Town Hall Meeting Update

This week I will be hosting the third of four Town Hall meetings which are scheduled in House District 31 during this year’s legislative interim. At each of these Town Hall meetings, it has been my goal to bring together state and local officials to provide updates to area residents. At almost every meeting, I have invited at least one area State Senator and one local County Commissioner to provide a broad base of access to both state and local issues. Read more…

The Struggle for Children with Autism

Hello again, everybody! Some battles at the State Capitol are over quickly; others continue, waiting on political leadership to catch up with public opinion.

The struggle to provide health insurance coverage to children with autism is one of those battles that will continue. Finding a way to help these children and their families is one of the issues to which I have devoted much effort.

For me, this struggle is a moral issue. My continued work on this is borne from my commitment to strengthen families and help ensure that every child has a chance to reach their God-given potential. Read more…

I’m sorry I missed last week’s column. It was a busy week and I did not have the chance to sit down and reflect on all which occurred. I’ll try to get everyone caught up to date.

My family lost my grandmother, Jackie Henderson, to cancer this past Friday. She lived in Jacksboro, Texas and her funeral was on Monday. It was a service she would have liked as people reflected on the good times with her and the memories which brought back laughs. It was the first time many of our cousins had been together in years and we agreed that we would try to spend more time together, especially since many of them have children the same age as when we would get together at holidays. She and my grandfather were very supportive of the grandkids and encouraged us to achieve our dreams. All eight of their grandchildren will have completed college degrees (one is in his final year). This is truly the meaning of family values when they worked to improve the lives of the next two generations of their family. Read more…

Learning from the Failures of other States

Rep. Jason Murphey

If you spend much time watching business or news networks such as CNBC or FOX, you may have noticed a commercial promoting Michigan as a good location for business owners to conduct business. For the past several years, Michigan’s political leaders have offered $3.3 billion in tax credits through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and spent another $1.6 billion in outlays to create and retain jobs. The subsidies include tax breaks for film production, funding for new industrial plants, and millions for the nationwide TV ads starring celebrities talking about business and tourism to Michigan.

Upon seeing the ad, and aside from thinking about how wasteful it is for state government to spend money on television commercials, I seriously question how the politicians in Michigan can so aggressively insult the intelligence of American business owners. Read more…

ESenator Gumm’s “Senate Minute” for Sept. 11-17, 2009 – Sales Tax Holiday and Real Tax Reform

Hello again, everybody! Recently, I was in a political skirmish with an organization that issued a report critical of Oklahoma’s back-to-school sales tax holiday.

Passing the sales tax holiday was one of the most important legislative goals I had when you elected me to be your senator. Forces from big city mayors to high-dollar lobbyists worked to defeat the proposal. After years of hard work, perseverance and bipartisan cooperation, we finally overcame those obstacles to pass the bill.

Although the sales tax holiday has been in effect for three years, and is very popular across Oklahoma, some still fight it. One of those groups continuing to oppose the sales tax holiday is The Tax Foundation, a Washington special interest group. Read more…

Local Officials Standing Up to the Legislature

By Rep. Jason Murphey

Legislators should certainly have the ability to expend funds in order to secure the proper support for the responsibilities of the Legislature such as hiring staff etc. They should not however be able to direct appropriated funds once those funds have been appropriated to the various agencies.

Oklahoma legislators have historically been experts at getting around these restrictions. They have found ways to “pass-through” money to certain entities where it is subsequently directed to the recipients of the legislators’ choice. This allows for the possibility of corruption. In a recent federal criminal case, it has been demonstrated how legislators have used this system for their own direct financial benefit.

Unfortunately, this system of inappropriate pass-thoroughs is still alive and well. However, the recent effort of some courageous local officials could send a strong message to the Legislature and win a big victory for the taxpayers. Read more…

Senator Gumm: “September Special Session Likely”

Hello again, everyone! Last week, I wrote that no one is talking about a special session to adjust the state budget in light of the revenue shortfalls.

This week, almost everyone is talking about whether lawmakers should return to the Capitol. Initially, it looked as though the governor would call the Legislature into special session beginning on Monday, August 31. Within a few hours, however, it began to appear that a slower “wait-and-see” approach would prevail.

Finally, the governor announced the question of “if” we return for special session would be answered after the tax revenue numbers for next month are known. Should we have another shortfall – a situation in which the state collects less than what is necessary to meet the conservative budget approved in May – a special session in September is very likely. Read more…

By Rep. Jason Murphey
I will be hosting a series of Town Hall Meetings across House District 31 this week.

During the last mid-term interim, I conducted a series of these meetings in order to provide updates about both state and local government events and to provide an opportunity for questions and answers so my constituents could be better informed about issues of importance to them.

