The State Senate unanimously passed Senate Joint Resolution 38 by Co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee that acknowledges the inherent right of Oklahoma citizens to hunt and fish.

The resolution will add a new section to the State Constitution that gives all Oklahomans the right to hunt, trap, fish, and take game and fish. The legislation would not allow state laws to prohibit anyone from engaging in such activities.

Members of the Oklahoma State Senate’s Republican Rural Caucus released today their policy agenda for the 2008 legislative session, which includes their “Vision for Improving the Quality of Life in Rural Oklahoma.”

The Republican Rural Caucus’ agenda calls for more funding for county roads and bridges, opposing forced school consolidation, attracting and keeping physicians in rural Oklahoma, among others.

Twenty-four members of the Oklahoma State Senate took the oath of office on Statehood Day, Thursday, November 16, 2006, in the Senate chamber.  The oath was administered by the Honorable Joseph M. Watt, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Newly elected members sworn in were Sean Burrage, D-Claremore; Roger Ballenger, D-Okmulgee; Joe Sweeden, D-Pawhuska; Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa; John Sparks, D-Norman; Anthony Sykes, R-Moore; Tom Ivester, D-Sayre; Bill Brown, R-Broken Arrow; and Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City.

State Senator Frank Shurden has won full Senate approval for a measure to ensure the State Health Department has regulatory control over tattooing. Senate Bill 806 passed 30 to 15 on Wednesday.

“We are the only state that does not regulate tattooing. With Hepatitis C on the rise, we need to address this public health and safety issue and do what 49 other states are doing—make sure these businesses are not spreading disease,” said Shurden, D-Henryetta.