Hoping everyone made it safely through the recent snow. In my lifetime of being a Latimer County resident, I can never recall this much snow in a single event. Along this line, I wish to commend Oklahoma Department of Transportation crews and our local county commissioners for their quick response in getting our roadways passable in short order. Fortunately, I didn’t hear of any power outages. We often forget to thank our unsung heroes who stand by ready to assist in these times of need.
House Appropriations & Budget Subcommittee chairs met informally last week to discuss procedures as we prepare to go into session and begin our work on crafting the next fiscal year’s budget. A&B Chair Trey Caldwell shared that early indicators will be for a flat budget at best. Next week, the A&B Natural Resources Subcommittee will hold an agency performance review and budget request hearing with the various agencies that fall into this category. This is the committee I have the privilege to chair, so I am looking forward to starting this process.
Jan. 16 is the deadline to formally file House bills and joint resolutions we wish to introduce this session. I have been busy working with staff in an attempt to get “it right” the first time rather than to amend later. A couple of my bills involve reducing excise and sales tax on vehicle sales. I also am making another run at funding for our prison rodeo. A couple of my other bills deal with how students are accounted for in our public schools along with educational materials pertaining to human trafficking.
“The Race Is On” is a song George Jones made popular many years ago, but I am reminded of it every time we start a new campaign season. We have our first candidates out the shoot for the governor’s race next year. It seems to me that we just completed an election cycle, but here we go again.
As always, thank You for allowing me to serve you. I can be reached at (405) 557-7381 or by email at jim.grego@okhouse.gov.
Jim Grego serves District 17 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes Latimer County and part and Pittsburg County.
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