A measure that would have helped ease the pain and suffering of thousands of Oklahomans by providing them access to alternative medicine was killed Monday in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Senate Bill 710 would have legalized the use of medical marijuana prescribed by a doctor in the state. The bill’s author, Sen. Constance N. Johnson has been advocating for this issue for the past seven years and was pleased that it was finally given a hearing by the committee.
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The “Parent Empowerment Act,” has passed its first hurdle in the Legislature. The bipartisan bill, SB 1001, authored by Sen. David Holt, R-Oklahoma City, and Sen. Jabar Shumate, D-Tulsa, will give Oklahoma parents a new tool to accomplish dramatic and positive change in their child’s underperforming school. The bill was approved 7-3 by the Senate Education Committee on Monday.
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Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman issued the following statement Wednesday following the passage of Senate Bill 1062, the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act, in the full Senate. The legislation, authored by Pro Tem Bingman, was passed by a vote of 34-12 and now heads to the House of Representatives.

Currently, 17 members of the state Senate have signed on as co-authors of the Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act.
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Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman addresses the Senate following his election as Pro Tempore.


The Senate applauds Pro Tem Brian Bingman.

The Senate re-elects Sen. Brian Bingman to serve as Senate Pro Tempore on Organizational Day

With workers compensation reform among the top priorities for Senate leaders in the coming session, Sens. Anthony Sykes and Josh Brecheen are getting a firsthand look at Arkansas’ administrative model this week.

The two Senators traveled to visit with Arkansas officials about their transition to an administrative system, and its success in lowering workers comp premium rates and getting employees back to work efficiently.
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Sen. Patrick Anderson has filed Senate Bill 240 to replace Oklahoma’s current income tax structure with a flat tax of 2.95%. The Anderson flat tax plan is simple, fair, and revenue neutral. Additionally, the plan would result in Oklahoma having the lowest income tax rate in the nation, among the 43 states that do impose an income tax.
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Spurred by recent actions taken by the Oklahoma Insurance Department, Sen. Harry Coates will be filing legislation to prevent the department and any other state agencies from wasting taxpayer money on unnecessary travel expenditures.
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State Sen. Randy Bass announced he has filed a trio of bills designed to make the voting process easier for more Oklahomans while enabling more citizens to volunteer at voting precincts.

Bass said Senate Bill 278 would expand the period for in-person absentee voting in counties with populations of at least 50,000 during presidential elections. Currently, voters can cast early ballots on the Friday, Saturday and Monday before the election at their county election board. Bass said his bill would expand in-person absentee voting to seven days.
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The deadline for members of the Oklahoma State Senate to file legislation for the first session of the 54th Legislature was 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 17th. By that deadline 1119 bills and 34 joint resolutions filed. Last year at this time, a total of 972 bills and 45 joint resolutions were filed with 753 Senate Bills and 41 Senate Joint Resolutions carried over from the 2011 session.
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With budget review hearings slated to begin next week and the 2013 Legislative Session right around the corner, the State Senate on Friday announced a new website dedicated to giving members of the public and the press instantaneous access to the research materials and other presentations Senators will use as they develop the Fiscal 2014 budget.
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