As events are held across the nation to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, thousands of Oklahoma women are taking advantage of legislation giving them access to life-saving breast and cervical cancer treatment. That’s according to State Sen. Debbe Leftwich, author of a 2004 measure to provide funding for uninsured and underinsured women in need of treatment. As a result, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program went into effect on January 1, 2005.
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Senate Energy and Environment Committee Chairman Richard Lerblance has asked Governor Brad Henry to convene a statewide energy summit to discuss ways to help working families in Oklahoma deal with expected increases in the cost of heating their homes this winter.

The fears of Senate Democrats were realized last night when the crisis facing Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) went beyond prison walls as a convicted murderer and serial rapist escaped from the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington. According to news reports, the pair kidnapped an innocent woman and stole a vehicle to make their escape.

The Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee said Monday that she intends to fight a plan by the leadership in Washington that would create a tremendous hardship on Oklahoma family farmers by closing nearly 30 percent of the Farm Service Agency offices in the state.

“Oklahoma family farmers have endured all kinds of natural disasters – ice storms in the winter, tornadoes in the spring and drought and insects in the summer,” said Senator Daisy Lawler, D-Comanche. “And now Washington is trying to wipe them out with a man-made disaster.”

The Chair of the Senate Committee on Education said the organizational meeting of an interim study to determine inequities within the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System was a success.

Senator Susan Paddack, a Democrat from Ada, said she is hopeful that the study will result in legislation that will keep experienced teachers in Oklahoma.

Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee said Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, is seeking to politicize a prison escape – while ignoring his own party’s responsibility for the current state of Oklahoma’s prisons.

* Senate Democrats get failing grade on job creation

A newly released legislative scorecard from the Research Institute for Economic Development, or RIED, shows that Republicans in the Oklahoma State Senate strongly support issues and legislation that help attract businesses and jobs to the state.

RIED evaluated legislators’ votes and positions during the 2005 legislative session on dozens of bills that affect economic growth and job creation in the state – such as tax relief, lawsuit reform, workers’ compensation reform, and small business issues.

“Senate Democrats were instrumental in passing an historic workers’ compensation measure that was given an “A” rating by the State Chamber of Commerce-an obvious pro business group in the state of Oklahoma.

“The Research Institute for Economic Development (RIED) report is so arbitrarily put together that when we contacted a RIED board member, we were unable to get the formula that determines the rankings given to legislators.
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Senator Daisy Lawler today applauded the decision by the United States Department of Agriculture to scrap its plans to close and consolidate 700 Farm Service Agency offices across the country, including 19 in Oklahoma.

“The voices of Oklahoma family farmers have been heard in Washington and we have won a tremendous victory for family farms in our state and across the nation,” said Lawler, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

State Senate Republican Leader disappointed by Sen. Lawler’s attempt to politicize issue in ‘Howard Dean’-like news release

State Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee said Oklahomans can thank U.S. Congressman Frank Lucas, a Republican from Cheyenne, for winning his effort to keep the USDA from closing 19 of Oklahoma’s 65 Farm Service Agency offices.