This week, we reached the deadline to hear bills in their house of origin. After many hours of debate, questioning, and consideration, we passed a few hundred Senate bills out of our chamber that will now move to the House for further review. We’ll be working through their proposed legislation in Senate committees in the coming weeks.
Along with work on bills, we’ve continued working on the Senate’s budget proposal under our new transparency process. The Senate has held dozens of Appropriations Subcommittee meetings over the past few months to meet with state agencies and entities, allowing us to better understand their budgetary needs for funding core services and operational costs. The new process allows us to complete budget work much sooner, while also opening up the process to the public, the media, and other stakeholders.
The fullAppropriations Committee has considered agency budgets, bills with fiscal impacts, as well as one-time and recurring expenses, and compiled these figures into our chamber’s proposed budget. These numbers will be officially presented in a Senate Resolution, and we will then begin working with our counterparts in the House as we negotiate a final budget for Fiscal Year 2025.
In addition to our busy week of legislative work, I had the honor of accepting the Conservative Achievement Award from CPAC. Representatives from CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, visited the Capitol on Monday to recognize the Oklahoma legislators whose voting records have proven them to be champions of conservative policies. It was an honor to be recognized alongside many of my colleagues. I greatly appreciate the recognition for our work, but we also know that there is still much to do. I look forward to continuing to echo the voices of conservative Oklahomans as we work to get bills across the finish line this session.
As always, please contact my office if I can be of assistance to you. You can reach us by calling (405) 521-5541 or emailing Greg. [email protected].
