The House will hold a redistricting meeting in Chandler at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, at the Route 66 Interpretive Center. By law, the Legislature must redraw its legislative
By law, the Legislature must redraw its legislative and congressional district boundaries to reflect changes in population every ten years immediately following the decennial Census. The Oklahoma House of Representatives Redistricting Committee and its eight regional subcommittees are holding a series of town halls throughout the state in December and January to encourage public input in the redistricting process. The meetings are open to anyone who would like to attend.
It’s important that we get public input in these meetings to ensure that each legislative and congressional representative and senator has an equal number of constituents, so that each resident of Oklahoma is fairly represented in state and federal government.
Questions are answered at these meetings, and the public is free to share ideas and look at current and proposed district maps. I hope all who feel comfortable will attend. People also can watch these meetings online either live or in our House archive. They can also email questions or suggestions to me or other representatives or their state senator or our redistricting staff.
Meetings can be viewed here: https://okhouse.gov/Video/Default.aspx. Anyone unable to attend the meeting may email
Anyone unable to attend the meeting may email comments to the House at redistrictoklahoma2020@okhouse.gov, All comments and public testimony will be shared with the committees.
Information about other meetings scheduled across the state can be found here: https://oksenate.gov/pressreleases/oklahoma-senate-house-announce-statewide-redistricting-meeting-dates.
A map showing meetings throughout the state can be found here: https://okhouse.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/minimalist/index.html?appid=ef335bbb2dea4 1dc9eb4Ibb029d5a8800.
Additional information about the redistricting process can be found here: https://okhouse.gov/Publications/Redistricting.aspx.
I also want to include a note about vaccines for COVID-19. I’ve been informed by medical personnel that all phase one vaccines have been administered to long-term care residents and staff, to frontline health care workers who are working directly with COVID-19 patients, to Oklahoma state licensed emergency medical technicians and paramedics. Phase two includes first responders, other health care workers, any adult over the age of 65, teachers and staff in PreK through 12th grade schools and other educational settings, and staff and residents in congregate locations and worksites. The vaccine eventually will be available to all Oklahomans, likely by early spring.
If you fall into the phase two category, you can contact your local health care provider or the Lincoln County Health Department for specifics about receiving the vaccine. I was told by a doctor this morning that he has received the vaccine with no side effects other than a little soreness at the injection site for a few days.
In other legislative news, the House is holding its Organizational Day on Tuesday, Jan. 5. On this day, we officially approve state election results and all members of the House are formally seated. We also formally elect House leadership. House Republicans CH hold a wide majority with 82 members. We’ve already selected Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, to once again lead us. And we’ve selected Terry O’Donnell, R-Catoosa, to serve as the new speaker pro tempore. These two will help establish legislative priorities and have a say in which bills are heard by the full House. They also can break tie votes in committee. On Organizational Day, we will officially nominate them and take a full floor vote on their appointments. Also on this day, we will vote to approve House rules, which will govern our proceedings for the coming two sessions of the 58th Legislature.
In November, the House Republican Caucus elected new Caucus leaders for the 58th Legislature. Rep. Sheila Dills, R-Tulsa was elected as Caucus chair. Rusty Cornwell, R-Vinita will serve as vice chair, and Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont is the secretary. These leaders will work with the speaker and the speaker pro tem and other House leaders to help set policy and priorities for the next two legislative sessions.
In other news, the first legislative deadline has passed - the deadline by which bills must be requested by title of law. Members requested 2,100 House bills and 41 House Joint Resolutions. Lawmakers now are working with legal staff on the substantive language for the bills they will introduce for the coming legislative session, which starts Feb. 1. The number of bills actually filed will be less than the number requested and even less by the time we make it through the session.
On the budget front, the Board of Equalization met Dec. 18, releasing an estimate of $8.4 billion for the Legislature to appropriate for Fiscal Year 2022. This is substantially better news than we anticipated back in May when things looked much bleaker for the economy. Revenues have been coming in better than expected. We still need to be cautious, because we have to appropriate additional funding such as $164 million for Medicaid expansion. Oil is still trading at less than $50 a barrel. We used one-time funding sources last year, some of which we will need to restore, but our prudence is paying off. Other budget leaders and I along with appropriations and budget subcommittee chairs are looking at agency budget requests now. We will hear from agencies that receive the most in state appropriations later this month. The governor will outline his budget priority list during his annual state of the state address the first day of session. We will receive a certified revenue number in February from the Board of Equalization, and then we will have a much clearer roadmap for how to appropriate money for core state services before the end of our legislative session.
Kevin Wallace serves District 32 of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He can be reached by phone at (405) 557-7368 or via email at kevin. wallace@okhouse.gov.