The Oklahoma District Attorneys Association has presented state Sen. Rob Johnson with its Liberty Bell Award. The award was presented during a June 21 ceremony at the Faculty House Restaurant in Oklahoma City.

Johnson was honored by the state’s prosecutors for his work to amend the state’s expungement statutes during the recently completed legislative session. Expungments clear the criminal records of first time offenders.

Sen. Dan Newberry today issued the following statement following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act:

“The Supreme Court’s ruling is an extraordinary disappointment, but it provides the public with valuable information about Obamacare. Today’s ruling lays bare the deception of the Obama administration in assuring the public that the Affordable Health Care Act was not a massive tax increase. This is an extraordinary fraud – if presented to the American people as the huge tax increase it really is, the proposal would have been overwhelmingly rejected.

Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, released the statement below following the Supreme Court announcement on the president's health care law:

State Sen. Clark Jolley has been named Legislator of the Year by the Oklahoma State Troopers Association (OSTA). Jolley was author of legislation directing a supplemental appropriation of $5 million to the Department of Public Safety to fund an Academy to train 40 Highway Patrol cadets.

In just the last three years, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) has lost about 80 troopers, primarily because of retirement. Jolley has advocated funding annual trooper academies to fully restore and maintain optimum numbers in the OHP.

State Senator Charles Wyrick said Monday the public has lost confidence after a series of ill-conceived decisions at GRDA. He’s calling on Greg Grodhaus, incoming Chair of the GRDA Board of Directors, to resign.

On Wednesday, Sens. Tom Ivester and John Sparks, along with Rep. Emily Virgin, will host the second Annual Oklahoma Legislative Interfaith Iftar Dinner at the state Capitol.

Iftar is the breaking of the fast at sunset during the month of Ramadan.

Sparks said Oklahoma’s Muslim community is diverse and dynamic, and includes numerous professionals, business owners and educators contributing to the state’s vitality.

Sen. Brian Crain said Monday the latest round of personnel upheavals in the state medical examiner’s office point to the need to focus more attention on operations funding. His comments came after reports that the state’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Eric Pfeifer, had recently fired a doctor and two supervisors from the agency.

Sen. Patrick Anderson today commended Gov. Mary Fallin for supporting the continued operation of the Northern Oklahoma Resource Center of Enid (NORCE) and the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center (SORC) in Pauls Valley.

The two facilities house and care for some of the state’s most vulnerable disabled persons. On Thursday, the governor intervened in deliberations regarding the future of NORCE and SORC, directing that Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioners not act on a plan to consolidate the operation of the two facilities. The plan would have closed SORC.

Sen. Patrick Anderson today called upon the Governor to intervene and stop the proposed transfer of $2 million from the budget of the state Department of Agriculture to the Oklahoma Youth Expo.

The budget proposal approved this year by the Legislature increased appropriations to the State Department of Agriculture by $2 million. Anderson said the funds apparently were not intended to be used by the Department of Agriculture, but instead were to be diverted to the Oklahoma Youth Expo – a private livestock show held annually in Oklahoma City.

Sen. Patrick Anderson has been notified by the State Attorney General’s office that his fight to stop the giveaway of $25 million of taxpayer funds is headed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. In February Anderson requested an AG’s opinion on the constitutionality of issuing bonds for a project that was different from the plan originally approved by the legislature in 2009. Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office called the senator Thursday to tell him the case would be presented to the high court.