Capitol Greetings

Last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court heard oral arguments for both sides of the lawsuit filed by the governor against the leaders of the Oklahoma State Senate and the Oklahoma House of Representatives concerning our veto overrides of several tribal compacts involving tax collections on motor vehicle registrations and tobacco sales.

The governor claims the Legislature did not have the authority to extend the compacts that were set to expire this month. Lawyers for the Legislature argue the extension doesn’t take away the governor’s ability to negotiate the compacts, it just gives him more time to do so. If they expired, it would cost the state millions.

The governor also claims the concurrent special session the Legislature ran last year – during which the vetoes were overridden – is unconstitutional. The legislative argument is we have years of precedent of running concurrent special sessions, and that is allowed in the state Constitution. In addition, much of the other legislation approved in the special session – mainly our state budget – became law. We’ll see how the court rules in this case.

Last Friday was the deadline for new legislation to be requested for the upcoming second session of the 59th Legislature.

Now, legal staff will begin working on the precise language in the bills. Legislation must be formally introduced no later than Jan. 18. Because this is the second session, any bills left over from last year that were not voted down could still be considered in 2024.

This past week, I attended the area agriculture teachers’ annual legislative dinner. This is where our agriculture teachers express their concerns and wishes for the upcoming legislative session.

I enjoy and respect this group as they teach our next generation about modern agriculture. We really don’t often think about feeding a growing world population with a shrinking land mass. This is vital work.

As always, thank You for allowing me to serve you. I can be reached at (405) 557-7381 or by email at jim.grego@ okhouse.gov.

Jim Grego serves District 17 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes Latimer County and parts of LeFlore and Pittsburg counties.