Latest news with #ForOklahomaVoice
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oklahoma City Democrats file to run for vacant seat in state House
The Oklahoma House legislative chamber sits empty. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Two Democratic candidates will vie to represent part of Oklahoma City in the state House after the last representative resigned. JeKia Harrison and Aletia Haynes Timmons filed to run in the special election for House District 97. The seat became vacant when Jason Lowe, D-Oklahoma City, resigned April 7 to serve as an Oklahoma County commissioner. The special primary election will be held on June 10. As no Republican or independent candidates file, the winner of the Democrat primary election will win the legislative seat. Harrison, 35, works as a legislative assistant for Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, at the state Capitol. She previously worked as child welfare specialist for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and on a few political campaigns. She owns Pen 2 Paper Consulting, a political campaign consulting and management firm, and has worked in leadership for organizations like Young Democrats of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma chapter of Moms Demand Action, which advocates for stronger gun laws. Harrison earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Fisk University in Nashville. Her priorities include increasing funding for public schools, growing affordable housing, accessible health care, criminal justice reforms and raising the minimum wage for working Oklahomans, according to her campaign website. Aletia Haynes Timmons, 64, retired from her position as district judge in Oklahoma County in March. Prior to her 2014 judicial election, she worked in civil rights and employment law at two separate firms and worked in the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office. Timmons' priorities include criminal justice reforms, government accountability, strengthening the economy and 'finding common ground and working for real solutions,' according to her campaign website. She's received several awards and recognitions for her 'dedication to justice, community service, and diversity.' Timmons is also one of the founders of Jamming Hoopfest, a program in Northeast Oklahoma City addressing food insecurity, and has worked as an adjunct instructor at Langston University's Oklahoma City campus. Timmons earned her bachelor's degree in political science from Oklahoma State University and her law degree from University of Oklahoma College of Law. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oklahoma state leaders renew pledge for budget transparency, but may end public negotiations
While the public had front row seats to the process of determining Oklahoma's budget in 2024, access may look different this year. The Oklahoma State Capitol is pictured. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY – Leaders of the Oklahoma House and Senate made renewed vows Thursday for transparency in determining the state budget, although the process may look different this year. Legislative leaders made major changes to the budget process for the 2024 session, including giving the public direct access to negotiations, after criticisms that it was 'too secretive.' This year, House and Senate leaders said they remain committed to transparency but these public negotiations may not continue. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said he's had conversations and is working 'diligently' with Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has released his own budget proposal, the leader of the Senate, and the chairs of the House and Senate budget committees. 'I don't anticipate you'll see a live stream like what you saw in last year's budget negotiations,' Hilbert said. '… I don't think you'll see quite the breakdown, like what you experienced in 2024 just because the two chambers, we are working together, not to say that we agree on everything. … We're working through those discussions to figure out, really, not just what's a House priority, what's a Senate priority, but what's good for the people of Oklahoma.' In a historic move last session, the Legislature livestreamed hours of budget negotiations with most of the parties present. The budget negotiations revealed specific details about what was being discussed, along with intraparty fractures about policy and funding priorities. At times, the public watched budget talks break down. The public conversations helped give Oklahomans insight into issues facing the state that the they might not have seen otherwise. Hilbert said the House plans to continue using the House Transparency Portal, which was also launched last year, to maintain a transparent budget process. 'I don't want to get ahead of the appropriations chairs and vice chairs on how and when, because you know that that's always subject to the negotiations and where we are,' Hilbert said. 'And so I don't want to set an arbitrary date on when we would update that portal with the House position, but that's something they're working on with their members.' Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, also said the process would look different from last year. 'Last year was the first shot out of the box on the transparency,' he said. 'We're not at all backing off of transparency. We're just trying to find the right way to do it. … I'm not sure what the 'different' is, just the fact we're trying to make it a more workable process without ever taking away the transparency and even building on that transparency.' Paxton said one improvement he has pledged to make concerns the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget process. He said he has promised his caucus, and now the public, that there will be a minimum of a few days' notice for the chambers to consider and figure out budget legislation before they vote on it. 'Coming up in the Senate, there was many times I voted on very large pieces of legislation that I learned about the day before,' he said. 'And if your state senator is learning about something 24 hours before you're voting on a $200 million package, that means none of you all have the opportunity to see it as well. That's not right, and that's what we're correcting.' The Governor's Office did not respond to requests for comment. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Welcome to Oklahoma's political silly season, a period filled with cockamamie legislative ideas
(Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice) As if we don't already have enough laws on our books, Oklahoma legislators have decided we need at least 3,100 more. Yes, our state representatives filed about 1,960 proposed laws and resolutions, while our state senators filed about 1,140 of them. But have no fear, only a fraction of these bills will likely become law because December and January of each year is the legislative period that I unaffectionately call 'political silly season.' Political silly season, mercifully, is a short but brutal period when legislators unveil all sorts of cockamamie ideas aimed at further stripping Oklahomans of their freedoms or attempting to insert governmental 'assistance' in areas that we're doing perfectly well without it. Each year, without fail, Oklahomans are unlucky enough to bear witness to a parade of bills that would be hilariously funny if it were April Fools Day. Sadly, it's not a joke when state lawmakers are wasting taxpayer resources filing ludicrous proposals they actually believe in or – more likely – hope will score them cheap political points. For instance, please raise your hand if you're participating in robotic cockfighting. Anyone? House Bill 1326, filed by a Republican, seeks to legalize fighting real roosters against robotic ones as long as the live cock doesn't get hurt. Uhm. I've never been to a cockfight, but isn't incapacitating a rival rooster the whole point? Isn't that why the sport is viewed as so barbaric it's classified as a felony in our state? I guess I know which bird my money will always be on. Then there's a Republican measure proposing that we rename the Department of Corrections the Department of Corruption. I could see changing the name to the Department of Punishment because traditionally legislators have favored policies that lock people up for inordinate amounts of time with little interest in rehabilitating them, leading to some of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. But if the Department of Corruption gains traction, I can only imagine how conversations would go behind the walls of our prisons. 'I'm with the Department of Corruption, and I'm here to shake you down, twerp. Hand me all your commissary funds.' Speaking of convicted felons, we have another Republican lawmaker who has filed legislation seeking to protect President Donald Trump's so-called 'constitutional right' to vote in Oklahoma. According to a press release from the legislator, the point of the bill is to 'send a clear message that every American, and especially the president of the United States, is afforded their full rights and protections in Oklahoma, regardless of political attacks elsewhere.' For starters, Trump doesn't have a 'constitutional right' to vote in Oklahoma because he doesn't live here. Like everywhere else in this country, we only allow residents to vote in our elections. When Trump's latest stint in the White House is up in four years, I don't see him suddenly trading his cushy, oceanfront digs in Florida and moving himself and Melania to landlocked Oklahoma. Then there are the two useless Republican bills that seem aimed at harming the homeless. The first makes it a misdemeanor crime, punishable by up to a year in jail, to remove a shopping cart from a retail store. It's already a crime to steal any item from businesses, so why do we need to carve out shopping carts? A second bill allows municipalities to expend funds on one-way bus tickets to destinations out of state for their homeless. The bill does not require unhoused residents to agree to the removal, which raises some serious constitutional questions. If that becomes law, I'm certain our neighboring states will adopt similar legislation that allows them to send their homeless to Oklahoma. And don't get me started on the proposed 'Covenant Marriage Act.' It proposes offering couples a $2,500 tax credit if they agree to be married forever. The only way to escape that would be if your spouse commits one of the terrible three 'As' — abuse, adultery or abandonment. And while we're on the topic of trapping people in loveless marriages, that same Republican lawmaker wants to ban no-fault divorce. That means 'incompatibility' would no longer be grounds to end a marriage. Legitimate grounds for divorce would include 'insanity for a period of five years' that requires being institutionalized and a 'poor prognosis for recovery.' It also would remove incarceration as grounds for divorce. Political silly season should drive Oklahomans insane. Can we get a bill that grants Oklahomans a divorce from dumb legislative ideas? The good news is ridiculous legislation typically meets an early demise each year during the annual legislative session. But bills like these are bad for a state that's trying to convince people and businesses that we live in the 21st century, and that we have state leaders that share that mindset. So here's hoping that next year a miracle occurs and that every piece is focused on raising our lagging outcomes. But I'm not holding my breath. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
