Twenty-four members of the Oklahoma State Senate, including nine freshmen, will be officially sworn in at noon on Thursday, November 16, 2006, in the Senate chamber of the State Capitol. The Honorable Joseph M. Watt, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, will administer the oath of office on the 99th anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood.
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Senator Andrew Rice and former Senator Bernest Cain announce with deep regret that Keith Smith passed away last night at Integris Hospital about 11:30 p.m. Final arrangements have not been made, but the funeral and a memorial service will be held here in Oklahoma City sometime in the next two weeks.
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The 2008 General Election Ballot will get a new look if a bill requested by State Senator Kenneth Corn (D-Poteau) and State Representative Neil Brannon (D-Arkoma) makes its way through the legislative process in the coming session. The southeast Oklahoma lawmakers will file legislation that will end a 100-year tradition of straight party voting in Oklahoma.

The Senate Task Force on Illegal Immigration Issues held a second meeting Wednesday, hearing presentations from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety and the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center.

Sen. Daisy Lawler, Chair of the Task Force, said information presented by the agencies further illustrated the scope of the illegal immigration problem and gave task force members a better understanding of how state corrections and law enforcement agencies deal with illegal immigrants under current laws.

Sen. Jeff Rabon on Friday said Oklahoma ranchers can now apply for Livestock Assistance Grants to offset grazing loss suffered through one of the worst periods of drought in state history, but more must be done to remedy the problems currently facing livestock producers in the state.
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State Sen. Kenneth Corn said with current Department of Corrections (DOC) projections indicating Oklahoma will soon run out of room, he supports the construction of new prison space. Corn, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Judiciary, called the situation critical.

Oklahoma should consider sentencing reform as an alternative to building more prisons, said Senator Richard Lerblance, Chairman of the Oklahoma Sentencing Commission.

“We need to think outside the box on how to fix the Department of Corrections’ prison-crowding crisis,” said Lerblance, D-Hartshorne. “We need to take this opportunity to re-examine exactly who we as a society are demanding to be locked up and ask if imprisonment is the best solution to that problem.”

State Capitol, Oklahoma City – Senate Republican leader Glenn Coffee said a reported shortage of bed space at state prisons is a crisis manufactured by Democrat leaders who support the early release of prisoners and who don’t like using less-costly private prisons to lock up state prisoners.

“If there is a shortage of bed space at state prisons, it is because Democrat leaders did not allow DoC to adequately utilize less-costly private prison space when it was available,” stated Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.

Republicans are out of touch on the current prison space shortage facing the Department of Corrections—that’s according to State Sen. Kenneth Corn who said Republicans have thwarted Democrat-led efforts to address the issue.

“During the last session as well as last year’s special session, the Democrat controlled Senate called for improvements in the state prison system that would allow for the continued growth of inmates,” said Corn, D-Poteau. “That effort was blocked by Republicans.”

A legislative initiative to ensure women have access to life-saving breast and cervical cancer treatment has helped thousands of Oklahomans. That’s according to State Sen. Debbe Leftwich, co-author of the legislation creating the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program. Leftwich is also Co-chair of Oklahoma’s Cancer Caucus.