Senator Hall: Reduced number of bills eligible to be heard

The Oklahoma Legislature is back in session, and lawmakers have hit the ground running. The Legislature recently cleared its first deadline of this legislative session and dramatically reduced the number of bills eligible to be heard. 

Senators filed 854 pieces of legislation this year in addition to hundreds of bills that carried over from last year. At the end of February, only 357 Senate bills and resolutions had passed through their assigned committees, the first stop for legislation moving through the legislative process.

Bills that didn’t clear a committee by Feb. 29 are largely considered to be dormant and typically can’t be revived later in the legislative session. The first four weeks of this legislative session were a flurry of committee hearings. Now, the full Senate will spend two weeks debating various bills on the floor. After that, Senate bills will move to the House for consideration and House bills will advance to the Legislature’s upper chamber. 

More than 15 bills I introduced advanced through various committees and are poised to get a hearing before the full Senate in the coming weeks. Among those is Senate Bill 1403, which would increase funding for county roads and highways. The bill proposes eliminating a cap on motor vehicle tax collections that currently limits how much roads funding counties receive. 

As it currently stands, a portion of motor vehicle taxes are apportioned to various funds for county road improvements. But once those funds hit the cap, any additional dollars are diverted to the Rebuilding Oklahoma Access and Driver Safety Fund, which covers maintenance and repair costs for state highways and bridges. 

The cap was put in place in 2015 when the state was struggling with revenue failures and budget shortfalls that resulted in cuts for many government agencies. Now nearly a decade later, state finances have more than recovered. And it’s time to increase the amount of funding for rural infrastructure needs. 

School bus drivers in rural Oklahoma are having to change their routes to avoid deteriorating roads. Some rural Oklahomans can’t get mail delivered anymore due to the condition of their streets. 

Counties also are finding that current funding simply isn’t going as far as it once did. We’ve all felt the effects of inflation. Counties are no different.

The cost of county road and bridge projects are increasing as the price for materials, machinery and labor all go up. In the past four years alone, the cost of a road grader has increased by $100,000. 

Counties could receive an additional $8.9 million for road maintenance and improvement next year as a result of SB 1403. I will be sure to keep my constituents apprised of developments as that bill and others advance through the legislative process. 

It’s an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Senate District 20.

The Oklahoma Legislature provides a livestream of legislative activity. Senate proceedings can be viewed online at oksenate.gov and House proceedings can be viewed at okhouse.gov.

Please feel free to contact my Capitol office with any questions or concerns you may have about legislation or other issues impacting our state at 405.521.5628 or at Chuck.Hall@oksenate.gov.

Sen. Chuck Hall, R-Perry, represents Senate District 20, which includes all of Noble and Pawnee counties and parts of Logan, Payne and Kingfisher counties.