OCPA applauds Treat’s changes to House Bill 1236
Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
Staff Report
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jonathan Small, president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, issued the following statement to praise proposed changes to House Bill 1236, which would amend the duties of the office of the Attorney General to include monitoring and evaluating “any action by the federal government” to “determine if such actions are in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
The bill would create a State Reserved Powers Protection Unit within the AG’s office to perform those functions and challenge unconstitutional federal actions in court. In the statement sent CapitolBeatOK.com and other state news organizations, Small said:
“Under a prior administration, the Office of the Attorney General had a similar division with dedicated staff and resources focused on combatting federal overreach and abuses of power,” Small said. “The proposed amendments to H.B. 1236 would restore that office and put sharper teeth and accountability into H.B. 1236.
We applaud Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat’s wisdom in making H.B. 1236 the best possible tool it can be to defend the constitutional powers that the U.S. Constitution has granted to Oklahoma and other states.”
The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs is a free-market think tank that works to advance principles and policies that support free enterprise, limited government, individual initiative, and personal responsibility.
OCPA applauds Treat’s changes to House Bill 1236 Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
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Steve Fair commentary
More than 200,000 Oklahoma adults suffer from type 1 diabetes, including my wife. Diagnosed at age ten, she has lived with the disease for 59 years. Type 1 diabetics requires daily usage of insulin. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has the fourth highest age-adjusted diabetes death rate in the nation. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, amputation, heart disease, kidney failure and early death.
Sen. Frank Simpson, R-Ardmore, and Rep. Randy Worthen, R-Lawton, authored House Bill 1019, which passed the Senate last week 32-15 earlier this month. It previously passed the House 94-2.
Simpson’s granddaughter lost her life to complications related to Type 1 diabetes and he is passionate about helping diabetics.
This week, Governor Kevin Stitt signed this important legislation.
Three observations:
First, a recent U.S. Senate report found the current convoluted drug pricing system drives price increases. The report from the offices of Sen. Chuck Grassley, (R-Iowa) and Sen. Ron Wyden, (D- Ore) found Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, the two largest insulin producers in America, closely monitored each others pricing and matched or topped any increase within hours or days of each other. In other words- price fixing.
The two Senators introduced legislation aimed at capping seniors out of pocket costs for drugs covered by Medicare. It would also limit price increases on a drug to the rate of inflation. It did not get a floor vote, because many Republicans oppose it because they feel the bill is too regulatory and goes against a free market.
“There is clearly something broken when a product like insulin that has been on the market longer than most people have been alive skyrockets in price,” Grassley said.
Second, the report blamed pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) as part of the reason for the high prices for insulin. These middlemen negotiate with drug companies on behalf of insurance plans, large employers and other payers for discounts. PMB’s decide is a certain drug will be covered by a plan. Drug makers offering large rebates have a better chance of being covered by a health plan. PMBs charge fees and paid a percentage of re rebate based on the drug’s ‘list’ price. Insulin producers are thereby incentivized to increase the price so PBMs can get larger rebates.
“This industry is anything but a free market when PBMs spur drug makers to hike list prices in order to greater rebates and fees,” Grassley said.
Third, is there a reason insulin is so expensive?
Here are the main three: (1) Only three companies control 90% of the insulin market worldwide. In the past 15 years, the price of insulin has tripled and the three producers raise prices together. We need more insulin producers in the U.S. to bring the price down.
(2) There is no generic insulin. Insulin is a biologic rather than chemical. It can’t be produced generic in the same way as other drug. Creating a generic insulin costs nearly as much as making a new drug.
Because of that cost, the few insulin generics available cost just 10-15 percent less than the branded product.
(3) The ‘evergreening’ of the patents on insulin are loopholes in the patent system. They allow insulin producers to keep patents longer than the normal 20-year period. For example, Sanofi, the maker of Lantus has created the potential for a competition free monopoly for 37 years.
