert Oklahoma’s state sovereignty in the face of multiple attempts by the federal government to usurp states’ rights. In particular, the resolutions are meant to combat H.R. 1, the “For the People Act of 2021” and H.R. 8, the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.”

HR 1009 reasserts state sovereignty and the state’s authoritative powers as prescribed in the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and declares H.R. 1 to lie beyond the enumerated authorities delegated to the United States Congress in Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.

“H.R. 1, known as the For the People Act of 2021, is an attempt by the federal government to usurp our state’s election processes. More specifically, in Division A, Title I of H.R. 1, Congress seeks to commandeer the voter registration processes of the several states,” said Steagall. “Additionally, H.R. 1 directs the states to utilize third-party entities to manage the states’ congressional redistricting efforts – a work that is prescribed to this state legislature by the Oklahoma Constitution. This blatant federal overreach cannot be left unchecked.”

HR 1010 reasserts state sovereignty and the people’s reserved powers as prescribed in the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and declares H.R. 8 to lie beyond the enumerated authorities delegated by the people to the federal government.

“The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, or H.R. 8, is a clear violation of the limitations placed on the federal government prescribed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution,” said Steagall. “The provisions of H.R. 8 contradict our constituents’ innumerable unalienable rights including their Fourth Amendment Right to be secure in their persons and effects, as well as their Fifth Amendment right to due process of law.”

HR 1009 and HR 1010 will be distributed to the President of the United States, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each member of the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation.

Jim Bridenstine endorses Sen. James Lankford's 2022 reelection bid

LANKFORD ENDORSED BY JIM BRIDENSTINE 

Former NASA Administrator and Oklahoma Congressman backs United States Senator in 2022 re-election bid

(Oklahoma City) – Former NASA Administrator and Oklahoma Congressman Jim Bridenstine announced today his endorsement of U.S. Senator James Lankford when he is up for reelection next year.

Jim Bridenstine issued the following statement today:

"James Lankford is exactly what Oklahoma needs in a Senator. His exceptional intellect is only matched by his diligence and high integrity. When I was in Congress and at NASA, I could always count on James to be true to his convictions. He does what is right and makes his positions transparent. Oklahoma and America are well served by James. Our state strongly benefits from the proven conservative leadership of James Lankford in the United States Senate. He has my wholehearted support and endorsement."

Jim Bridenstine, Former NASA Administrator and Congressman
March 16, 2021

OCPA column: Prioritizing free speech for teachers

Prioritizing free speech for teachers

By Jonathan Small

How important is the right of free speech to you? To some, but fortunately not all, lawmakers, it’s not even worth a piece of paper and an email.

The nation’s two major teachers’ unions—the National Education Association and the American Federation for Teachers—both support many far-left political causes and candidates, including abortion on demand. As a result, the dues paid by members of those unions ultimately support those political causes.

Yet many teachers—including thousands in Oklahoma—do not support left-wing political causes. And the U.S. Supreme Court, in its 2018 decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, ruled that employees cannot be forced to participate.

Partly in response to that ruling, Sen. Julie Daniels has filed Senate Bill 634, which would require schools to get annual reauthorization for union-dues withholding from employees. The bill requires that schools provide teachers with a form to sign each year that notes employees “have a First Amendment right, as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court, to refrain from joining and paying dues or making political contributions to a professional employee organization” and that they cannot be discriminated against it they choose not to join a union.

See where Oklahoma's $3.65B COVID-19 relief funds are going

The recently passed $1.9 trillion in new COVID-19 stimulus/relief funds are beginning to be distributed this week. In addition to direct payments to individuals, a substantial amount of money, some $360 billion, is going to state and local governments. Here's some information on that from reporter Jamie Dupree.

According to this spreadsheet link from the House Oversight Committee, approximately $3.65 billion will be coming to Oklahoma. Of that, $2.174 billion will go to the state, $541M will go to cities and towns, $767M will go to counties, and another $167M will go to state-led capital projects.

