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I had two young men from our House District 3 page in my office at the State Capitol last week. House pages run messages to legislators while we are in the chamber, and they help in our offices. Pages also participate in a mock session, in which they learn legislative procedure and how to write legislation.

John Thompson is a junior from Poteau. He plans on attending Southeastern Oklahoma State University to study education and performing arts. He is an elected state thespian officer and the vice president of his local Thespian Troupe.

Rep.  Rick West shakes hands with House Page John Thompson on the House floor.

Rick West page Thompson

Bradley Jayger is a senior from Poteau. He will be attending Oklahoma Baptist University as a student-media director while getting a degree in journalism with a media emphasis. He is art club co-president, and senior class president. He was one of the leads in the school play. He said his biggest achievement is winning the state film competition and qualifying for national film competitions.

Bradley told me he was collecting state flags, but he didn’t have an Oklahoma flag. I was able to remedy that for him and presented him with our state flag before he finished out his service as a House page.

These are just terrific young men. It was a great pleasure to see their interest in state government, to answer some of their questions and to learn about their lives. I’m proud of them and thankful for their service.

In the House this week, we continued considering bills in committee, with a few moving to the House floor – just a few of the steps bills go through before they can be signed into law.

My House Bill 2975, which amends the Homemade Food Freedom Act, was one of the first to be heard and passed off the House floor last week. It got unanimous approval and now moves to the Senate for consideration.

I wrote about this legislation in previous columns, but I want to keep the constituents who asked for this bill updated on its progress. This legislation would protect the private information of homemade food producers, including their name, phone number, and address that is currently required on the label of their products. Those who wish, could get a registration number from the Department of Agriculture for a $15 fee.

My House Bill 2972 passed the House Banking, Financial Services and Pensions Committee last week as well. This is the bill that would require organizations such as the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association to accept cash at their games. They would not be allowed to charge extra for cash-only transactions. The bill now is eligible to be considered on the House floor.

Also this week, we got our final certified revenue projection from the state Board of Equalization, so now we can work on finishing our state budget. The board certified that the Legislature will have the authority to appropriate up to $13.96 billion for Fiscal Year 2025. This is $698.7 million, or 5.3%, more than authorized for Fiscal Year 2024. There’s talk of not spending all this money, and I hope we don’t. I think we need to return some to the taxpayers. We’ll have to see what happens. 

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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