If signed by the governor, H.B. 1019 will cap the price in Oklahoma for a 30-day supply of insulin to $30 for each covered prescription. Several other states have passed similar legislation. H.B. 1019 will not only save many diabetics money, but it could save their life.
NOTE: A conservative and Republican leader, Steve Fair’s commentaries on current events appear frequently on CapitolBeatOK.com, an independent, non-partisan news service based in Oklahoma City. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. His blog is stevefair.blogspot.com.
Insulin and Profiteering: A Commentary Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
CapitolBeatOK Staff Report
Legislation to stop the unfair practice of people being unfairly punished for missing court dates due to being incarcerated or detained by law enforcement has been signed by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt. Senate Bill 44’s author, Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, said she was pleased to see the commonsense measure signed into law.
“It’s very common for people to be in jail or police custody and miss their court dates under no fault of their own, and then have warrants or additional charges put on them,” Hicks said. “I thank my legislative colleagues for working with me stop this unfair practice.”
S.B. 44 requires any charges or warrants issued for failure to appear in court to be dismissed upon the defendant showing the court that he or she was incarcerated or otherwise detained by law enforcement at the time of the failure to appear.
Rep. Judd Strom, R-Copan, is the principal House author of Senate Bill 44.
“Defendants who fail to appear in court should not be punished for that failure if they are incarcerated at the time of their hearing,” said Strom. “This would seem like common sense, but it’s a prevalent issue. S.B. 44 helps make sure that incarcerated individuals are not enduring double penalization, and I was proud to author it in the House.”
The state’s chief executive signed the bill, which passed the Senate and House unanimously, on Monday (April 19) will go into effect November 1, 2021.
www.CapitolBeatOK.com
Carri Hicks’ bill to stop unfair punishment for missed court dates signed into law by Governor Kevin Stitt Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
CapitolBeatOK Staff Report
Members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives have overwhelmingly voted to restrict women’s athletic events to biological females, banning athletes who identify as transgender from competing against women in those events.
“This is a bill that solidifies Title IX,” said Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin. “It’s the protection that says biological females and biological males are different. It has been allowing women in sports to compete against women in sports for 50 years.”
Senate Bill 2 (http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20COMMITTEE%20AMENDMENTS/House/SB2%20FULLPCS1%20TONI%20HASENBECK-EK.PDF), by Hasenbeck, creates the “Save Women’s Sports Act.” The legislation’s key provision states, “Athletic teams designated for ‘females’, ‘women,’ or ‘girls’ shall not be open to students of the male sex.”
The legislation was amended by Rep. Sheila Dills, R-Tulsa, to require that a parent or legal guardian sign an affidavit acknowledging the biological sex of a student at birth prior to a child competing in school athletics. The amendment also required that a school be notified if an athlete has chosen to identify as a different gender.
Dills, a former college-scholarship golfer, said the amendment is “simply protecting what was passed in federal law in 1972, protecting biological female women and girls in sports.”
Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman, said the bill “could open the door to huge invasions of privacy upon student-athletes to determine what their genitalia is.”
But Rep. Cynthia Roe, a Lindsay Republican who is also a nurse, noted student-athletes are already required to undergo examination prior to competition.
“Kids have to have sports physicals in Oklahoma for sports participation, so these physicians that are doing the sports physicals, if they’re doing the exam properly, are going to identify the genitalia that the child has and can tell if that has been surgically altered from birth,” Roe said.
Supporters said S.B. 2 simply ensures a level competitive playing field for female athletes, noting that biological males who identify as transgender females retain physical advantages over female athletes even after various treatments.
Roe noted males have larger bones, greater muscle mass, longer arms and legs, larger hands, greater heart capacity, and higher hemoglobin levels, which all provide an athletic advantage over women.