I'm going to try to embed the particulars below, taken from the above-linked spreadsheet. First up, the cities and towns with their allocated dollars (in millions):

Legislation to modernize Oklahoma’s cosmetology laws passes House

Legislation to Modernize Oklahoma’s Cosmetology Laws Passes House

OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill that seeks to take away some of the red tape for Oklahoma’s barber and cosmetology professionals passed the House today with bipartisan support. 

House Bill 1807, authored by Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-OKC, modifies the current Oklahoma Cosmetology and Barbering Act to make the regulations around the industry easier to understand and the licensing process easier for Oklahomans entering the profession.

“This bill makes Oklahoma the best place to get your education if you want to get into the cosmetology or barbering industries,” Bennett said. “These reforms make it easier to get certified in what you want to do while not sacrificing instruction time.”

The idea behind this legislation is to lower the barrier of entry for an industry that, more than many others, allows a person to grow their own business and be their own boss. 

Omnibus gun rights measure passes Oklahoma House

Omnibus Firearms Bill Passes the House

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday evening which modifies the provisions for the carrying and possession of firearms in certain circumstances. The measure also cleans up and clarifies language from Oklahoma’s 2019 Constitutional Carry Law.

House Bill 2645, authored by Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, and presented on the floor by Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, allows for the transport of firearms on public roadways if an individual is eligible to carry a firearm, clarifies laws regarding where and when firearms can be carried, allows for the carrying of firearms by municipal employees and changes the law regarding the carrying of firearms in establishments that serve alcohol.

“The passage of Oklahoma’s Constitutional Carry Law in 2019 was a great victory for the Second Amendment rights of Oklahomans,” said Echols. “This bill cleans up some of the language from the 2019 legislation, clarifies a few provisions that needed to be more fleshed out and makes changes necessary to ensure the Second Amendment rights of Oklahomans are not unnecessarily infringed upon.”

The measure provides that it is lawful for a person carrying a weapon to be in a designated bar area of a restaurant as long as the person is not consuming beer or alcoholic beverages and as long as the owner of the establishment allows the carrying of firearms on the premise. It modifies the penalty for violations relating to carrying a firearm into an establishment or consuming beer or alcoholic beverages while carrying by making the penalty a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $250.

“The House has made protecting Second Amendment rights a priority,” said West. “The language clarifications in this bill help citizens more clearly understand when and where they can carry, and the changes to current law help further secure the constitutional rights of Oklahoma gun owners.”

HB 2645 passed by a vote of 78-19 and is now eligible to be heard by the Senate.

Senate passes bill to align school board elections with regular primary and general election dates

It's about time this happened:

Senate approves bill aimed at increasing voter participation in school board elections

OKLAHOMA CITY – Low turnout is far too common in local school board elections, but that trend would change thanks to a bill approved Wednesday by the Oklahoma Senate.

Senate Bill 962, from Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, would align school board election dates with the dates of primary and general election dates for county, state and federal offices.

Treat said low turnout in school board elections is due to those elections happening outside of the traditional election season dates.

House passes bill allowing school boards to authorizing school personnel to carry firearms

Bill Authorizing School Personnel to Carry Firearms Passes House

OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill allowing boards of education to adopt policies authorizing school personnel to carry firearms on school campuses passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives Tuesday evening.  

House Bill 2588, sponsored by Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, would authorize the carrying of a handgun onto school property by school personnel if the person possesses a valid handgun license and meets other requirements authorized by the board of education of the district.

1889 Institute: False Alarm -- Climate Change is not going to kill us all

False Alarm: Climate Change is not Going to Kill Us All

By Spencer Cadavaro

In recent years, apocalyptic predictions of climate change have been popular. As politicians and activists push their preferred policies to supposedly prevent climate change, their claims of what will happen if we do not adopt them grow more severe. One politician claimed, "The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change." I remember hearing similar predictions while growing up in the early 2000s about the ozone layer and polar ice caps. But their fearmongering overstates the dangers posed by a changing climate, and their solutions are unlikely to fix the problem. Indeed, their solutions will likely cause even more problems, especially for states where fossil fuels are a staple of their economy.

