The Hannah McKenzie Act was signed into law by the governor last week. House Bill 2686 will help us better regulate opioid substitution treatment programs operating in our state by ensuring they comply with all federal regulations, including observed drug testing services.

This was named for a young woman in our House district who died after being illegally administered Methadone by someone who received a take-home supply.

Hannah’s parents, Mark and Shana McKenzie from Pocola, fought hard for this legislation to save lives. I’m proud to see it finally become law.

The House, Senate and governor’s office finally came to an agreement on education funding. We approved a package that includes an additional $625 million in recurring revenue for public schools, including pay raises of between $3,000 and $6,000 for all certified teachers depending on their years of experience. Teachers also will get six weeks of paid maternity leave.

Also included in the plan, is $125 million for rural schools to address property tax revenue disparities for districts that have lower ad valorem bases.

With the implementation of this plan, we will have invested more money into public education in the last six fiscal years than in the previous 27; $1.45 billion from FY2019 to FY2024 v. $1.37 billion from Fiscal Years 1992 to 2018. And that’s on top of education appropriations that already top $3 billion in recent years. 

The Legislature also passed income tax credits for parents who choose a different educational option for their children. Parents choosing private schools can claim between $5,000 and $7,500 depending on the family’s income level. The lower the income, the greater the credit. Homeschool parents can claim up to $1,000 for qualified expenses.

This is not a voucher. A voucher would be the government letting a taxpayer keep all of their ad valorem tax that currently goes to public schools and instead use it for private schools. Under this plan, an individual’s ad valorem taxes still go to the public school, but they can claim an income tax credit, which does not affect public school funding. 

Also last week, we convened a concurrent special session of the Legislature, which will allow us to meet after the constitutional adjournment date of May 26 if necessary to conclude our budget work and override any of the governor’s vetoes.

On one final note, I want to comment on a couple of bills that passed the Legislature in the past few weeks and are already signed into law. These create the Perform Act and the Perform Act Fund – a $180 million incentive to allow the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to pursue a contract with a company not named in the legislation that is supposed to bring a $1.8 billion total investment to the state and 1,400 new jobs within five years to qualify for the full rebate.

I want  businesses to come to Oklahoma same as the next guy, but we don’t need to offer corporate welfare of Oklahoma taxpayer dollars to get global companies to come here. Oklahoma is a great place to live with low cost of living, great, friendly people, good schools, conservative values and plenty more to offer.  Companies are lucky to locate here.

As always, 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 serves District 3 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes part of LeFlore County.

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