It’s important to acknowledge our veterans this Memorial Day, because we couldn’t have what we have in the U.S. today without their sacrifices.
As we celebrate this special holiday, I want to specifically remember those who gave their lives for our country, as well as our disabled veterans across Oklahoma.
We should honor every one of our military service members any time we see them and thank them for our freedoms. I’ve traveled throughout Europe, and even those countries don’t have the same freedoms and lifestyle we enjoy in America.
When I was growing up, I remember placing flowers or markers on graves. Like many others, Memorial Day has become for me a time to also remember those important to me who have passed on.
It’s a sobering thing to keep in mind as I work at the State Capitol. I try to keep God foremost in my thoughts when I’m up here. After I first took office, my wife Jennifer and I started praying that I would always run legislation that I felt God was putting on my heart rather than just what I wanted or thought was important.
Last week, the Legislature called a special session for the first time since 1994—all others since then have been called by the governor.
We did this to allow public input to continue the conversation on how our $1.8 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are distributed. Oklahomans submitted proposals for 1,400 projects totaling $17.8 billion, so the joint committee will have plenty to work on over the next few months to determine areas of priority.
We’ll reconvene the special session sometime in the interim once the joint committee has finalized the ARPA spending plan.
The Governor announced at a press conference on Thursday that he will call the Legislature into another special session to look at eliminating the state sales tax on groceries and reducing the personal income tax for all Oklahomans.
We welcome the Governor’s input into the budget process each year, but ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Legislature as the body closest to the people to write the budget, and we must have a consensus. While these are both great ideas and were initially included in our budget discussions, ultimately the policies did not have enough support in both legislative chambers.
Our revenue is high right now, but we’re still in an inflationary period, which will inevitably bust in the coming years. We don’t want to end up in the same spot we were six years ago when the Legislature was forced to drastically cut agency budgets across the board due to low state revenue.
The regular session adjourned sine die on Fri., May 27, after we overrode the Governor’s vetoes on some bills.
As always, please reach out with any questions or thoughts you would like to share. You may reach me at (405) 557-7375 or randy.randleman@okhouse.gov. Thank you for the honor of serving House District 15!
Rep. Randy Randleman, a Republican, serves District 15 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, which covers Haskell County and portions of Muskogee, Sequoyah, LeFlore, Pittsburg and McIntosh counties.
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