“We’re not telling these trans kids that they can’t participate in sports,” Roe said. “We’re telling them that we don’t want them to compete in female sports because these kids are at an advantage physically over our females. I was an athlete in high school. I was an athlete in college. And I would be p----d off if I trained and was beat by someone who had an advantage because of their gender. A lot of these changes that happen with our bodies happen from birth. And there’s no amount of hormone therapy or hormone suppression or surgery that can change those differences to make that advantage fair.”
Rep. Danny Sterling, R-Tecumseh, noted that during his career as a school administrator, he dealt with transgender students, and recalled going to school with a transgender student who nonetheless competed in boy’s sporting events “because that person, which was considered for the most part a female in school, realized that to be fair they needed to compete on a male level.” Sterling said he has granddaughters “and I want to make sure that they’re competing on a level playing field” with “other female athletes.”
Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, noted that in 2017 the fastest time run by any woman in a 100-meter race was slower than the times recorded by thousands of men and boys. The best time run by any woman in the 400-meter race was also slower than thousands of men and boys. “There’s clearly a difference between men and women,” Roberts said. “And we need to protect those who want to participate in a fair manner.”
Opponents argued there is no need for the legislation because there have been no publicly identified transgender athletes that have competed in women’s sports in Oklahoma.
Virgin said lawmakers were trying to “bully and marginalize” transgender individuals by banning them from women’s athletics through S.B. 2.
“Big government needs to stay out of school locker rooms,” said Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa. “SB 2 is an unnecessary intrusion into school sports to address a problem that doesn’t exist.”
“This is a problem that does not exist,” said Rep. Monroe Nichols, D-Tulsa.
Despite arguing that transgender athletes are not participating in women’s sports in Oklahoma, Nichols said S.B. 2’s ban on transgender women in girl’s athletics “creates a culture of violence and fear in the lives of the folks who are the target of this bill.”
Rep. Mauree Turner, an Oklahoma City Democrat who self-describes as “gender non-conforming,” also predicted suicides would increase among transgender individuals if S.B. 2 bars them from competing in girls’ athletic events.
“We’ve got people who are continuously fighting for access to an equitable life, right?” Turner said. “Legislation like this pulls that away.”
Other opponents argued the bill lacked clarity. Rep. Collin Walke, D-Oklahoma City, said it is not clear how “biological sex” is defined.
“What does it mean?” Walke said. “And that’s just it: The world isn’t black and white, and this isn’t a fairly simple amendment because this isn’t a fairly simple issue.”
Turner noted that the NCAA has threatened (https://ift.tt/3ncMglJ) to ban Oklahoma from hosting various athletic championships if SB 2 becomes law, potentially redirecting $120 million in funding away from the state.
“Are we willing to forgo that funding coming into Oklahoma?” Turner asked.
“I don’t think there is an expense too great if we are defending young women who choose to dedicate themselves to a sport,” Hasenbeck responded.
Others said the threat of financial loss amounted to little more than extortion. “Let’s just do what’s right,” said Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland. “We shouldn’t be blackmailed into doing wrong.”
Hasenbeck noted many citizens and organizations would also react favorably to passage of S.B. 2. “Our values are important and the values that we instill in this bill — protecting women from competing against men in sports — is probably something that resonates with people all over this country,” Hasenbeck said. “It certainly resonates with the people in my district.”
S.B. 2 passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a 73-19 vote (https://okhouse.gov/Legislation/PrintVote.aspx?Filename=http://www.okhouse.gov/58LEG/OKH00632.TXT).
All Democrats present voted in opposition. Only one Republican — Rep. Logan Phillips of Mounds – voted against the legislation.
S.B. 2 now returns to the Oklahoma Senate for further consideration.
Note: Ray Carter is director of the Center for Independent Journalism. This news story first appeared here: https://ift.tt/2QHZc6W . It is reprinted here with permission.
