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Oklahoma Senate
Stillwater Democrat Mike Morgan was elected to a second term as the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate Tuesday as part of the Constitutional organization day for the 51st Oklahoma Legislature.
As part of an historic power-sharing agreement, Morgan will serve as president pro tempore through June 30 and again from August 1 through November 19, 2008. Oklahoma City Republican Glenn Coffee was elected to serve as president pro tem for the month of July 2007.
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On Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007, Senator Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, was elected as Co-President
Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate for the 51st Legislature. Coffee was also elected to serve as the first Republican President Pro Tempore for the month of July, 2007.
Coffee commented on the historic agreement between the Republican and Democrat caucuses to share power as a result of the 24-24 tie within the Oklahoma State Senate:
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Statement by Senator Tom Adelson, D-Tulsa
"Nothing as arbitrary as the condition of a child's birth ought to determine that child's access to healthcare. Wednesday's federal appellate court decision has no bearing on the responsibility of the Oklahoma Legislature to fulfill our social obligations to kids.
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The role Oklahoma voters play in shaping the state’s laws and public policy is too important to leave it open to fraud—that’s according to Sen. John Ford, who has filed legislation requiring voters to show identification when they cast their ballots.
“As citizens, we all have not only the right, but a responsibility to vote. As a government, we have the responsibility to assure that only duly registered voters exercise that right to vote,” said Ford.
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Oklahoma Senate Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee announced that he has named Karl Ahlgren to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Senate. The appointment is part of the power-sharing agreement negotiated between Republicans and Democrats in the evenly divided State Senate.
A 23-year veteran of Oklahoma government and politics, Ahlgren will alternate duties with the Secretary of the Senate, Michael Clingman, who was elected by the Senate on January 2. Ahlgren will handle floor management, parliamentary and clerk duties in the Senate chamber.
read more.State Sen. Debbe Leftwich said Wednesday’s vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to hike the federal minimum wage was a victory for working people throughout Oklahoma and across the nation. The measure would increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over a two-year period.
Leftwich, co-chair of the Senate Business and Labor Committee, said the measure was long overdue, and said she planned to file similar legislation in Oklahoma.
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Oklahoma’s declining gross production tax revenues should serve as sobering evidence that state lawmakers must take greater care in how they appropriate oil and gas revenue, a veteran State Senator said Thursday.
Senator Kenneth Corn, a Democrat from Poteau, said Tuesday’s state revenue report is exactly why he believes the state needs a Constitutional amendment limiting use of excess gross production tax revenue to one-time expenditures.
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A Tulsa senator has filed legislation to crack down on the growing problem of caller ID spoofing. State Sen. James A. Williamson said ID spoofing enables perpetrators to harass others and even use the technology to commit crimes that can bilk individuals and companies out of thousands of dollars.
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Thursday, January 18 is the deadline for members of the Oklahoma State Senate to file legislation for the 2007 session, the first of the 51st Legislature. By 5 p.m., 830 bills and 23 joint resolutions had been filed, with staff members expected to work into the evening filing the final measures.
In 2006, which was the second session of the 50th Legislature, the Senate considered 1,034 new Senate bills and 608 carryover bills, along with 32 Senate Joint Resolutions.
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