Legislation requiring all Oklahoma public high schools to offer at least four Advanced Placement (AP) courses to students beginning in the 2024-25 school year was signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt. House Bill 3400, authored by State Rep. Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon, and State Sen. Gary Stanislawski, R-Tulsa, allows schools to choose the type of…
A plan to help pay for Medicaid in Oklahoma passed off the Senate. Senate Joint Resolution 27, by Senate Majority Floor Leader Kim David, R-Porter, refers to Oklahoma voters a constitutional amendment to allow a larger portion of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund (TSET) annual settlement payments to go towards paying for either the…
Legislation raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21 has been signed into law. Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada, is principal author of Senate Bill 1423. Oklahoma’s statutes align with the federal Tobacco-Free Youth Act, which was signed by President Donald Trump last December. That law prohibited the sale of cigarettes, e-cigarettes,…
Legislation creating a system for licensing midwives has been signed into law. Senate Bill 1823, creating Shepherd’s Law, was signed into law by Gov. Stitt. Certified Professional Midwives are already regulated in 34 other states. Under SB1823, a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) or Certified Midwife (CM) would be required to be licensed. All midwives would…
A bill that grants a one-year exemption from penalties for school districts that have excess carryover dollars due to the COVID-19 pandemic was passed by the House of Representatives. Without this change, some Oklahoma school districts would have been subject to fines for having too large of a carryover balance. House Bill 3964, by State…
Legislation that recognizes Israel as one of Oklahoma’s top trade partners and the nation’s greatest ally in the Middle East passed the state Senate. House Bill 3967, authored by State Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, specifies that unless exempted by the secretary of state, the state of Oklahoma will not enter into contracts with companies that…
State Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman, applauded House passage of Senate Bill 1046, as a part of the launch of SoonerCare 2.0 on July 1. The state’s current Medicaid Program, SoonerCare, currently only covers children, pregnant women, adults with children, elderly adults, and disabled adults. Beginning July 1, 2020, Oklahoma’s Medicaid program will offer coverage availability…
The Oklahoma House of Representatives gave approval to two bills designed to increase the number of special education teachers in the classroom and to address the statewide teacher shortage. Rep. Nicole Miller, R-Edmond, presented SB1436 creates a new path to certification in two areas for aspiring special education teachers and provides additional training for existing…
Gov. Kevin Stitt signed HB 3350, providing a cost-of-living-adjustment to first responders, teachers and state employees. The bill grants COLAs to firefighters, policemen, judges, teachers and certain other public employees. Benefits increase by 2% if the person has been retired for between two and five years as of July 1, 2020, and by 4% if…
Even with a coronavirus crisis, the political process continues and the next election is a primary on June 30. Some races will be decided in a primary, some will set up the November 3 general election ballot and some will force an August 25 runoff. There is a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution on…