Last week was busy in the House. We heard 165 bills and resolutions before the March 24 third-reading deadline for legislation to pass out of its chamber of origin.

One measure passed, House Bill 4099, would authorize bonds to construct or repair property managed by the Oklahoma Historical Society, including about $2 million for Spiro Mounds, one of the most important sites in our House district. This bond would repair and restore flooding damage at this significant archeological site where many Native American artifacts are preserved. This bill now goes to the Senate.

Three of my bills advanced to the Senate before deadline.

House Bill 2979 would grant people the right to grow personal gardens regardless of where they live or any potential future government action that might seek to restrict such freedom. This has never been more important as people are experiencing very real food shortages with major supply chain issues, and the price of fuel and inflation driving up prices at the grocery store.

This and my House Bill 2972 are authored by Sen. George Burns, R-Pollard. HB2972 will allow physicians assistants and advanced practice registered nurses to provide medical exemptions to those who need to be excused from jury duty. This was a request from the LeFlore County Court Clerk and will save some red tape.

House Bill 2991, authored by Sen. Mark Allen, R-Spiro, would grant students involved in 4-H activities or projects an excused absence from school, allowing them to make up any missed work so their grades would not be adversely affected.

In addition to my own bills, several others passed this week that will be of interest.

House Bill 4014 will allow spotlighting and night vision equipment to be used in conjunction with guns to hunt coyotes after dark. These predators can do a lot of damage, especially during calving season. This will help protect our farmers and ranchers.

The House last week ran its version of the Save Women’s Sports Act, then the Senate turned around and approved the version of this that we passed last year. Senate Bill 2 now awaits the governor’s decision on whether it becomes law. This bill would prevent a biological boy or man from participating against biological girls or women in K-12 and college sports even if the male considers himself to be a transgender female. This bill gets some in the LGBTQ community riled up, but it’s really all about protecting women and the integrity of their sports.

One other bill I’ll mention is House Bill 1358 that would grant a one-time tax rebate of $125 for individuals and $250 for households this year for Oklahomans who filed a state income tax return in 2021. The cost of the rebates would be paid for out of surplus state revenues as one-time expenses, leaving no impact to the overall state budget.

We passed plenty of other legislation, but I’ll save that for future columns.

Remember to listen to me on KPRV Radio at 7:30 a.m. every Thursday for my legislative update.

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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