Week 3: First Bill Passed on the House Floor

This week, I was excited to pass my first bill on the House Floor! HB 1070 clarifies that if a congressional vacancy occurs during an even-numbered year, the governor can issue a proclamation to ensure that the regular election serves as the special election, too. I enjoyed working with the State Election Board on drafting the specific language for this bill. It received 99 ayes and 0 nays! I’m grateful for this unanimous support from my colleagues, and I look forward to Sen. Ron Sharp taking this bill through the Senate.

I’m also proud to have voted on two major pieces of legislation during committee work. HB 2484 received a recommendation of do pass from the Government Efficiency Committee, and this bill creates the Office of Government Accountability (OGA), which would operate within the existing Legislative Service Bureau. This office would have about 15 financial examiners who regularly audit agency budgets and evaluate the effectiveness of their programs. HB 1992 received a recommendation of do pass from the County and Municipal Government Committee. This legislation allows for municipalities to create public safety protection districts through a vote of the people. Since our municipalities heavily rely on volatile sales tax revenue, this bill would add more stability and flexibility for municipal operations.

Finally, HB 1780 unanimously passed the House Floor. This bill provides a $1,200 pay raise for Oklahoma’s teachers. In my view, this is a tremendous step in the right direction, and we must continue building upon this momentum by getting more money into the classroom so that our children have the learning resources they need to be successful. More classroom funding and more high-caliber teachers can lead to a reduction in classroom size. I look forward to voting on more legislation that invests in our public education system!

Next week is the deadline for all bills to be considered in committees, so I anticipate that we’ll have extremely long meeting agendas. I’ve got my reading glasses prepared to go through all of the bills!

If you’re interested in receiving newsletters and updates from me throughout the legislative session, please private message me your email address. I’ll also regularly update constituents through my website: http://www.danielpae.com/news

As always, I can be reached via email at daniel.pae@okhouse.gov and phone at 405-557-7374.