The legislative session got off to a good start this year when Gov. Kevin Stitt delivered his fourth annual State of the State address. I and other House leaders look forward to working with him on some shared priorities.
One of those is the continued push back against federal overreach. Last year, the Legislature passed and the governor signed into law House Bill 1236, which empowered us to fight against unconstitutional mandates of the current federal administration.
These include personal health care mandates, illegal immigration policies and election measures that threaten our current voting system. Passing this measure legislatively allows us to help determine when matters should be litigated, and that better protects our personal liberties.
Another shared goal is to get a better handle on the state’s medical marijuana industry, particularly when it comes to illegal operations and those with foreign interest. It’s worth a reminder that it was through the initiative petition process and not the Legislature that medical marijuana was legalized via State Question 788 in 2018. The question, however, left huge gaps in enforcement and regulation. The governor in his speech pointed out that Oklahoma has since seen a ballooning number of growers – 8,300 in Oklahoma, compared to just eight in neighboring Arkansas. We have seven times the growers of California with just 10% of the people. We’ve got multiple bills to address licensing, public utility usage, pesticide use and other issues this session.
Growing our broadband infrastructure is another priority. The Broadband Council, established through legislation, did a great job of laying the groundwork for this expansion.
Now a dedicated office is needed to distribute the money to begin the buildout. Bringing more and better quality high-speed internet to under- or non-served areas of our state will help our residents access services such as education and healthcare, and it will help us attract more businesses and jobs that will improve our overall economy.
The governor also mentioned wanting to invest another $13 billion in transportation over the next 10 years to continue improving pavement and safety on urban and rural highways and to ease travel throughout the state. This too would be a major economic driver. Our state already is in the Top Ten for our bridges.
Specifically named in the governor’s speech was the city of Harrah, which in the last year has seen construction start on more than 2,200 new homes. The city’s first hotel opened in November, and the population is estimated to double within three to four years. That kind of growth is anticipated for other cities as well as more highways and turnpikes are completed throughout the state.
The governor also mentioned several education policies, in which House leadership is interested. These include increasing pay for high-performing teachers and investing in higher education workforce initiatives that will increase the number of candidates in high-demand fields such as nurses, engineers, technical workers and teachers.
Tax reform is another area of interest. Last year, the Legislature cut the personal income tax and the corporate tax rate. We hope to accomplish more of that this year. With record-high revenues and a commitment to continue growing the state’s savings account while investing in priorities, we’re in a good position to continue to look at ways to stay competitive with our tax rates.