One of the more radical proposals to fight climate change involves making the United States carbon neutral by a specific year, such as 2030 or 2050. To do this, activists want to transition to an electrical grid that runs on renewable energy sources. Such a process would be expensive, costing nearly $6 trillion. Beyond the dollar cost, such an act would require massive amounts of land. According to an analysis by the Brookings Institute, wind and solar generation need ten times as much land to produce a similar amount of energy as coal or natural gas. We simply do not have the land necessary to make this happen.

House passes bill to require passing citizenship test as graduation requirement, Dems oppose

Believe it or not, but I actually am sympathetic to the argument the House Dems make in their press release response to the passage of this bill. Read on:

O’Donnell Bill To Require Citizenship Test for Students Passes House

OKLAHOMA CITY – House Speaker Pro Tempore Terry O’Donnell, R-Catoosa, on Monday won passage of a bill in the House that would help students become more engaged citizens.

House Bill 2030 would require high school students to pass the civics portion of the United States’ naturalization test in order to graduate beginning in the 2022-23 school year.

“Unfortunately, too many of our students graduate high school without basic knowledge of how our nation was founded or how our system of government works,” O’Donnell said. “This legislation would help correct that, leading to a more engaged and informed electorate in the future.”

O’Donnell explained this is the same test required of anyone desiring to become a citizen of the United States. Fourteen other states have adopted similar legislation.

HB 2030 would require subject matter standards for history, social studies, and U.S. Government courses in Oklahoma public schools to include the study of important historical documents, including the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation, and Federalist Papers. Subject matter standards for U.S. Government also must include simulations of the democratic process and lessons on the structure and relationship between national, state, county and local governments.

O’Donnell said he too many students graduate without being able to answer basic questions such as how many branches of government exist in the United States or what actually is protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution. He said students would only have to achieve a bare minimum of a score of 60 in order to pass the test before graduation.

“That is not too high of a bar for young adults who will become part of our work force and our communities, and who will be future voters and perhaps even members of our government bodies,” O’Donnell said.

An amendment to the bill would exempt students that have an individualized education plan (IEP).

HB 2030 passed the House with a vote of 80-18. It now advances to the state Senate where it is authored by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond.  

House Democrats Oppose More Testing for High Schoolers

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Members of the House Democratic Caucus released the following statements today in opposition to House Bill 2030, which requires Oklahoma public school students to take a citizenship test before graduation.

"I’m not concerned about making Oklahoma students take the US Citizenship test,” said Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City. “But, the concerns expressed about people in Portland, Seattle, and Washington D.C. won’t be solved by making Oklahoma students take a test.

“Oklahomans deserve better than political posturing in the guise of pandering to patriotism.”

“I like the idea of our students taking the US Naturalization test as an assignment as a part of a unit when the content is delivered, traditionally in the 8th grade,” said Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa. “I can’t support making it a graduation requirement which only creates more unnecessary mandatory testing for our children. Oklahoma parents have spoken loud and clear- our kids have testing fatigue. Testing isn’t the only way to assess a child’s mastery of a subject.

“This bill is ill-conceived, loosely designed, and poorly executed. It will not turn out well for Oklahoma children if we adopt loose testing protocols, security, and implementation.”

“As a former 8th-grade public school history teacher, I can attest that teachers already cover in-depth what the U.S. Naturalization Test assesses,” said Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman. “Further, as a believer in the importance of  hands-on kinesthetic learning, I know that children learn better by doing rather than by prepping for a one-time test, and if we really want our students to learn about civics on a deeper level, we should invest in civics curriculum that truly engages our children.”

“It is not our business to legislate standards, especially when we already have a civics curriculum,” said Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa. “Imposing test requirements that override the work of Oklahoma educators will not solve the problems we face. Students and teachers don’t need another mandate. They need a government that works for them. ”