OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor is partnering with the Oklahoma Press Association to host open records and open meetings seminars in five locations across the state beginning Sept. 26.

“These seminars are a great way for public officials to stay up to date on the state’s open record laws,” Attorney General O’Connor said. “I encourage everyone who serves the public to attend and participate in these meetings.”

2nd District GOP nominee Josh Brecheen is holding a fundraiser with Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), former head of the House Freedom Caucus, on October 14th in Tulsa. 

Tickets start at $250 and can be reserved here.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 20th) – House Democrats sitting on the Oklahoma Legislature’s American Rescue Plan Act Committee released the following statements today after several projects were approved.

President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the latest federal stimulus bill to aid public health and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 11, 2021. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures website, the plan included $350 billion in emergency funding for state, local, territorial and tribal governments, known as the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds.

Good to see Governor Stitt's campaign getting on the airwaves given how much Hofmeister and the Dems have been hammering him. The most recent poll showed a close race, but Stitt should be able to widen the gap once his campaign really gets rolling.

September 22, 2022 (Oklahoma City, Okla.) – The Stitt for Governor 2022 campaign launched today a new statewide television advertisement titled, “Greater Things,” which highlights Governor Stitt’s leadership to keep Oklahoma’s economy and schools safely open during the 2020 pandemic. As most of the nation shuttered for prolonged periods under liberal big government mandates, Governor Stitt led Oklahoma to a safe and prosperous recovery.

“Stitt kept kids safely in schools and our businesses open– and just look how it’s helping all across Oklahoma: Children learning, small businesses growing,” says the narrator.

While Governor Stitt’s opponent was advocating for mask mandates and shutting down essential services such as in-person learning, Governor Stitt deployed resources with Top Ten outcomes to keep Oklahoma’s economy open and children safely in schools. 

With Governor Stitt at the helm, the State of Oklahoma: 

• Was one of the first States to deploy drive-thru COVID testing statewide by establishing lab partnerships with Oklahoma’s university institutions. (Washington Post)
• Deployed $40 million to hospitals to build permanent infrastructure in early spring to expand bed and critical care capacity. (Oklahoma Watch)
• Regularly procured and deployed PPE during a global supply chain crisis to keep schools, hospitals, and first responders supplied with protective gear. 
• Established and deployed the Bounce Back grant program that helped small, local businesses keep their doors open. (Journal Record)
• Established and funded a rental-assistance grant program to help Oklahoma families keep stay in their homes while navigating the economic disruption. (KOCO) 
• Was one of the earliest states to deploy CARES Act funding directly to municipalities, a total of $250 million, to support their local response efforts. 

The narrator continues, “with Kevin Stitt as Governor, we’re poised for even greater things.”

Governor Stitt’s COVID policies helped 100,000 Oklahomans get back to work and resulted in the 3rd lowest unemployment rate in the nation. Today, Oklahoma continues to experience its lowest unemployment rate in State history and its greatest workforce participation rate in state history. 

They'll be picking up special session to determine how to spend the 1.87 billion dollars in Federal largesse that Oklahoma was given under Biden's COVID stimulus plan, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). You can read the previously advanced stimulus projects that they'll be considering as the full House at this link.

House to reconvene special session Sept. 28 to 30

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 21) – The House of Representatives will reconvene the Second Extraordinary Session of the 58th Legislature from Sept. 28 to 30 for consideration of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and other funding advanced by the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding.

House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said the session will finalize 18 months of collaborative work on ARPA funding. Bills containing the proposals will begin being filed soon.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 20th) – The Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding on Tuesday advanced a comprehensive slate of projects to the full Legislature for consideration in an upcoming special session.

The committee's approvals, combined with previously approved projects, resulted in recommendation of over 60 projects totaling nearly all of Oklahoma state government's $1.87 billion share of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

Power grab in Washington could harm Oklahoma

Proposals to penalize “big business” often work to instead hammer small businesses and harm job creation in states like Oklahoma. A new federal effort to break up certain large tech companies falls into that category.

In a transparently political pander while running for Governor, now-Democrat State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister wants to hike teacher pay again by another $5,000, three years after significant pay increases were passed by the legislature. 

It's never going to be enough, despite the terrible results produced by Oklahoma's failing public education system. Her press release is below:

Hofmeister includes teacher pay raise in state education budget request

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 19, 2022) – A $5,000 teacher pay raise is included in the annual budget request the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) will present to the state board of education at its next meeting on Thursday, Sept. 22.

“We’ve significantly raised teacher pay in recent years, but so did our neighboring states with whom we are competing. This investment is vital to our ability to build a sustainable teacher workforce, necessary for providing the high-quality education Oklahoma students need and deserve,” said Joy Hofmeister, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. “In the midst of an unprecedented and worsening teacher shortage, it is imperative we look for long-term solutions to show that Oklahoma values and respects its teachers.”

There are currently 52,850 certified teachers in Oklahoma. It will require approximately $310 million to fully fund the teacher pay raise.

Oklahoma teachers last received an official pay raise in 2018 ($6,100), and an additional salary increase averaging $1,220 passed in 2019.

Oklahoma currently ranks fourth in the region for teacher pay with an average annual salary of $54,096, trailing New Mexico ($54,256), Texas ($57,090) and Colorado ($57,706). New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has recently signed legislation that will boost teacher salaries by an additional $10,000. 

OKLAHOMA CITY – September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month. Since the launch of a statewide program in 2007, Oklahoma’s infant mortality rate (IMR) has decreased by nearly 20 percent according to statistics from the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

The IMR was 8.2 per 1,000 live births in 2005-2007, but dropped to 6.6 in 2019-2021.