Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman issued the following statement Thursday, after his office and others in the Senate received questions from constituents about plans to raid the teacher retirement pension system to help balance the Fiscal Year 2017 budget:

“There is absolutely no way the Oklahoma Senate would ever consider any plan to raid the teacher retirement system to balance next year’s budget. We’ve worked too hard to strengthen TRS and reduce the unfunded liability that had threatened it in the past.

The Oklahoma Senate Thursday approved a measure to eliminate a tax rebate for economically at-risk oil and gas wells, which has ballooned in cost as a result of low commodity prices.

The Oklahoma Senate Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget Thursday approved three additional measures aimed at helping close the budget gap for the 2017 fiscal year budget. The measures approved by the committee reform various tax credits and incentive programs, generating new revenues for the state.

The full Senate voted Monday to approve a group of bills aimed at helping close the budget gap for the 2017 fiscal year. The finance reform measures will generate more than $250 million that can be appropriated in the 2017 budget as part of a comprehensive effort to address the state’s $1.3 billion shortfall.

Senate Finance Chair Mike Mazzei presented the measures on the floor.

The Senate Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget voted Friday in favor of legislation aimed at protecting students and schools from federal overreach as the result of the president’s public school restroom directive regarding transgendered students. President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman is the principal Senate author. The bill passed 20 to 15.

Sen. AJ Griffin, R-Guthrie, and Rep. Scott Biggs, R-Chickasha, principal authors of House Bill 2398, issued the following statement on Monday after the full Senate gave final passage to the measure which closes a loophole in Oklahoma’s sodomy law. The legislation was written in response to an Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals discussion upholding a lower court’s dismissal of a sodomy case on the grounds that Oklahoma’s rape law covers people who are unconscious and unable to give consent, but didn’t specifically address sodomy under such circumstances.

The Senate has passed HB 2763, which creates the Revenue Stabilization Fund, with the intent of preventing future budget shortfalls like the one the state is currently experiencing. The authors are Sen. David Holt, R-Oklahoma City, and Rep. John Michael Montgomery, R-Lawton. It passed the Senate 44-2 and now awaits the governor’s consideration.

Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, released the following comment after the Senate approved House Bill 3168, which will allow for the issuance of up to $125 million in bonds to continue the repair and restoration of the state Capitol:

Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, commented on the close of the 2016 legislative session:

Senate Democratic Leader John Sparks, D-Norman, issued the following comments in response to the passage of the state’s fiscal year 2017 budget and the close of the legislative session.