Credit: Brad Gregg But we might not be able to do that much longer. House Bill 1060, authored by state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, easily won House approval last week. It seeks to prohibit the application of foreign law when the aforementioned violates the Constitution. In response to the measure’s passage, dissenting Rep. Emily […]
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Mane issue
Opponents of a horse slaughter bill protested in downtown OKC March 4. Credit: Mark Hancock Two measures alive in the state Legislature, House Bill 1999 and Senate Bill 375, would allow for the humane slaughter of horses while maintaining a ban on the sale of horse meat for human consumption in the state. The bills […]
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Put down the smartphone and drive
It seems everyone has a story of a near-crash or of a texting driver who nearly ran him or her off the road or of somebody who knows somebody who was in a wreck caused by a driver on the phone. And if you don’t know have such a story, it’s only a matter of […]
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New thinking needed
When will the state of Oklahoma decide to do itself a service and stop electing the kinds of folks who cause young people to flee the state as soon as they are able to do so? Each May, you hear this great whooshing sound of all the bright graduates racing out of the state to […]
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Point: Time to fix workers’ comp
Our current system makes employers and employees adversaries while impairing the rehabilitation of injured workers, burdening families and placing a heavy drag on Oklahoma’s economy and productivity. Ours is a system where everyone loses: the employers, the taxpayers and, most importantly, the injured workers themelves. For example, our system devotes more resources to litigation and […]
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Down with science
Credit: Brad Gregg The slyly named Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act narrowly passed out of a House committee, despite it having drawn the usual ridicule from the national mainstream media who defend such piffle as “climate change,” “gravity” and “the orbit of the planets.” Blackwell has insisted HB 1674 has nothing to do with […]
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Counterpoint: Don’t punish workers
Bob Burke I’m not against change, but the reforms suggested by the state Senate in Senate Bill 1062 are a direct assault upon Oklahoma’s working men and women. The legislation seeks to lower the costs of workers’ compensation rates in the state by drastically cutting benefits to workers. There is no reduction in medical costs, […]
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Smoke up
Credit: Brad Gregg Current statute pre-empts municipalities from enacting smoking ordinances stricter than what state law has enacted. The measure to repeal that preemption was strongly backed by Gov. Mary Fallin, who had made it a key part of her legislative agenda. Sen. Rob Johnson, R-Kingfisher, headed much of the committee debate against the measure. […]
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Yay or neigh?
Credit: Brad Gregg But legislation recently passed in our House and Senate has some wondering if Oklahoma might also become the “dead horse capital of the world.” Senate Bill 375 would revoke the 1963 law banning the sale of horse meat while House Bill 1999 seeks to legalize horse slaughterhouses. “We have an overpopulation of […]
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Up in smoke
On a 6-2 vote, the Senate General Government Committee rejected Senate Bill 36, which sought to repeal the state pre-emption law that supersedes local governments. SB 36 was referred to that panel after Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, had declined to grant a hearing on the legislation. […]