The meetings were attended by several hundred people and provided another opportunity to see how people felt about the issues at hand. This feedback has allowed me to advocate for issues such as road funding and property tax reform knowing that I was representing the desires of the people. I am also very appreciative to a number of other elected officials who took the time to attend those meetings as guest speakers. Read more…

I was in Oklahoma City over most of the weekend visiting friends in the hospital. I won’t mention their names, but please keep those from our area who are sick or injured in your prayers. It is amazing what the will of people and the spirit can do to heal when there are friends who believe in you. I’m sorry I had to miss a couple of events at home, but I felt that I needed to be at the hospital to be with friends and help those families in need.
Best wishes are to be extended to one of my colleagues who will be leaving the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Ryan McMullen, who shares a portion of Caddo County with me, as well as other parts of the state to the west and north, will be leaving the legislature to take a position in the Presidential administration running the USDA Rural Development Programs. This area is key to providing assistance through grants and loans to rural Oklahoma. Ryan will do an excellent job in this job. Read more…

DURANT, Okla. – Hello again, everyone! The summer generally is a very slow time at the State Capitol. With the legislative session complete, lawmakers return to their districts and their families. The focus of lawmakers’ work becomes constituent service and preparation for the next year’s session of the Legislature.

One of the ways in which we prepare for the next legislative session is through a series of meetings called interim studies. Lawmakers request these studies to get more information on issues; the interim gives us more time for in-depth study. Read more…

By Rep. Jason Murphey

One of the bills that was lost late in the session this year was property tax reform in the form of SJR-5. This was probably the single most disappointing occurrence of the session.

Last April, chances are that you received your property tax assessment. I would also guess that regardless of whether or not your property appreciated in value, your bill reflects a 5% increase in your payable assessment over last year. This is the time of year when my office receives calls or e-mails from citizens experiencing the challenge of coming up with a larger-than-ever property tax payment. Second only to road improvements, the issue of higher property taxes is of major concern to my constituents.

SJR-5 would have allowed the people to vote on decreasing the 5% assessment increase cap to 3%.

I believe property tax to be the most unfair form of taxation. This tax actually punishes a person for land ownership and taxes them year after year for the same property. Read more…

Related:

Asking for Constituent Input for Next Year’s Agenda

Hello again, everybody! As the dust continues to settle after the 2009 session of the Oklahoma Legislature, political observers are looking at how this year was different.

A new majority party took control and the big question was how members would respond to their new roles. What should never change are the fundamental principles that guide individual senators.

Throughout the session, I was far less concerned with partisan issues than I was with getting things done for my district and our state. That approach, and the fierceness with which I tackle specific issues, will never change so long as I have the opportunity to serve as your senator.

While there still are a few bills awaiting the governor’s signature, nine of the bills I sponsored in the Senate have become law. While that is a relatively large number to make it through the process, a number of bills I sponsored fell by the wayside – most often in the House of Representatives – due to partisan politics. Read more…

Taking Another Stand for States’ Rights

By Rep. Jason Murphey

This week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives once again voted to support a House Resolution authored by State Representative Charles Key which sends a message to the federal government regarding states’ rights. This is Key’s second proposal which has been necessitated by a previous version approved in the House and Senate, but vetoed by the Governor.

The resolution seeks to reassert Oklahoma’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and according to the resolution’s language, serves as “Notice and Demand to the federal government, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.”

The resolution makes a firm statement on behalf of local control. Read more…

Education is one of the policy areas in which there are clear differences among those of us in the Legislature. The focus of much of the debate this session has been on Senate Bill 834.

Euphemistically called “The School District Empowerment Act,” the measure is designed – over the next five years – to make every public school in Oklahoma a charter school. Charter schools, which today only are allowed in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties, have virtually no regulatory oversight beyond their local school boards.
Depending on to whom you talk, SB 834 either would strengthen public schools or wipe away decades of progress and begin the slow demise of Oklahoma’s public educational system. For me, the answer is clear: There has never been a greater threat to Oklahoma’s public schools than SB 834. Read more…

By Rep. Joe Dorman

I had the opportunity to visit with the folks over in Apache on Friday at the Rattlesnake Festival. I had the opportunity to film a portion of the activities for Wild Oklahoma, a local wildlife show that is broadcast on Sunday mornings. If you get the chance, check it out on their website for the day it will air. Ron Orf put me in the snake pit once again this year and I was able to help him with one of the shows he put on for the public. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun this experience in and I appreciate the Rattlesnake Association for allowing me to participate each year. Read more…

DURANT, Okla. – Hello again, everyone! We have reached the point in the 2009 session where every bill still alive has passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives, albeit in different forms.

Before any bill can go to the governor, it must pass both the Senate and House in identical form. The remaining four weeks of session will be devoted to hammering out those final versions.

