Rep. Rick West stands with Traegan Joe Ballard on the House floor
By Rep. Rick West
We’ve had 240 bills get a third-reading vote in the House so far this year. Of those, only three failed, with two having motions to reconsider. We have 246 bills remaining on general order, meaning they may or may not get heard before our third-reading deadline, March 27.
Several of the measures passed had fee increases attached to them. Several passed with no funding or the specification that the mandate in the bill is subject to available funds, which is pretty much the same as no funding.
These bills join a long list of unfunded mandates we already have in state statute that will be passed to the next generation of legislators. This is not good. Most of these bills only serve to try to make the author of the legislation look good, like they’re doing something for their constituents, when in reality they’re doing very little or actual harm.
I think it’s a shame to do business this way. If we’ve got the money for something that’s enumerated in our Constitution as a rightful power of government, then we should do it to take care of the needs of our citizens. If we don’t have the money to do something, or it’s something we shouldn’t be funding in the first place, it’s pointless to put a new law on the books. That’s just my humble opinion. But I’m in the minority of the majority party in Oklahoma government. I vote no when a lot of others vote yes.
I did have a bright spot last week at the state Capitol.
Traegan Joe Ballard, the daughter of Joe and Coffee Ballard from Poteau, came to page in my office. Pages get to sit in on sessions on the House floor, and they run messages for legislators or do other work in our offices. They also get to write and debate their own legislation in a mock session. It’s a good way for young people to learn about their state government.
Traegan is a senior at Poteau High School. She’s a pretty smart young woman. She’s on the Principal’s and the Superintendent’s Honor Rolls and a member of the National Honor Society. Her plans for college are to attend Northeastern State University to study to become a pediatric occupational therapist. She’ll do anything she sets her mind to, I’m convinced.
This week, I get the pleasure of showing a goat for Whitney Reese at the Oklahoma Youth Expo. Whitney attends Bokoshe High School. Her mom, Amber Reese, is the agriculture teacher at the school.
Whitney’s worked hard to raise this goat to get it show worthy. I’m honored she’s going to let me show it during our Legislative Showmanship portion of the event. It’s always good to get to know our next generation of agricultural producers.
Remember to listen to my Capitol update on the radio at 7:35 a.m. every Thursday on KPRV.
As always, if I can help you with anything, please call my Capitol office at (405) 557-7413 or email me at rick.west@okhouse.gov.
Rick West serves District 3 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes part of LeFlore County.
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