Legislative Session Begins

By Rep. RICK WEST 

And we’re off to the races!  

The legislative session started Feb. 3. The House and Senate convened to hear the governor deliver his annual State of the State address. He talked about his “Half and a Path” plan to reduce income tax by a half percentage point this year with a plan to get to zero at some point in the future. I would love to reduce taxes further, but I’m not very confident that will happen this year.  

The governor also talked about wanting to establish $4 billion as a savings floor for state government. That’s $4 billion of taxpayer money he wants to keep in the bank. All I can say is wow!  

The governor of course laid out other priorities like making Oklahoma the best state in the nation for business and preserving Oklahoma values. We’ll see what he and the Legislature get accomplished.  

We had our first committee meetings in the House this week. I passed my House Bill 1189 in the House Agriculture Committee, of which I am now vice chair. This bill would establish the right of anyone to grow their own garden. I’ve run this bill the past four years, but I’ve gotten pushback from some municipalities that questioned those who might want to grow something too close to a stop sign or an intersection. This year, I got questions about whether this law would supersede homeowner association restrictions. I just want people to have the assurance they can grow their own food without government interference.  

I also passed House Bill 1185 in the House Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. This bill would prohibit the destruction of military weapons that have historic value. Instead, these weapons are to be donated to local veterans’ organizations. This was a request from the vice commander of the Poteau Disabled Veterans chapter. He said organizations such as his use these weapons when they serve as honor guards at veterans’ funerals and at other events. Nonworking weapons can be used for parts.  

These bills now have to go to oversight committees before they can advance to the House floor.  

Also this week, we celebrated Rose Day at the Capitol. Each year, hundreds of pro-life supporters gather at the Capitol to distribute roses to elected officials to remind us of the value of the sanctity of life, starting with the unborn. I love this day. Abortion is a tragedy that kills too many babies, and anything we can do to protect the unborn, we should do.  

I had a page serve in my office this week. Oyuki Valdez is a senior at Howe High School, the daughter of Oyuki Alba and Santiago Valdez. She plans to attend college to study computer science, and she already has several certifications toward this goal. Oyuki is involved in leadership in the Business Professionals of America and has won Torch and Student of the Month awards at her school. It was a pleasure to have her at the Capitol last week and show her a little bit of how state government works.  

Now that session has started, I’ll be back on the radio at 7:30 a.m. every Thursday on KPRV to bring updates from the Capitol. I encourage you to listen.  

As always, if I can help you with anything, please call my Capitol office at (405) 557-7413 or email me at rick.west@okhouse.gov.

Rick West serves District 3 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes part of LeFlore County.