“Never know when a wheel might fall off.” “It’s not over ’til it’s over.” These are just a couple of sayings that describe how the First Session of the 60th Legislature ended. What started out as a seemingly normal end of session quickly turned into something very different. House and Senate leadership had somewhat of an agreement with the governor’s office about some bills the governor had vetoed that our members felt we should try and override. The governor became unhappy with the process, and that’s when the wheels came off. Thursday’s session stretched into Friday morning. All in all, the House and Senate voted to override 50 of the 68 bills the governor had vetoed. This may have been a record year.
In a way, we might have seen some of this coming with the legislative session having to end the last Friday in May and a flurry of bills being heard in the last couple of weeks prior to sine die. There were many bills awaiting the governor’s signature and many bills the governor had already vetoed. One could argue that the “perfect storm” was brewing. What I do know is that this session ended in a manner that I have not witnessed in my seven years serving as your legislator.
“Life goes on,” and before we know it the Second Session of the 60th Legislature will be upon us. Many bills that did not get advanced through the process will be eligible to be heard during the next session, plus new legislation that will be introduced. The system has served us well for the past 100-plus years, and I am confident it will continue to do so.
I want to thank the Southeast Oklahoma Library System for hosting a town hall event at our local library. The turnout wasn’t as big as we had hoped, but it was an energetic crowd with many questions about the past session. I always enjoy these, and hopefully they will host another sometime.
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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