Oklahoma House approves transgender athlete bill Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
The City Sentinel, Staff Report
Oklahoma City – State Senator Kay Floyd said she was very gratified that three bipartisan bills she’d introduced this session are now one step closer to becoming law. Floyd, Senate Democratic Leader, said Senate Bills 16, 21 and 22 have now been approved by both chambers and are awaiting the governor’s signature.
Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, said S.B. 16 is a request from the state’s Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence (SAFE) task force, which Floyd has served on for several years. The group was formed to address the backlog of sexual assault forensic evidence kits.
“Processing these kits is important for victims, but it can also be traumatic,” Floyd said. “S.B. 16 will further support sexual assault victims by giving them access to resources for counseling.”
Rep. Carol Bush, R-Tulsa, is House principal author of S.B. 16, which passed both chambers unanimously.
“Sexual assault victims who have had to endure the wait for their backlogged kits to be tested deserve our help, and I’m thankful to my colleagues in both the House and Senate for their understanding on this bill,” Bush said.
S.B. 21 requires school districts to provide suicide awareness and prevention training to teachers and staff every two years.
“Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24,” Floyd said. “The material would be provided free to school districts by the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and would only take an hour to complete, but we know from looking at other states that are already doing this that we can save lives.”
The suicide prevention measure also passed both chambers unanimously. The House principal author is Rep. Marcus McEntire, R-Duncan.
“Having children in high school, I’m acutely aware of the prevalence of talk of suicide among students in our public schools,” McEntire said. “I’m thankful to Senator Floyd and the lawmakers who supported this legislation to get our students this necessary help.”
S.B. 22 is aimed at helping charities that lease vacant schools from school districts.
"My district includes Oklahoma City Public Schools, and they've had a handful of nonprofits lease closed school buildings and use the buildings to provide their services. By making improvements to those facilities, these nonprofits have helped ensure surrounding neighborhoods are not left with a large, vacant building in their area," Floyd said. "This bill simply gives nonprofits the right of first refusal if a school district later decides to sell the building."
Rep. Tammy West, R-Oklahoma City, is principal House author of S.B. 22, which passed 44 to 2 in the Senate and unanimously in the House.
“I’m happy to help our nonprofits in this way,” West said.
“Helping them stay in the buildings they currently call home will allow them to continue to serve their clients and their missions without disruption.”
Floyd thanked her House authors for their work on the measures.
“I’m grateful to Representative Bush, Representative McEntire and Representative West for their hard work and to all our members in both chambers who supported each of these bills,” Floyd said. “Assisting crime victims, preventing suicide and supporting charities are positive efforts on behalf of our entire state, and I am very gratified we were able to all come together to address these issues.”
www.City-Sentinel.com
Senate Democratic Leader Kay Floyd of Oklahoma City says trio of bipartisan measures await Governor Kevin Stitt’s Signature Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK McEntire moves against Managed Care of Medicaid expansion Stitt stays solid and the End is near4/18/2021
Pat McGuigan
Special to the Southwest Ledger:
https://ift.tt/3stM96u
Oklahoma City – On July 1, voter-mandated Medicaid Expansion to more Oklahomans will begin. Expansion comes in the context of a state government health system that already draws down around one-fourth of state government spending.
The ballot initiative to expand Medicaid (State Question 802) passed, barely. But in its name, many powerful forces are aligned to assure that the status quo in Oklahoma health spending gets on steroids, rather than face greater oversight as envisioned in the Managed Care (SoonerSelect) plans of the state’s chief executive and his ally in charge of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.
As his weapon of choice against the plan from Governor Kevin Stitt, state Rep. Marcus McEntire, R-Duncan, employed a not-so-venerable avoidance of customary deliberation about the details of proposed new laws.
Senate Bill 131 originated in a proposal from Senator Jessica Garvin, also a Duncan Republican, as a 15- page outline for adapting, in light of experience in recent years, the state’s laws governing “the sale, manufacturing or packaging of dangerous drugs.”
