This week marks the first week in which the House will be considering bills that have already been approved by the Senate. It is my responsibility to be the House author of four Senate bills.
Senate Bill 794 is authored by Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, and is a request bill from the Peppers Ranch just west of Guthrie. Peppers Ranch serves as a foster care provider for the Department of Human Services and requested the bill in order to provide transparency and openness to the analysis of the state adoption process. It would require that DHS report the number of unsuccessful adoptions that take place each year. This could be used as a tool to analyze and correct issues related to the adoption process. I will be presenting SB 794 before the House Human Services committee this week.
Senate Bill 980 is authored by Sen. Glenn Coffee. It calls for the creation of a chief information officer to oversee the state’s Information Technology functions. Each year, state government has been spending $340.6 million of your tax dollars on IT and telecommunications. This does not count the salaries of the hundreds of state employees who are assigned to IT departments. These IT functions are spread out on an agency-by-agency basis, with each agency capable of creating their own IT empire. Millions of taxpayer dollars could be saved each year if duplicated processes were eliminated and new technology was used to maximize speed and space. SB 980 seeks to put an end to this type of inefficiency. SB 980 has been assigned to the Government Modernization committee where it is set to receive a hearing next Monday.
Senate Bill 800 is authored by Sen. Anthony Sykes and is an excellent strategy for preserving the integrity of the initiative and referendum process in Oklahoma. As you may be aware, the Oklahoma Constitution allows for the people to pass a petition in order to allow them to vote on issues that the Legislature refuses to take action on. This is how such important laws have been written as Oklahoma’s term limit law and the Constitutional provision that makes it hard for the Legislature to raise taxes without a vote of the people.
Unfortunately, the petition process can be thwarted by minor legal mistakes in the petition language that can sometimes cause it to be thrown out even after the petition organizers have gone to enormous effort to get the thousands of necessary signatures. As you might imagine, this serves as a disincentive for citizens to start a petition for fear that all their hard work would be wasted because of a minor mistake. SB 800 would require that a petition that does not have the necessary legal language can be thrown out before the petition is passed around for signatures. This way, everyone would be on the same page prior to the petition being considered.
Senate Joint Resolution 12 is authored by Sen. Randy Brogden. It would allow the people to vote on placing term limits on statewide officials, limiting them to two terms in office. It mirrors legislation to my House version of statewide term limits, which passed the House two weeks ago.
Both SB 800 and SJR 12 will be considered by the House Rules Committee where I have requested a hearing.
REP. JASON MURPHEY, R-Guthrie, represents House District 31, which encompasses all of Logan County and a portion of northern Edmond. He may be reached via e-mail at jason.murphey@okhouse.gov.
Opinion
Legislative session 2009: Round 2
- Opinion
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Aerospace tax credits ensure viability of industry
April 15, 1953. Tax day again. It also marked the last time the U.S. lost a soldier from an enemy air attack.
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Tax outrage stems from moral distaste
A study published this week in the journal Symbolic Interaction revisits the relationship between taxation and morality.
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Suddenly, Asperger’s Syndrome is cured
My 11-year-old grandson just took his first trip off the diving board.
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Book recalls Anastasia's story
In February of 1916 a young woman was pulled from the icy waters of a canal in Berlin, Germany.
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iRead, you read, we all win
I’m thrilled to be able to announce the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s iRead initiative. Check out our iRead page on our website, http://ok.gov/sde/newsblogs/iRead.
With iRead, our goal is to ensure literacy for all Oklahomans from birth to 12th grade. Literacy is more than just reading. Being literate encompasses listening, speaking, reading, and writing — really all of communication. -
Growth revenue should go back to taxpayers
Over the next few days, the Legislature will consider a proposal to reduce Oklahoma’s income tax.
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Thunder Up for Oklahoma
The Thunder basketball team has a big impact on the state of Oklahoma. Not just because we are excelling in the NBA playoffs.
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Growth revenue should go back to taxpayers
Over the next few days, the Legislature will consider a proposal to reduce Oklahoma’s income tax. This year, Oklahoma state government will have more than $200 million of new growth revenue to spend. I believe it is vital for this revenue to go back to the taxpayers who overfinanced state government. This is important, because if the money is not returned, it will almost certainly be used to grow the size of government.
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Tax cuts don’t make the grade
When is not big enough also too big?
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Tax plan means keeping more of what you earn
The discussion about cutting Oklahoma’s income tax started before the legislative session.
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Aerospace tax credits ensure viability of industry
