A day at the capitol

An old, veteran legislator once told me it’s better to just see sausage in its final product than to see how it’s made.

He said the same is true for the legislation that filters through both chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature on its way to the desk of the governor for a signature.

Late last week members of the Oklahoma Press Association had the opportunity to see the sausage process up close and personal with an all-day visit to the State Capitol.

After short meetings with State Senator Jessica Garvin and State Representative Cynthia Roe, John Denny and I went back to the OPA meeting room for a bite of lunch and then heard four speakers.

Speaker of the House Charles McCall of Atoka led off with outstanding news about the economic stability of our state.

McCall said the Rainy Day Fund, our savings fund for the state, “is north of $4 billion.”

He is in favor of the .25 percent tax cut for Oklahoma Tax Payers.

House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson of Oklahoma City spoke second.

She told the room full of Oklahoma journalists the Democratic Caucus is all in for keeping public funds for public schools and definitely against what Republicans passed last year – using public funds for private schools.

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat of Deer Creek batted in the three hole.

His number one goal is to fix the state license plate situation after last year’s change to require people to keep their license plate after they sell a vehicle.

That change in the law led to his son, Mason, being involved in a near-fatal auto accident last year.

Now Treat wants to clean up the new law on how cars are tagged and titled.

He is also laser focused on budget transparency, wanting Oklahoma to be the most transparent of any state in the United States.

The cleanup speaker was Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Kevin Matthews of Tulsa who said Oklahoma’s greatest economic tool is public schools, including our colleges, universities and career tech institutions.