I was glad to see House Bill 1755 pulled last week after it passed in the House Agriculture Committee.
On the surface, this bill was presented as just a labeling bill that would have allowed the label approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the label consistent with the most recent human health assessment or carcinogenicity classification to be considered sufficient to satisfy any requirements for health and safety warnings under Oklahoma law.
But upon questioning this bill, I discovered it was a request bill by a large corporation that produces pesticides. The bill would not have required this company or any others to update labels that might have been approved 25 years ago or longer, even when current research shows a product might be known to produce cancer or other illnesses in users. Others questioned whether the bill was intended to shield these companies from lawsuits.
After the author of the bill heard from so many other legislators who said they’d been bombarded with questions by their constituents, he decided to pull it. Good job Oklahomans. It’s important to pay attention to what is in each piece of legislation and question whether its for our good or just the good of the well-paid lobbyists who frequent our Capitol.
Another bill I was in favor of, I’m told will not get a committee hearing. House Bill 1238 specifies the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry shall not require livestock to be tagged with radio frequency identification (RFID) devices for animal disease traceability as required by the United States Department of Agriculture. The department would be required to plan compacts with surrounding states to allow the sale of livestock without RFID tags within these states.
RFID tags do nothing to control disease in animals, they are solely to control farmers and ranchers. Once the government gets that tag in every animal’s ear, it will be free to come in and tell farmers and ranchers how to manage their herds. This is a good bill that would have stopped that from happening, but it looks like big government and big money is trying to stop it.
On a final note, we learned recently the Legislature is authorized to spend up to $12.3 billion for the state budget for Fiscal Year 2026. This is about a billion dollars less than our current fiscal year. This is actually great news for Oklahoma taxpayers. It means they are now keeping more of their own money.
At one time, our state personal income tax rate was 7%. We’ve lowered it to 4.5%, and yet our state budget is now about double what it was when I was first elected to the Legislature back in 2016. That proves that when you let people keep their money to spend as they wish, the economy grows. I don’t know that we’ll get the further income tax many of us want this year, but it sure would make sense.
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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