On April 8, in the House Public Health Committee, McEntire transformed S.B. 131, turning it into a plan to expand Medicaid without meaningful oversight. He did this through an “amendment” to strike “the Title, the Enacting Clause, the entire bill, and by inserting in lieu thereof” an entirely new proposal.
McEntire gave his old-new idea a nice title, garnered the necessary votes and continued on his mission.
Referencing Big Medicine’s attack on Oklahoma’s envisioned “SoonerSelect” system for management of expansion, Rep. McEntire says he is as anxious “to hear what the state Supreme Court has to say.” But just in case the state High Court (with an unfortunate history of slamming down some parts of our chief executive’s agenda) didn’t get the memo, McEntire is ready to undercut the most reform-minded governor of Oklahoma since the 1990s.
Managed Care a ‘Hold-up?’
McEntire is not alone.
Kandice Allen, CEO at Share Medical Center, wrote in an opinion piece for Alva Review-Courier (April 4), “The timing of the governor’s plan is a recipe for disaster for vulnerable Oklahomans, health care providers and hospitals who rely on the stability of SoonerCare.”
There it is. Oklahoma’s early move toward voter-mandated Medicaid Expansion, to include Managed Care policies drawn from practices already regnant in the vast majority of the 50 states, is allegedly a “hold-up” (the term widely promoted by Big Medicine’s leadership) – akin to a robbery.
This righteous rhetoric comes from a no-doubt caring and professional representative who is part of an industry which has some capable people who work hard each and every day of each and every year to ... hide the ball.
How do they hide the ball? I could count the ways, but here is a notable high-tech example.
Kaitlyn Finley, health care analyst with the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) recently wrote a superb distillation of an important investigative report from The Wall Street Journal:
“As of January 1, 2021, hospitals are required to publish online their negotiated prices with all payers, including insurance companies, for many common services and procedures in accordance with federal regulations put forward during the Trump administration.”
Understanding Embedded Codes
But Finley reports that the trio of Journal reporters found that “a special embedded code” prevents “Alphabet Inc.’s Google and other search engines from displaying pages with the price lists, according to the Journal examination of more than 3,100 sites.”
The Journal reported, “The code keeps pages from appearing in searches, such as those related to a hospital’s name and prices, computer-science experts said. The prices are often accessible other ways, such as through links that can require clicking through multiple layers of pages.”
And so it goes. CEO Allen declares that if Stitt and OHCA don’t back down, “the House and Senate can simply vote to withhold Medicaid funding” for what she deems a “privatized system.” Rep. McEntire’s proposal is aptly deemed a “Hail Mary,” while the Big Medicine lawsuit to strangle Managed Care is perhaps an even bet (despite the magisterial argumentation of the executive branch’s lawyer before the justices).
An inconvenient truth: Everyone involved in American health care in 2021 knows that the entire structure of the contemporary system whether or not something is deemed “private” is laced with rapidly rising costs, subsidized by federal dollars (read: money extracted from the private sector through taxation).
Yup, even though some defenders of the status quo won’t like me saying so – as related in the previous installment of this series -- we “already have socialized medicine.”
The question is what can be done to make the current system more efficient, more transparent and more beneficial to all of us, and perhaps slightly less accommodating to financial pressures coming from “nonprofit” hospitals whose annual return could make at least some private sector CEOs blush.
After some bumps and bruises, Governor Kevin Stitt is still popular
An online dispatch from The McCarville Report – named for the venerable Mike McCarville, radio icon of fond memory – included this:
“A recent survey by Amber Integrated measured the opinions of Oklahoma voters on several issues, and they seem to continue to support Governor Kevin Stitt. The poll shows Stitt has an overall approval rating of 53 percent. Among Republicans, his approval rises to 70 percent and 60 percent among Independent voters. Of the Democrats responding, only 27 percent gave Stitt an approval rating.”
Over all, not too shabby for a guy who has rattled the cage since Day One.
