Rep. Pfeiffer: Session starts

The Second Session of the 59th Legislature got underway Feb. 5. Before a joint session of the House and Senate, Gov. Stitt delivered his sixth annual State of the State address.

While there are certainly topics on which I must diverge from the governor, there were plenty of things to find agreement on in his speech. He continued his call for tax cuts. The House has already passed multiple measures in previous regular and special sessions that would cut personal income taxes, remove the state’s portion of the grocery tax and other measures. This session, too, we have a number of measures that would cut taxes.

We’re at a time of record-high savings and projected record-high revenue in our state, so it’s a great time to return money to the Oklahoma taxpayer. Data shows when we do, we still receive the benefit back to our overall economy. It’s just the difference of letting people determine how their money is spent or letting government.

We need a willing partner in the state Senate, and the governor said he will pass any tax cut that gets to his desk.

Also in the governor’s speech, he mentioned policies to make Oklahoma more business friendly. These include continuing to reduce regulation, continuing to incentivize industry, manufacturing and development so we can attract more employers to our state and reward our existing companies that are adding jobs and reinvesting in their communities.

To accomplish our role of being a business leader, we also must continue to invest in education and workforce readiness programs in our states colleges, universities and CareerTechs. We have legislation pending this year to meet these goals.

In the House, we have started hearing bills in committees, which is the first step of the legislative process. This year, there were 800 fewer House bills filed to go through the legislative process. Committees are scheduled to meet for the next three weeks as we work our way through the legislation.

Also during this first week of session, I was privileged to welcome two nurses from our House District to serve as Nurse of the Day for the House. Tia Deneen Koffskey from Pond Creek and Debra Hawkins from Tonkawa came to assist us. I recognized each with a citation on the House floor. This is a wonderful program provided by the Oklahoma Nurses Association. They select a registered nurse to provide care each legislative day. I appreciate these two women taking time from their busy schedules to drive to the Capitol to serve in this capacity.

As always, if you have concerns about bills, or problems I can assist you in solving, please reach out to me at john.pfeiffer@okhouse.gov or call my office at 405-557-7332. This year I have had the great opportunity to hire a new legislative assistant, Krista Carroll. Krista has jumped into this role with both feet, and we are both happy to help House District 38 in any way we can.