Due to the serious budget issues facing the Legislature this session, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee has formed the General Conference Committee on Appropriations earlier in the session than is traditional, naming 23 members and two ex-officio members to that panel today. The GCCA will meet on Thursday of this week to address 2010 budget issues and to look ahead to the 2011 budget.

“As we did last year, I’ve streamlined the process, naming members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to the GCCA,” Coffee said.

Two measures by Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee which will take giant strides toward reforming Oklahoma’s expensive and cumbersome Worker’s Compensation system passed in committee today.

SB 1973, the comprehensive worker’s compensation reform bill passed the Judiciary Committee today. SJR 66, which would limit claims for legal services for workers’ compensation benefits also passed the same committee. SJR 66 will go before the full Senate.

A measure supporters say will reduce recidivism and help more Oklahomans pursue better employment opportunities is awaiting consideration by the full Senate. The legislation, Senate Bill 2070, is authored by Business and Labor Chairman Harry Coates. The Seminole Republican said the bill was suggested by an Oklahoma City-based nonprofit organization, The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM), which works to help former inmates reenter society. SB 2070 won committee approval on Monday.
read more.

The pieces of the puzzle are all there, but in order to create a more successful economic picture, Oklahoma needs to do a better job of putting those pieces together, according to Sen. Jay Paul Gumm.

The senator from Durant has won unanimous Senate Appropriations Committee approval for Senate Bill 1723. The measure, approved Wednesday, would create the Oklahoma Entrepreneurship Network and grant qualifying towns the title of Entrepreneur Ready Community.
read more.

The Senate Rules Committee unanimously approved two measures Wednesday to help discourage members of the Legislature from voting on bills that could personally or financially benefit them. Sen. Andrew Rice, author of SJR 53 and SB 1671, says his bills are an effort to keep members honest while at the same time helping increase public trust in the legislative process.
read more.

The state Senate on Wednesday approved a resolution congratulating Rumble the Bison on his first birthday with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and declaring February 17, 2010, “Rumble the Bison Day”.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved legislation allowing for expungement of a person’s criminal record if the offense was a nonviolent felony, the person has not been convicted of subsequent crimes and ten years have passed since the initial conviction.

Sen. Joe Sweeden said his proposal would empower people to rebuild their lives after they have paid their debt to society.

Sen. Constance N. Johnson is encouraging her legislative colleagues to consider legislation that would establish alternative placement programs for non-violent offenders in Oklahoma. Johnson said alternative placement could ultimately reduce some of the state’s funding obligations to the Department of Corrections.

Johnson has filed Senate Bill 2329, making persons convicted of non-violent and drug-related crimes eligible for the Non Violent Offender Alternative Placement program.

SB 1862, the charter school expansion bill authored by Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, passed out of the Appropriations Committee today.

The bill will give the mayors of Oklahoma’s two largest cities chartering authority, while removing the number of caps on allowed charter schools, a major education reform that will increase opportunity for students and parents in the state’s two largest cities.

Key points of SB 1862 include:

· Allow municipalities with a population of 300,000 or more to sponsor/authorize charter schools;

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Judiciary on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow Oklahoma law enforcement officials to monitor the state’s most dangerous sex offenders through electronic monitoring devices.