Bills piling up in legislative new year

Hoping everyone made it through the holidays and will have a better “New Year.”

My wish for the legislative “New Year” will be for more cooperation between the House, Senate and the governor’s office. We need to remind ourselves from time to time that we are all on the same team.

A total of 1365 House bills and joint resolutions have been requested for the upcoming legislative session. Staff attorneys are now working on putting the final language to these. The deadline for measures to be formally filed is Jan.

18.

Because this is the Second Session of the 59th Legislature, there also are a number of measures still in process from last year that can be considered this year.

We have a lot of work ahead of us this session, which begins at noon Feb.

5.

I’m thinking perhaps this work will be easier if both chambers of the Legislature and the governor can get along.

One bill in particular that I’m hearing much concern and misunderstanding about is House Bill 1962, which allows 14-year-olds who live or work on a farm to obtain a provisional driving permit. This particular bill is causing grief from all angles. Hopefully, this year we can tweak this product into what the legislator’s envisioned when this bill was passed and signed into law.

Recently, I attended the Oklahoma Water Resource Board area meeting in Talihina. I appreciate the fact that their staff traveled across the state holding public meetings. Not exactly sure how much this will affect policy, but it was refreshing to make our voices heard.

I was disappointed to hear Oklahoma Department of Veteran’s Affairs head Greg Slavonic announce the new center in Sallisaw is now approximately 6570 percent complete with hopes of finishing up by December 2024. I’m saddened.

This center originally was to be complete before Talihina was shuttered. Now I wonder will it ever be complete and open to serve our war heroes?

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.