The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Oklahoma State Senate commented on the passing of former Sen. Sam Helton, D-Lawton:

Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus chair, Sen. Kevin Matthews, D-Tulsa, issued the following statement Thursday on behalf of the caucus outlining recommendations for law enforcement across the state and calling for peaceful protests following Friday evening’s police shooting of Terence Crutcher.

Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman released the following statement regarding Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Steven Taylor’s decision to retire at the end of this year.

The leader of the Oklahoma Senate announced on Wednesday 36 requests for interim legislative studies. The study requests were approved by Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa.

The studies have been assigned to the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the subject matter contained within the request. The committee chairman will be responsible for scheduling committee meetings on the interim study requests.

Senate Democratic Leader John Sparks, D-Norman, issued the following comments on a lawsuit filed Tuesday asking the Supreme Court to order the governor to return $140.8 million in “extra money” that was “found” by the governor’s fiscal staff back to the state agencies from where it was cut:

OKLAHOMA CITY – Sen. Anastasia Pittman was recently elected to serve as the National Vice-Chair of the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators (NCNASL) in Chicago, IL.
read more.

Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman released the following statement on the passing of former Senator E. Melvin Porter, Oklahoma’s first African-American state senator.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Senate Democratic Leader John Sparks (D-Norman) issued the following comments in response to the report that Governor Fallin is considering calling the Legislature into special session to use “extra money” to fund a pay raise for public school teachers:

“Once again, Governor Fallin and the Republican majority in the legislature are showing how bad they are at public finance and how good they are at election year political pandering – because that is all this proposal for a special session on teacher pay raises is.

Oklahoma Speaker of the House Jeff Hickman and Senate Appropriations & Budget Committee Chairman Clark Jolley said they were surprised by comments from Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister in her news release regarding school textbook funding today.

State Sen. Roger Thompson has been named to the panel responsible for preparing and approving the project programming plan for the repairs of the state Capitol building. The historic building is in the midst of repairs and restoration necessary to ensure its safety and functionality, but throughout the project, Thompson will help make sure the publics dollars are spent prudently.