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The Senate on Thursday honored one of its own, Assistant Secretary of the Senate Currie Ballard for his many accomplishments and life of public service.
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State Sen. Jim Reynolds said the clock is ticking on Senate Joint Resolution 5, a measure to cut the growth of annual property tax valuations. The legislation would let Oklahomans vote to lower the current property value cap from a maximum of five percent to three percent.
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State Sen. Randy Brogdon said he was disappointed to learn that Gov. Brad Henry had vetoed Senate Bill 1685, the Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act. The bill was designed to stop further encroachment of the federal government on Second Amendment rights by exempting firearms and ammunition manufactured in Oklahoma from regulations handed down from Washington D.C.
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The full Senate has given its approval to a bill that will name a section of a state highway in honor of an Oklahoma woman who was killed six years ago in Iraq. State Sen. Charles Wyrick, D-Fairland, and Rep. Larry Glenn, D-Miami, are the authors of House Bill 2621, which names portion of State Highway 25 in northeastern Oklahoma as the “Fern Holland Memorial Highway.”
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State Sen. Randy Brogdon said he is extremely pleased that a measure to strengthen Oklahomans’ Second Amendment Rights will soon be on the governor’s desk. Senate Bill 1685, the “Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act,” authored by Brogdon, R-Owasso, and Rep. Charles Key, R-Oklahoma City, was approved by the House on Tuesday.
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On a bipartisan vote of 38 to 8, the full Senate on Wednesday gave its approval to a voluntary measure aimed at persuading more Oklahoma restaurants to go smoke-free. State Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, and Rep. Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, are authors of the “Clean Air in Restaurants Act.” Jolley explained the goal of House Bill 2774 is to provide restaurants with financial incentives to go completely smoke-free by 2012.
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The state Senate on Tuesday congratulated the University of Oklahoma women’s basketball team for a season that saw the Lady Sooners reach the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive year. The team is the first in state history to appear in consecutive Final Fours, and one of just eight programs in women’s college basketball history to achieve the feat.

A bipartisan effort has put a bill on Governor Henry’s desk to make certain health insurance companies cover the same illnesses for children with autism as they do children without such a diagnosis.

That assurance is contained in Senate Bill 2045. When the bill was before the Senate, Senator Jay Paul Gumm proposed the language as an amendment, which senators overwhelmingly approved. The amended bill passed both the Senate and House of Representatives and is now on its way to the governor.
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