The most important job of the Legislature each year – writing the state budget – is largely undone. This, to me, is very strange as we face a significant budget shortfall.

Cuts will be unavoidable; the challenge is to ensure the cuts do not unduly impact state services on which Oklahomans depend. I certainly hope during the final four weeks of session, more attention must be given to what should have been “job number one.” Read more…

Official English Approved – The Final Month of Session

By Rep. Jason Murphey

Last week marked yet another deadline by which the House of Representatives and Senate had to take action on legislation or risk having the legislation not be heard this year.

Much debate centered around whether or not the Senate would approve a bill that would allow the people to vote on making English Oklahoma’s official language. Due to the insistence of the leadership of the House of Representatives, House author Representative Randy Terrill and Senate author Senator Anthony Sykes, House Resolution 1042 was approved shortly before the Senate’s deadline.

It appears there was a significant amount of negotiating between the advocates of a “common English” proposal and those who wanted an “official English” distinction. In the end, the compromise proposal states that all official actions of the state shall be conducted in English, except as required by federal law. The proposal would not limit the use, study or encouragement of American Indian languages and also says that an agency cannot be sued if it cannot provide materials in a language other than English.

The Senate approved the proposal by a vote of 44-2 and it now returns to the House where the House will have the option of accepting the Senate amendments sending the proposal to a vote of the people. I would have preferred a stronger version of the bill. Read more…

I want to start off this week by reminding everyone of the Apache Rattlesnake Hunt April 16 -19th. I hope you will have the chance to attend. I will be there and look forward to having some fun as this is a great annual festival that is very family-friendly. I am also having Lasik surgery on my eyes on Friday, so keep me in your thoughts and prayers that it is successful.

I have been busy with reading bills over the past few weeks and have also had the chance to visit with many folks from back home while they have been at the Capitol. We had over 50 bills considered in the Appropriations and Budget committee on Monday and the schedule will be the same for the next committee meeting on Thursday. We also considered Senate Bill 834, which was voted out of the Common Education committee on a straight party vote (Republicans for the bill, Democrats against it). I had the chance to speak to a group of teachers in Chickasha on Thursday along with Sen. Ron Justice about this bill. I feel this bill goes too far with deregulation of schools and will provide too many problems at the local level, and also has the chance to reduce the amount the state appropriates to common education in the future. Read more…

Adding Even More Debt

By Rep. Jason Murphey

Last week, the House approved the issuance of new long-term debt to finance a dam project on the Arkansas River in the Tulsa area. This means that each year, more of your money will be added to the millions of tax payer dollars that are tied down to paying debt and debt interest.

You may remember that last year the Legislature approved a major debt package in the last few days of the legislative session. The Tulsa dam project was one of the issues in this bill. Since that time, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has held that the debt bill was unconstitutional because it “log-rolled” more than one issue into the bill.

I feel that the Court should have also held the bill unconstitutional because it did not allow the people to vote on the bond issuance, which I believe is probably required by our state Constitution in this instance. Read more…

Hello again, everyone! Once again this last week, Oklahoma was plagued by wildfires that destroyed property and threatened lives.

The primary defense against many of these fires scattered across rural Oklahoma were volunteer firefighters. Every firefighter is a hero; they risk their own lives to protect our businesses, our homes, our families.
Volunteer firefighters are something special. Geographically, volunteer firefighters are the first line of defense across most of Oklahoma. For no pay, and with precious little resources, volunteer firefighters save countless dollars in property and untold lives every year. Read more…

From Examiner.com:

Insiders say Corporate Commissioner Jeff Cloud is still talking about running for the 5th District Congressional seat being vacated by Congresswoman Mary Fallin, who has announced she’ll be running for governor.

Reheated Coffee: Dirty Harry to the Republican Rescue? Read more…

We received this email yesterday from a reader named “Leah Morse.” Ms. Morse describes herself as a “concerned and politically aware” Oklahoma mother of four who lives in central Oklahoma. She writes that the tort reform issue is very important to her because she has “elderly relatives with medical issues.”

“Embattled tax cheat and Senate president So Temporary Glenn Coffee’s office posted a press release ignoring the reality of the storm swirling about him. Temporary was only too happy to claim victory for a ‘tort reform’ bill that passed out of committee. The media is just regurgitating his press release, so we really don’t have any idea what’s in the bill. But we can sure bet that tax cheats and insurance company executives (especially the ones the taxpayers are bailing out) won’t have a problem with what’s in there. THIS MAKES ME SO ANGRY!!!!”

Related:

OK House Press Room: House Votes to Target Corruption

Tulsa World: Dems’ chief calls out Coffee

Okie Funk: Corporate Amnesty Bill Moves Forward