First elected to the State Legislature nearly 28 years ago, Sen. Frank Shurden was honored by his fellow members, family and friends on the floor of the State Senate on Tuesday afternoon. The Henryetta Democrat is completing his final year in the Senate due to term limits.
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Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan said Tuesday’s show in the House makes it clear that the House Republican leadership has placed tax cuts for the wealthy above the education of Oklahoma’s children.

“House leaders continue to stump for a package of tax cuts that will cost Oklahoma nearly $650 million and which will benefit the wealthiest in Oklahoma far more than the middle class. Yet today, they voted to short-change Oklahoma’s teachers,” Morgan said.
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For his work to ensure Oklahoma’s neediest high school students have a chance at a higher education, Senator Jay Paul Gumm was recently declared a “Champion of TRIO.”

TRIO is a series of programs that help students from disadvantaged backgrounds – especially students whose parents did not attend college – prepare for higher education. The program provides services that include: academic advice and assistance; tutorial services; help with college admission and financial aid applications; as well as mentoring and counseling.

A bill authored by Senator Susan Paddack, an Ada Democrat, that will give Oklahoma families a tax credit for rebuilding their homes that were destroyed or damaged by the recent wildfires won the approval of the full Senate today. House Bill 2121 enacts a tax credit for the difference between the ad valorem paid on the property in the year prior to the wildfire damage and the ad valorem taxes paid in the first year the property is rebuilt.
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The State Senate on Monday approved legislation to place restrictions on the sale of violent video games to Oklahoma children.

House Bill 3004, by Sen. Glenn Coffee and Rep. Fred Morgan, would add violent video games to the list of products termed “harmful to minors” under state law, making it a crime to sell them to children under the age of 18.
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Legislation to broaden the rights of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves has been approved by the full State Senate. House Bill 2615, known as the “Stand Your Ground” bill by Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole and Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Del City, was approved by the Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 39 to 5.

Coates said the “Make My Day” law had resulted in a dramatic decrease in burglaries in Oklahoma. He predicted the “Stand Your Ground” bill would also help deter crime.
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A bill by that protects the right of law-abiding citizens to “keep and bear arms” even during times of emergencies is now law in Oklahoma.

Senator Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, sponsored House Bill 2696 in the Oklahoma State Senate. The new law removes the power of a governor to prohibit during emergencies the possession of guns by law-abiding citizens. Rep. Trebor Worthen, R-Oklahoma City, was the measure’s House author.
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Leftwich and Hamilton Question Motive Behind Last-minute Resolution

After defeating a two-year effort to protect the rights of women by refusing to allow an up or down vote on the Victim’s Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA) last week, House Rules Committee Chair Sue Tibbs, R-Tulsa, offered a resolution on the floor of the House Monday containing watered down language from the bill. Her actions have two members of the Legislature demanding an explanation.
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In only his first year in the Oklahoma Legislature, State Senator Randy Bass shouldered into law a measure that provides members of the Oklahoma National Guard a $250,000 life insurance policy and a measure that exempts $10,000 or half of military retirement pensions, whichever is greater, from state income taxes for members of Oklahoma’s military family.
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A key plank of the Senate Democrats’ agenda to “Create a Safer Oklahoma” won the approval of the full House today and is expected to be signed into law within a matter of days. Senate Bill 1037, known as the Caitlin Wooten Act, is authored by Democratic Senator Susan Paddack and State Rep. Wes Hilliard, also a Democrat. The bill is named after 16-year-old Caitlin Wooten.
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