When the governor and Kevin Corbett at the Oklahoma Health Care Authority announced their plan to create a managed care system for voter-mandated Medicaid Expansion, the chief executive said, “A healthy Oklahoma is a prosperous Oklahoma. As leaders we have a moral obligation to make life better for the people that we serve.”
Stitt is not out on a limb. Forty states partner with Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) to administer some or all of state-run Medicaid programs.
In an overview, Medicaid Health Plans of America put a fine point on available data with this nugget: “69 percent of all Medicaid beneficiaries receive their care through MCOs. (That’s ac- cording to KFF – also known as The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. That American nonprofit organization – headquartered in San Francisco – goes by the KFF these days to, among other things, avoid confusion with Kaiser Permanente.)”
Stitt is in the mainstream of American governors who seek a managed care framework to promote better health outcomes and ameliorate some tax burden. He is trying to manage an ever-burgeoning portion of the Oklahoma state budget.
However, some spots on the tree of Republican support for his move have had some bark stripped away, as witness the actions of McEntire and colleagues.
Previously, I described the ultimate result of this particular debate as a “jump ball” in a game that intensified in the midst of March Madness.
In an effort to promote understanding of what is in play, I turn again to a hopefully instructive story.
Back Then, and Right Now: Cui Bono?
Back in the Reagan era in Washington D.C., I learned from Paul Weyrich that a modern usage for an old term traditionally applied to criminal cases. These days, it can inform a study of political players in high-stakes fights.
The term, in Latin, is: Cui Bono? In plain English, “Who benefits?”
Weyrich often said, “there is always more to the story than meets the eye.”
This seems truer as government gets bigger and bigger, and Big Media scrutiny of actions from Big Government gets weaker and weaker, as more and more players figure out how to hide the ball, as government at all levels becomes less transparent, and as more reporters become selective in the ways they use existing tools.
Another Weyrich tale. I once went with him to a meeting with a “K Street Bandit.” That street is the traditional home of powerful private sector interests interested in growing government. The “bandit” term was and is used to describe at least some of those who labor (for hundreds of dollars per hour) at firms with high-powered lawyers, public relations/communications expertise and a habit of lobbying the government for ... increased taxation along with mandates guiding more tax money to their firm(s).
Weyrich was a small-government guy, but the man we visited was his friend.
Despite profound differences on a range of cultural and political issues, they had been pals for several decades. From time to time, they would call on each other for counsel, with no money exchanging hands.
Weyrich had been asked, by a supporter, to help push a certain bill. So, he asked his K Street friend to study the massive bill and give him an honest opinion.
When we met, the old fellow paged through the legislation. He told Weyrich: “This is terrible public policy.” He added with a grin, concerning his own interests, “But it will be good for business.”
Paul decided not to engage in the battle that lay ahead.
McEntire’s proposal, at a comparatively modest three pages when it cleared committee in early April, is terrible public policy. Republicans should oppose it, but some won’t.
If it passes, Governor Still should veto it, and he probably will.
As summer nears, we’ll see who wins this round of the Big Fight.
In that sense, the end is near, but the story won’t be over.
NOTE: Oklahoma journalist Pat McGuigan has been reporting on the Oklahoma rollout for voter-approved Medicaid Expansion. The analysis first appeared in The Southwest Ledger, April 15, 2021 print edition and online: https://ift.tt/3usqXPF . Southwest Ledger, 7602 US Highway 277, Elgin, OK 73538, (580) 350-1111. It is reposted here with permission.
McEntire moves against Managed Care of Medicaid expansion, Stitt stays solid, and the End is near Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
The City Sentinel, Staff Report
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Members of the Oklahoma House Democratic Caucus and the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus recognized the Norman High School girl’s basketball team on the House floor Tuesday for their continued excellence on and off the court.
House Minority Leader Emily Virgin, D-Norman, presented a citation of commendation to the Lady Tigers and head coach Yasmine Parks. Norman High is currently on a 41-game winning streak that dates back to December 2019.
