Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin and Senate Republican leaders said Thursday they were right when they predicted four weeks ago that Gov. Brad Henry would attempt to water down workers’ compensation reform if the issue went to a conference committee instead of receiving an up-or-down vote in the Senate.

Now it is too late in the legislative session for a good workers’ compensation reform bill to be produced – meaning the issue will have to be resolved in a special session of the Legislature this summer.

State Senators today unanimously gave final approval to a plan to invest billions of dollars in road and bridge maintenance over the next decade.

House Bill 1078 passed the Senate on a 48-0 vote.

“Today we have made an historic investment in road and bridge maintenance in our state. Oklahomans will begin seeing the results of this bill before the end of this year. In the coming decade, hundreds of bridges will be replaced and repaired while thousands of miles of highways will be resurfaced,” said Senator Kenneth Corn, author of the measure.
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The State Senate has approved a bill to provide Oklahoma nursing homes with sex offender notifications. Principal Senate author of HB 1963, Sen. Debbe Leftwich said the measure will give greater peace of mind to nursing home residents and their families. In addition to providing nursing homes with notifications of individuals on the statewide sex offender registry, it also requires notification of those who are on the state’s violent offender registry.
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Members of the State Senate Friday approved a pair of tax reduction bills that will save working families, veterans and retirees hundreds of dollars annually on their state income taxes.

Senate Bill 435 passed the Senate on a 40-7 vote. It contains provisions to raise the standard deduction – the single most effective method of lowering taxes on working families, said Senator Jay Paul Gumm, author of the measure.
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The Oklahoma Senate passed two measures earlier this week to encourage the manufacturing of alternative fuels in the state. House Bill 1556, by Representative Mike Jackson and Senators David Myers and Patrick Anderson, and HB 1398, by Rep. James Covey and Sen. Owen Laughlin, both received unanimous approval from the Senate and are now waiting for further consideration from the Governor.
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Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee said important work for the 2005 legislative session is “to be continued” in a special session.

“This has the potential to be a pretty good legislative session if we can pass a meaningful workers’ compensation reform bill during the special session,” stated Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.

“The biggest disappointment was the lack of action on lawsuit reform – one of the most important economic issues facing our state,” Coffee said.

Members of the State Senate voted Friday to fund an $11.4 million supplemental appropriation for public schools, Appropriations Chairman Johnnie Crutchfield said.

House passage will allow the money to be used to help schools off-set costs that have arisen over the last five years as a result of a $3,000 pay raise for all state teachers which became effective in 2000.

Senator Debbe Leftwich announced today that House Bill 1653, the Graduated Drivers License Act, cleared the full Senate and is now headed to the Governor’s desk. The measure will provide teenage drivers with more time to develop their driving skills and learn in a low risk setting.

The Democrat from South Oklahoma City co-authored the legislation with Representative Danny Morgan, a Prague Democrat. Senator Leftwich stated that the measure follows in the footsteps of her late husband, Keith Leftwich, who brought the issue of a graduated driver’s license to the forefront. read more.

Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan said he is confident a special session on workers compensation reform will result in legislation to save millions for Oklahoma businesses while preserving the rights of workers injured on the job.

“We were just so close to passing meaningful workers’ compensation reform that struck the balance of protecting the rights of injured workers and lowering the cost of doing business,” Senator Morgan, (D-Stillwater) said. “The time constraints of the session just didn’t allow us to get it done today.”
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OKLAHOMA CITY-Republicans in the House are turning their heads to the problems that come with credit card debt and bankruptcy by killing a bill being backed by the State Chamber of Commerce. Senate Bill 378 would have required students who graduate from an Oklahoma school to take one semester of Personal Financial Economics but was killed when Republican House leaders refused to hear the bill before sine die adjournment last Friday.