Rep. Mize: House completes floor work

It’s been a busy week at the Oklahoma Legislature, but it’s also been incredibly productive as well. We completed our deadline on Thursday to hear House bills in the chamber of origin, and we passed 410 bills to our colleagues in the Senate. This week alone, we considered over 230 bills.

One of those bills makes great strides toward providing for our retired state employees. We passed a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for these hard-working Oklahomans, which would be their first COLA in 12 years. I served as a coauthor on the bill and was proud it passed with a unanimous 99-0 vote.

We actually passed a bill that would give a COLA last session, but the Senate was concerned regarding the financial security of our state pension systems, so we came together during the interim to develop the bill that passed this week.

HB3350 would give a COLA to retired state employees based on how long they’ve been retired. Someone who retired less than 2 years ago won’t receive a COLA at this time, but those retired at least 2 years and less than 5 will receive a 2% adjustment. People retired 5 years or longer will be given a 4% COLA.

I also coauthored legislation that would allow people with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to renew their CDL at a local tag agency rather than limiting renewal to offices of the Dept. of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The bill, House Bill 1966, would allow companies who employ people with CDLs to increase their productivity by making the renewal process more efficient.

I passed several bills I authored off the House floor prior to Thursday’s deadline as well.

House Bill 3128 standardizes language around the privileges of an authorized signer on depository accounts. It also clarifies and cleans up language surrounding payable upon death beneficiaries. The Oklahoma Bankers Association requested this bill to help define specific guidelines for the banking industry. It passed 88-0.

Another bill I passed this week was House Bill 2008. This bill was a request from a constituent in District 31 and will help better define the use of livestock in support of the family. The Oklahoma Cattleman’s Association and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau are both in support of this bill, and I’m pleased it passed 92-0 on the House floor.

Each of these bills are now available to be considered in the Senate. Over the next few weeks, the House will begin hearing Senate bills in our committees, and we’ll start the legislative process all over again.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent District 31 in the House!

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