The team recently won its second consecutive state championship, helping to restore a long tradition of dominance in sports among Oklahoma’s largest school systems.
“Great leadership creates opportunities for great results,” Virgin said. “The success of this team is a direct reflection of the leadership from Coach Neal, Coach Parks, and their players. These student-athletes faced adversity on and off the court, and they prevailed with class and dignity. I am proud to have these ladies represent Norman.”
On the court, the Lady Tigers were flawless, and off the court, they were exemplary. According to a press release from state House communications staff, “After exercising their right to free speech, the team was the target of racist slurs used by an announcer at the state tournament.”
“It is unfortunate that the story coming out of the state tournament was the racist comments by the announcer,” said Rep. Merleyn Bell, D-Norman, in the release, which was sent to The City Sentinel, CapitolBeatOK.com and other state news organizations.
“These young athletes have shown that naysayers and ignorant detractors are no match for hard work, determination, and believing in yourself. What the Lady Tigers have accomplished on the court has been special, but their efforts off the court are something I will personally remember for the rest of my life.”
State Champion Norman High Lady Tigers recognized on Oklahoma's state House Floor Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK Just another Day at the Dome? Maybe or maybe not but Monday afternoon (April 12) will be busy4/11/2021
Pat McGuigan, CapitolBeatOK.com
Oklahoma City -- Both chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature will convene for regular session work at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, April 12. Each chamber faces a jam-packed schedule, but most of the day’s measures seem poised for approval – although, to be clear, it is always risky to predict such things.
In the Senate, 29 measures that originated in the House will be considered, as well as a single Senate resolution recognizing April as Child Abuse Prevention month. The Senate agenda for Monday can be studied online here: https://ift.tt/2OFTySh .
The pace will be brisk as the upper chamber begins to process measures for passage … or not.
Regardless of the substance of individual proposals, the biggest news of the day might be former Rep. John R. Bennett’s opening prayer. A former member of the House, Bennett is, among other things, now minister for the Lee Creek Assembly of God in Muldrow.
Bennett has been back in the news in recent days, with many news organizations looking back at his efforts, while a member of the Legislature, opposing the annual Muslim Day at the state Capitol, and along the way forging a tense relationship with Imam Imad Enchassi of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City.
Last week, at the request of Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, Dr. Enchassi served as Senate chaplain.
Senator Mark Allen, R-Spiro, tagged Rev. Bennett as chaplain for this Monday, April 12.
This weekend, Bennett prevailed in three-person contest to become chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party. He defeated former state Rep. Charles Ortega and former Luther Mayor Jenni White to take the chairman’s post.
Speaking of Sen. Hicks, her Senate Bill 44, is up for consideration on the other side of the fourth floor under the Dome of the Capitol. (https://capitolbeatok.worldsecuresystems.com/reports/hicks-bill-to-stop-unfair-issuing-of-court-charges-warrants-goes-to-oklahoma-senate-floor)
The opening gavel for the House will bring the prayers of Joel Harder (chaplain of the week), and recognition for Army veteran veteran of the week Denver Horn. Speaker Charles McCall will present the Tishomingo softball team (state champions).
Then, actual votes will commence will the lower chamber’s consideration of the Child Abuse Prevention month designation for April.
In all, the House is expected to race through the yeas and nays on a total of 59 proposals.
The Hicks bill (S.B. 44) is one among many, of interest for cutting some slack for those who fail to appear in court
if they were “incarcerated or otherwise detained by law enforcement at the time of the failure to appear.” The measure cleared the upper chamber unanimously. The House sponsor is state Rep. Judd Strom, R-Copan.
