OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Tammy Townley, R-Ardmore, hosted an interim study Friday morning before the House Government Modernization Committee to consider avenues to help Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority (OSIDA) reach its full potential as a competitive industrial authority.

The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority (OSIDA) is a development authority created in 1999 to operate a 2,700 spaceport near Burns Flat. The Oklahoma Air & Space Port and Aerospace Industrial Park at Clinton-Sherman Airport (CSM) features the fourth largest all-weather runway in North America at 13,503 feet long, an adjacent 5,193-foot runway and facilities that include an air traffic control tower, six large hangars and 96 acres of pavement for parking and storage.

“I really think that we’ve got a jewel out there,” Townley said while describing her first visit to Burns Flat. “Why are we not doing something with this?”

Oklahoma State Director of Aeronautics Grayson Ardies spoke on the value of the state’s airport system. He said the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission works to ensure a thriving aviation and aerospace industry and grow Oklahoma’s aviation and aerospace workforce, an important part of which is the preservation and improvement of the state’s 108 public airports.

Steve Fendley, president for the unmanned systems division of Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, said Kratos opened a facility in Oklahoma because of the existing aerospace hub within the state, as well as the state incentives, supportive community and affordable cost of living.

Budget Bill is Bad for Oklahoma

I can’t give you the exact reason why so many in the Beltway have a vendetta against our way of life in the heartland, but I can unequivocally say that the freedom and opportunity offered in the Sooner State is worth fighting for. Among many portions of the forthcoming $3.5 trillion federal budget bill, two pieces stand out to me as a slap in the face to Oklahoma. 

A carbon border tax is just a ruse, a la regional haze, when the U.S. EPA attempted to impose their top-down energy preferences on Oklahoma for imperceptible visibility improvements. It’s an attempt to tax American companies to such an extent that they make drastic changes to their global supply chains. That the coastal elites have the audacity to believe they can force other countries to comply with their environmental wishes by destroying U.S. business is mind-boggling. Shuffling supply chains to this extent will put U.S. companies at a severe disadvantage against global competition through massive uncertainty and increased costs. This is a recipe for lost jobs and further increases in the price of goods and services we use every day. 

Second, the proposed “methane reduction fee” is a direct attack on one of Oklahoma’s top exports: natural gas. The technologies that Oklahomans have pioneered to power the U.S. Shale Revolution and create our own energy independence. According to the U.S. Department of Energy “a world without hydraulic fracturing, in 2025, the U.S. economy would have 7.7 million fewer jobs, $1.1 trillion less in gross domestic product (GDP), and $950 billion less in labor income.” This is a natural gas tax, by terming this a fee, Democrats in Congress are hiding behind semantics in order to rush these bad ideas into law.  This all begs the question, why does the Biden Administration want Americans to lose their jobs or earn less money at the jobs they are lucky enough to keep?

Former State Senator Mike Mazzei Withdraws from the Oklahoma State Treasurers Race

TULSA, OKLAHOMA – It is with much regret that I must withdraw from the race. I know there are so many big issues facing our state and country that need a fiscal conservative solution,” said Mike Mazzei “That was why I was running, to push our state to new heights.” 

“I was running on the optimism and incredibly bright future of our state.  I know that in Oklahoma, we lead the nation as fiscal conservatives, promoting traditional family values, and economic growth and development.  While I am disappointed, I know that I will continue to work on each of those issues whether I am in an elected office or not.   I believe in our state and I believe in each individual and their future.     

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 24, 2021) – Governor Kevin Stitt has called for a special session of the 58th Oklahoma to convene on Nov. 15 to address redistricting issues caused by the delayed release of 2020 census data by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The special session has been called solely for the following purposes:

No reason to defer to “expertise” of medical associations

One of the great myths of politics is that the policy stances of medical associations reflect the views of most doctors. But that claim is being dispelled more and more as medical associations continue to take political stances far afield from the mainstream of society.

For example, the American Medical Association has debated removing sex from birth certificates, saying there is “no clear standard for defining sex designation” and that designating sex on birth certificates “as male or female suggests that sex is simple and binary.”

The AMA has also adopted a “strategic plan” to embed “racial justice and equity at the core of our AMA strategy” by “consistently using lenses of racial, gender, LGBTQ+, disability, class and social justices.” That plan also decries “the myth of meritocracy, and other malignant narratives.”

