As we prepared to wrap up our regular session this week, the Governor signed two bills I authored.
Senate Bill 615 requires restrooms or changing rooms in Oklahoma public schools to be designated exclusively based on biological sex. The bill will further protect students’ privacy rights in school bathrooms. Oklahomans across the state were concerned about the privacy of their children as a result of a lack of standard bathroom policies in each of our public schools.
The bill requires each school to provide reasonable accommodation, such as a single-occupancy restroom or changing area, to anyone who does not wish to comply with the requirement. Additionally, any school district or charter school found not in compliance with the new law by the State Board of Education will have their state funding reduced by five percent the following fiscal year.
After numerous discussions, it became clear that legislative action was needed to clarify state statute. I appreciate everyone’s work to pass Senate Bill 615 into law so we can protect each of our students.
Also signed into law, House Bill 2693 creates the Oklahoma Education Commission for the purpose of researching how to improve the quality of remote learning. The commission will consist of 17 members and exist through November 1, 2027.
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools and colleges shut down. While many tried to resume by transitioning to virtual learning, many difficulties were encountered on both the part of schools and students who lack high-speed internet connections at home. We’re addressing part of this problem through our efforts to expand broadband to 95% of Oklahomans, but we want to study other issues as well.
On the budget front, the Governor had until midnight on Thurs., May 26, to sign, veto, or line-item veto the budget bills. He ultimately chose to lineitem veto two of our budget bills and veto four. The remaining budget bills went into law without his signature. On Friday, we came into session to override the vetoes on a few bills before we adjourned sine die at 5 p.m., as our state constitution stipulates.
Additionally, the Governor announced at a press conference on Thursday that he will call the Legislature into another special session to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries and reduce the personal income tax for all Oklahomans.
We welcome the Governor’s input into the budget process each year, but ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Legislature as the body closest to the people to write the budget, and we must have a consensus. While these are both great ideas and were initially included in our budget discussions, we ultimately decided not to pursue them this year because the policies did not have enough support in both legislative chambers; however, the Governor has asked a special session on June 13 to offset inflation rates through the state grocery sales tax and lowering personal income tax.
We don’t want to end up in the same spot we were six years ago when the Legislature was forced to drastically cut agency budgets across the board due to low state revenue.
We’ll return for special session during interim, and I’ll provide details about our expected work as the time approaches.
