Press Releases

Senator Daisy Lawler said today she is pleased a bill aimed at strengthening families in Oklahoma cleared another legislative hurdle as it passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee with bi-partisan support. She said however, she is puzzled that four Republican members of the Senate, who so often talk about the importance of ‘family values’, voted against a bill aimed at protecting those family values in Oklahoma through character education curriculum for Oklahoma school children.

An attack news release from Republican members of the Senate is little more than a smoke screen to hide a “shameful tax policy,” according to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, made the statement in response to one of a flurry of politically charged attack news releases issued by Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives.

House Republicans, who talk about “family values,” have put at risk a major tax cut that truly values working families, according to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

Senator Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, said the Senate Democrats’ HOPE Plan – a permanent $402 million tax cut targeted to working families – could already have been on the governor’s desk if House Republicans had simply approved the measure as is. HOPE stands for “Helping Oklahomans Prosper Economically” and senators passed the bill on March 2.
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Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to send Governor Brad Henry’s Texas-Plus lawsuit reform plan to the floor of the State Senate for a vote.

Democrats supported the ground-breaking reform measure, while Republicans opposed it. Judiciary Committee Chairman Charlie Laster explained that Henry’s plan was inserted as an amendment in House Bill 2047 by Speaker Todd Hiett.
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The third time won’t be a charm for lawsuit reform if Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Laster and Senate Democrat leaders get their way.

After two straight years of having real lawsuit reform blocked by Gov. Brad Henry and legislative Democrats in favor of watered-down tort bills, proponents of reform were hoping to finally get meaningful lawsuit reform passed in 2005.

Chairman Charles Laster led Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday in voting for amendments that weakened House Bill 2046, the landmark workers’ comp reform bill authored by House Speaker Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville, and Sen. Scott Pruitt, R-Broken Arrow.

Before being amended, Pruitt’s bill was estimated to reduce workers’ comp costs by up to $158 million by the non-partisan National Council on Compensation Insurance. A competing plan authored by Gov. Brad Henry is estimated to only save $20 to 51 million.

The authors of two bills to protect victims of domestic violence or rape are pushing legislative committees to approve the measures before it’s too late. This coming Thursday, April 7, is the Senate deadline for committees to act on bills from the opposite chamber, while the deadline for the House is Thursday, April 21.

The lawmakers, along with representatives of the YWCA, The Oklahoma Conference of Churches and Oklahoma’s Catholic Charities spoke in support of the bills at the State Capitol on Monday.
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Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan and members of the Senate Democratic Caucus unveiled a plan Friday that would fund replacement or rehabilitation of nearly 900 of the state’s 1,600 deficient bridges over the next 15 years.

“Oklahoma is No. 1 in the nation in the percentage of deficient bridges. We’re here today to announce our support for a plan to change that without raising taxes, without threatening funding for our public schools and without mortgaging the future of our highway maintenance plan,” said Morgan, D-Stillwater.
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SENATOR COFFEE: Gov. Henry is Putting Families at Risk by Releasing A Violent Criminal Every Workday

State Capitol, Oklahoma City – Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee said Friday that a new criminal justice study shows that Gov. Brad Henry was “flat wrong” when he claimed Wednesday that releasing violent criminals on supervised parole is better than making them serve their full sentence.

Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, made the following statement in response to the Senate Democrats’ “2020 Plan” for transportation funding in Oklahoma.

“Democrats in the Legislature have under-funded transportation for years, so it is encouraging to see that they are finally making transportation a priority. As the saying goes, better late than never. I look forward to studying their plan more closely,” Coffee stated.