In 2019, the AMA’s House of Delegates only narrowly rejected a measure to drop the organization’s longstanding opposition to a government-run health-care system.

PRINCIPLES FOR SOUND TAX POLICY

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (July 15, 2021) – The 1889 Institute has published “The Why and How of Sound Tax Policy,” an exploration into the principles that should be followed in formulating tax policy. The study’s author, Luke Tucker, who is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the University of Oklahoma, as well as 1889 Institute intern, looked across the ideological spectrum, and found an amazing amount of consensus among economists on this issue. He found that there are only four basic principles that should be followed in formulating tax policy:

- Neutrality – keep taxes from fundamentally changing economic calculations 

- Transparency – make it so people know what they are paying in taxes

- Simplicity – make it easy to comply with tax law

- Predictability – make it so it is easy to know what one will owe in taxes.

“Luke brought a fresh set of eyes to this issue, taking nothing for granted and assuming nothing in advance,” said Byron Schlomach, director of the 1889 Institute and himself a PhD economist. “Luke did an excellent job of looking deeper and explaining why these principles matter.”

On the heels of an interim study dedicated to examining Oklahoma’s agricultural sales tax exemption, Sen. Casey Murdock said he’s preparing to file a measure ahead of the next legislative session to make it easier for farmers and ranchers to renew their sales tax exemption card.

“When the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) began requiring a Schedule F for agriculturalists to qualify for their sales tax exemption, we passed Senate Bill 422 to add additional documentation farmers and ranchers could provide to OTC in lieu of the Schedule F,” Murdock said. “After working with the tax commission, I’ve found these changes are working – there’s no backlog of producers getting their card, and denials are typically because the applicant hasn’t correctly filled out the form. However, we also learned the vast majority of the 110,000 ag sales tax exemption cards issued each year are renewals, so now we need a way to make the renewal process easier and more convenient.”

Murdock said his proposal will include an additional option on the agricultural sales tax exemption application that will allow the farmer or rancher to check a box if the application is a renewal, as well as confirm there’s no change to the agricultural operation from the prior year. If there’s no change, the renewal will be automatic.

Someone Remind Joe Biden He Works For Americans, Not The Other Way Around

Oklahomans don’t like the government telling them what to do. No matter what it is.

I’ve talked to countless Oklahomans who were as shocked as I was when Joe Biden said in a recent speech that he had “lost patience” with the American people and demanded that Americans get a COVID- 19 shot. China and Russia lay down demands on their citizens. In America, we have personal responsibility and freedom. The President can advise and encourage, but not demand.  

President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed oversaw the development and distribution of three COVID-19 vaccines in record time. As of today, more than 179 million Americans, including everyone in my family, have made the choice to receive the full COVID-19 vaccine regimen. It may be the only issue where President Trump and President Biden agree. They both recommend the vaccine. But, President Biden has pushed well beyond a recommendation, now he wants to create a mandate.

We don’t live in a country where our leaders can ignore the facts, the science, and the will of the people and require their way or the highway. It’s not how a government of, by, and for the people works, and it will not work in Oklahoma. Our nation will also see more economic chaos because millions of workers will change jobs rather than take the vaccine. President Biden should not push people to leave their career because of his preference for the vaccine. Give people options and let them choose, that is America.  

State Senator Nathan Dahm (R-Broken Arrow) is pushing into the news by teasing a "huge campaign announcement" set for a rally on this Saturday. The veteran legislator is in the middle of his final term, having been reelected without opposition in 2020. 

Dahm has been rumored to be considering an attempt at a higher office for several years, having placed fourth in a close (and crowded) field in the 2018 1st Congressional District primary. His name has been floated for a variety of offices, not the least of which is U.S. Senate. Incumbent U.S. Senator James Lankford is on the ballot in 2022, having already drawn a challenger in Jackson Lahmeyer, whose primary hype seems to be an endorsement by former Trump administration member General Michael Flynn and other QAnon friendly jokers characters.

Well known as the most conservative sitting member of the State Senate, Dahm is also a flagrant self-promoter and headline chaser, having filed some legislation (here, here, here, plus others that I declined to post) that I, quite frankly, found to be legislative clickbait, more meme than meaningful, and groveling attention-grabbers.

Anyway, here's the press release from Dahm: