Rep. Rick West

bill stripped the word grandparent and inserted the words legal guardian. That is not the intent of the bill. I’m waiting to see how this emerges from the Senate before I determine my next step.

Sometimes good legislation does survive the chamber swap. An example of this is Senate Bill 1994, which passed in a House committee last week.

This measure would create a procedure for the removal of unlawful occupants of property. It would allow a property owner to request the sheriff of a county in which property is located to immediately remove a person or persons unlawfully occupying the real property if certain conditions are met.

This is a big issue in our House district. I even heard of incidents during the recent solar eclipse in which people just decided to set up camp on private property without permission of the landowner. I’m glad to see legislation moving forward that would stop these types of infringements.

Property ownership is a Constitutional right and impacts many other freedoms, such as a person’s right to vote in local elections, to participate in certain trade transactions and in other areas.

Also in the House last week, we held a joint legislative session with the state

Senate to recognize the efforts of the 129-yearold Oklahoma Army and Air National Guard. We have more than 8,200 guardsmen and women serving currently.

They help here at home during disasters like tornadoes, floods, wildfires or worse, and they help nationally and abroad to stem the tide of terrorism and to keep our liberties intact.

It was good to be able to recognize the sacrifice of these soldiers and airmen and that of their families. I appreciate all they do for us.

As always, if I can help you with anything, feel free to call my Capitol office at (405) 557-7413 or email me at rick.west@ okhouse.gov.