Fighting for the Unborn
By State Rep. Rick West
Normally at the beginning of each legislative session, state lawmakers are delivered roses by members of many different pro-life groups to remind us to support anti-abortion legislation. Because of COVID, the event was held virtually this year.
I, of course, don’t need a rose to remind me that I’m staunchly on the side of life. Several members of our family have adopted children, and all of us know firsthand how important it is for women to keep their babies and allow couples to become moms and dads.
This year, I am the co-author of House Bill 1102, which makes performing an abortion that is not deemed medically necessary to preserve the life or prevent irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the woman grounds for a physician to lose or have his or her license suspended. This passed the House last year with near unanimous support among Republicans, but it stalled in the Senate during the COVID shutdown.
On another topic, we are having to deal with Medicaid expansion, approved by voters in June. This will cost the state about $164 million this year and more in each successive year. To handle the expansion, the governor has authorized the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to contract with four managed care organizations. This is against the wishes of many in the Legislature and many of our state hospital CEOs. I have had several discussions with Bobby Carter, the CEO for Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center, and he said managed care is just not what’s best for our area. Not only does this add a layer of government but it could slow payments to our health care providers. Plus, it gives control of our health care to out-of-state corporations. I’m hoping we come up with a fix for this quick.
Another huge problem I’m looking into is the limited number of licensing examiners in Poteau. This is slowing the issuance of commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) as well as for those who just turned 16. I talked with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) about this. They said they are waiting on an executive order from the governor that would allow tag agents to renew CDLs and that would allow drivers to renew online. The CDL holders do have an extension until Feb. 28 because of the backlog. DPS blamed the problem on new computers purchased to be compliant with REAL ID that are not working as they should, as well as on budget issues and COVID. They said they are looking to extend hours at their facilities to address this problem. We’ve also got several pieces of legislation on this issue this year. House Bill 2465 would allow our state CareerTechs to offer the written exams and would allow certified driver education instructors to apply to be designated examiners for the Department of Public Safety to administer the driving portion.
Back home in the district, I attended the recent Farm Bureau Breakfast where I was asked a lot of questions about President Biden’s executive orders and their potential harm to the state. I and one of my friends in the state Senate are looking at potential legislation that would require our state attorney general to review each order and not enforce those considered unconstitutional.
If I can help you with anything, feel free to call my Capitol office at (405) 557-7413 or email me at rick.west@okhouse.gov.
Rick West represents District 3 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, which includes part of LeFlore County.
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