Week In Review

Legislative action shifted from the floor to the committee room again as lawmakers began the final process of drafting the state budget for next fiscal year. Agency heads are appearing before appropriations subcommittees, trying to justify their requests for additional funds.

Five weeks remain in the 1999 legislative session. Lawmakers will spend the final weeks tying up loose budget ends and attempting to resolve differences over substantive legislation in conference committee.

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The bulk of legislative work continued to take place on the floors of the House and Senate. Lawmakers worked to meet the Thursday, April 15th deadline for passing bills out of the opposite House of origin.

• Oklahoma's bid to bring passenger rail service back to the state received another shot in the arm when Governor Keating signed SB 383 into law. read more.

Legislative work continued on the floors of the House and Senate as lawmakers rushed to beat their next deadline of the session. All bills have to be passed off the floor by Thursday, April 15th or they are dead for the year.

• Calling it a "good example of compromise that works in the best interest of our citizens," Governor Keating signed the so-called "unmarked car" bill into law. The final version of the HB 1212 was a compromise with officials in law enforcement. read more.

Legislative work shifted back to the floors of the House and Senate as lawmakers rushed to beat their next deadline of the session. All bills have to be passed off the floor by Thursday, April 15th.

• The "mental health parity" bill was approved by the House, but with a notable concession to Governor Keating. SB 2 was amended to include tax credits for companies which are hit with a premium increase because they offered mental health coverage to employees, a provision requested by the Governor. read more.

Most of the legislative work continued to take place in House and Senate committee meetings as lawmakers rushed to beat their next deadline of the session. All bills had to be passed out of committee by Thursday, March 25th.

The next deadline is Thursday, April 15th. It will mark the date that all bills must be passed out of the opposite house of origin.

Most of the legislative work took place in House and Senate committee meetings as lawmakers rushed to beat their next deadline of the session. All bills must be passed out of committee by March 25th.