For his distinguished service and heroism flying combat missions during World War II, the Oklahoma Senate and the French government on Thursday honored a World War II veteran from Moore.

Lloyd Mitchell served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a navigator in a B-17, and completed 25 air missions over Nazi occupied France, including 12 missions over France when there was no fighter protection for Allied bombers. Mitchell received the Distinguished Flying Cross and many other decorations for his service.

Legislation that will save millions of dollars and give greater control to local school districts in evaluating teachers will take effect beginning July 1, 2016. House Bill 2957, by Rep. Michael Rogers, Vice Chair of the House Common Education Committee, and Sen. John Ford, Senate Education Chair, was approved during the just-ended 2016 legislative session. The measure makes changes to Oklahomas Teacher Leader Effectiveness Evaluation System (TLE).

The Oklahoma Senate Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget Thursday approved reforms that would generate approximately $190 million to help address the $1.3 billion budget shortfall. The measures approved by the committee reform various tax credits and incentive programs, generating new revenues for the state.

Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation Monday to modernize how schools, hospitals and other entities apply for money for high speed internet services through the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund (OUSF). Sen. Eddie Fields is the principal Senate author of House Bill 2616, which modifies the Oklahoma Telecommunications Act to reflect advances in technology.
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Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman issued the following statement Thursday, after his office and others in the Senate received questions from constituents about plans to raid the teacher retirement pension system to help balance the Fiscal Year 2017 budget:

“There is absolutely no way the Oklahoma Senate would ever consider any plan to raid the teacher retirement system to balance next year’s budget. We’ve worked too hard to strengthen TRS and reduce the unfunded liability that had threatened it in the past.

The Oklahoma Senate Thursday approved a measure to eliminate a tax rebate for economically at-risk oil and gas wells, which has ballooned in cost as a result of low commodity prices.

The Oklahoma Senate Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget Thursday approved three additional measures aimed at helping close the budget gap for the 2017 fiscal year budget. The measures approved by the committee reform various tax credits and incentive programs, generating new revenues for the state.

The full Senate voted Monday to approve a group of bills aimed at helping close the budget gap for the 2017 fiscal year. The finance reform measures will generate more than $250 million that can be appropriated in the 2017 budget as part of a comprehensive effort to address the state’s $1.3 billion shortfall.

Senate Finance Chair Mike Mazzei presented the measures on the floor.

The Senate Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget voted Friday in favor of legislation aimed at protecting students and schools from federal overreach as the result of the president’s public school restroom directive regarding transgendered students. President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman is the principal Senate author. The bill passed 20 to 15.

Sen. AJ Griffin, R-Guthrie, and Rep. Scott Biggs, R-Chickasha, principal authors of House Bill 2398, issued the following statement on Monday after the full Senate gave final passage to the measure which closes a loophole in Oklahoma’s sodomy law. The legislation was written in response to an Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals discussion upholding a lower court’s dismissal of a sodomy case on the grounds that Oklahoma’s rape law covers people who are unconscious and unable to give consent, but didn’t specifically address sodomy under such circumstances.