Stitt's desk filling up with bills

I advanced several bills to the governor’s desk last week, a first for me so far this legislative session. The Legislature is quickly approaching the homestretch of this session as both chambers are spending two weeks on the floor voting on bills from the opposite legislative body. That means Gov. Kevin Stitt’s desk is quickly filling up with bills he can sign, veto or allow to become law absent his signature.

Several of my bills have cleared both the Senate and the House. Among those is House Bill 3671, which was recommended by one of my constituents. This bill requires Service Oklahoma to establish a program in which autistic drivers can choose to get a designation on their license disclosing their developmental disorder. These drivers could also choose to submit their information to a statewide registry to help law enforcement officers know about their diagnosis in the event they get pulled over. About one in every 45 Oklahoma adults has autism. This bill aims to put officers at ease and help them communicate more effectively with autistic drivers. I hope the governor signs this bill that passed the Senate unanimously.

My bill requiring marijuana growers and processors to prepackage cannabis flower in parcels no larger than three ounces also cleared the Senate and advanced to the governor’s desk. I worked with Tulsa Rep. T.J. Marti on this key public safety proposal that aims to prevent backdoor marijuana sales and keep medical patients safe. This will reduce the number of people who handle marijuana and the parcels will include packaging information telling patients where their medicine was grown.

The House also gave final passage to my Senate Bill 2001, which provides clarification on when and how restaurants can hold on-premises tastings of wine, beer, liquor and cocktails for their employees. It’s rare when everyone in the state’s alcohol industry can agree on anything. But everyone in the industry backed this bill after an Oklahoma City restaurant was cited by the ABLE Commission last year for holding educational tastings for its employees. These tastings help servers make educated beverage recommendations to customers. Outside of these limited tastings, in which workers aged 21 or older can only consume small amounts of alcohol, employers and employees are not legally allowed to imbibe in the workplace.

My bill that would give the Administrative Office of the Courts guidance on factoring in someone’s criminal history when hiring for court reporters and interpreters is also awaiting action from the governor.

The Senate Administrative Rules Committee has begun reviewing rules proposed by state agencies to carry out new laws, programs and initiatives. In a meeting on Monday, April 15 committee members asked questions about more than 20 proposed rules, many of which were from the State Department of Education. I was out sick, but I watched a livestream of the meeting.

A representative from OSDE vowed to provide senators more information after she was unable to answer some questions on April 15. I look forward to reviewing that additional information on the agency’s proposed rules.

Your comments and concerns are of the utmost importance to myself and my office. As always, please feel free to email me at Bill.Coleman@oksenate.gov or call 405-521-5581.