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.

(State Capitol, Oklahoma City) – Oklahoma inmates must be moved out of a private prison in Hinton within six months. Other private prison space in Oklahoma was allowed to lie dormant for years, but now other states are signing up to rent the space, making these prisons unavailable for Oklahoma’s prisoners.

State Sen. Owen Laughlin, a former prosecutor, said these developments – and a growing shortage of bed space at state-owned prisons – are a direct result of decades of neglect of Oklahoma’s prison system by Democrat legislators.

State Sen. Susan Paddack is back from a week-long trip to the Middle East and Africa aimed at giving leaders from across the country an opportunity to experience first-hand what it is like for Americans serving in the military. The Joint Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC), organized by the Department of Defense, enabled Paddack to meet with men and women serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. Tinker Air Force Base nominated Paddack to be one of only 45 participants nationwide.
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State Senator Judy Eason McIntyre had always been careful to have an annual mammogram, and had always gotten a clean bill of health—until this past August. When she saw the cluster of white flecks on the mammogram image, she knew something was wrong. A couple of weeks later a biopsy confirmed it was cancer.

“Emotionally, I went from shock, fear, denial, a feeling of helplessness…I started really thinking funeral plans,” said Eason McIntyre.
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Gov. Brad Henry signed into law Thursday Senate Bill 1919 which authorizes creation of the African-American Centennial Plaza on the grounds of the State Capitol as part of Oklahoma’s Centennial Celebration in 2007.

The governor was joined at the ceremonial signing by State Senator Constance N. Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Jabar Shumate, D-Tulsa, who co-authored the legislation.
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State Sen. Jim Wilson has called on the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) to take advantage of a new electronic medical data sharing network. Wilson says the network, called SMRTNET for secure medical records transfer network, has been offered at no charge to OHCA, and would help reduce preventable medical errors, improve care and save tax dollars. Wilson said participation by OHCA in the system will not only respond to the requirements set forth in HB 2842 (the Medicaid Reform bill) but will save time and money.
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Students across the state will have a chance to visit one-on-one with their State Senator and find out what it's like to write and pass laws and make budget decisions. It's all part of a national program called America's Legislators Back to School, sponsored annually by the National Conference of State Legislators. The program officially kicks off for 2006 during the third week of September and continues throughout the school year.
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