Press Releases

The State Senate will fight a lawsuit designed to derail mandated payments to injured workers and halt insurance refunds to thousands of Oklahoma businesses, according to Senator Brad Henry.

Henry was the author of SB 680, a law approved last year by the Legislature and Governor Keating that would bail out the Special Indemnity Fund and order a refund to State Insurance Fund customers.

Even though Oklahoma's state highway construction budget is at its highest level in state history, Oklahoma's road-building program has been plagued by innumerable delays that have thrown it far off schedule, according to an analysis by the State Senate staff.

The unexplained delays are causing problems throughout the state, but especially in the Tulsa area, according to State Senator Lewis Long.

Legislation establishing a special savings account for Oklahoma's tobacco settlement funds has been approved by the full State Senate. SB 1404 by Senator Stratton Taylor passed on a 45-1 vote Monday.

When it comes to putting teachers into the classroom, Oklahoma is doing a better job than almost every other state in the country, according to national statistics highlighted in a new Senate report.

"I think it's a very encouraging sign. It indicates that we're doing a great job of getting personnel into the classroom where they can do the most good," said Senator Cal Hobson, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.

OKLAHOMA CITY - An international health organization has given Oklahoma the only "A" in the nation for the state's efforts to stop the spread of Hepatitis A. That's according to State Senator Kelly Haney, author of a 1997 bill requiring the vaccination for Oklahoma children.

Twenty state lawmakers are urging Governor Keating to retract his inaccurate criticism of Oklahoma college graduates and apologize for suggesting that a majority of them aren't competent enough to enter the working world.