Monday’s House agenda can be studied here:
https://ift.tt/3dYmopB
Just another Day at the Dome? Maybe or maybe not – but Monday afternoon (April 12) will be busy Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
Pat McGuigan
NOTE: First published December 2, 1993. – The voice of Stanley Crouch, author of ‘Notes of a Hanging Judge’ (Oxford University Press, 1990) is, slowly but surely, being heard. As reported by Lynda Richardson of The New York Times (Aug. 29, 1993), Crouch “argues that all people, regardless of color or gender, have to be held to the same standards.”
Admirers include Oklahoma City native Ralph Ellison, author of “Invisible Man,” who says Crouch “makes the most of his American-ness. He’s irreverent. He questions the views of both liberals and conservatives, and that’s what critics should do.”
Crouch is weary of social analyses “overly influenced by the ideas of determinism – if you’re poor, you’re going to act in a certain way.” He grew up poor and black in Los Angeles, in a troubled environment, yet his public school teachers were determined, for his sake:
“These people were on a mission. They had a perfect philosophy: you WILL learn this. If you came in there and said, ‘I’m from a dysfunctional family and a single parent household,’ they would say, ‘Boy, I’m going to ask you again. What is 8 times 8?’
“When I was coming up, there were no excuses except your house burned down and there was a murder in the family. Eight times eight was going to be 64 whether your family was dysfunctional or not. It’s something you needed to know!”
Jean Hendrickson, principal at the Oklahoma City public school system’s Quail Creek Elementary, was the focus of a recent “Accent” article (Oct. 31, 1993) in The Sunday Oklahoman. Hendrickson recalled the African saying: “It takes an entire village to raise a child.”
As her own American version of that wise expression, Hendrickson remembered childhood in a small Texas town: “Regardless of where I went as a child – whether it was school, church or home, I heard the same message – that each child is important and we will not let you fail.”
Perhaps Hendrickson would agree that failure can be an opportunity for growth, the necessary option to fail but to rise again. Kids need someone to tell them 2 plus 2 equals 4, just as surely as they need love and nurture.
A question to ponder: Are Hendrickson and Crouch saying, essentially, the same thing?
The village of my youth centered on NW 32 Street, between Western Avenue and Classen Boulevard [in Oklahoma City]. My sisters and I came of youth in a consciously Irish Catholic family in the heart of Oklahoma, itself the heart of the Baptist/Methodist/Protestant Bible Belt. Mom and Dad raised us, to be sure, but others – Baptists, Methodists, Jews and more – helped in ways I could not discern at the time.
Life in our village centered on family, neighborhood, church and community. Church and school were only a block and a half away. Our teachers were a mix of lay women and Sisters of Mercy. Those teachers raised me.
An influential associate pastor was Oblate priest George Krupa, a native of Austria who had fled tyranny. Pastor for most of those years was Monsignor John Connor, who persistently and gently lobbied me to become a priest. Krupa and Connor raised me.
As I grew, the village included men such as that Southern Baptist deacon, a teacher at Harding Junior High, who broke up a fight I was in one day early in the summer of 1968. After a tough morning (The Oklahoman headline, I think, was ‘Sen. Kennedy Shot In Head’), I arrived at school distraught, to hear one lad utter a horrible wish about people of my faith. After ascertaining the full tale of our confrontation, the deacon took me aside to utter words of comfort. That deacon raised me.
Later, the village included Shepherd Mall, where I worked as a janitor with an elderly Black gentleman named Walker. Conversations over the years taught me that “Walk” had the same dreams for his grandchildren as my grandfather. Walker raised me.
Were those days idyllic? I don’t know. There was a lot of poverty, controversy and diversity in that village, but there was also a lot of hope, determination and unity. And that village worked – not merely in the sense of the labor of its people.
I wonder if “what works” has changed all that much in three decades, in three centuries, or in three millennia.
What works was restated for me a few months ago by an Oklahoman named Daryl Brown. Brown and I enjoyed dinner together in Taipei city, in the Republic of China on Taiwan. Born 37 years ago in our fair city, Brown’s professional baseball career included a hitch with the Minnesota Twins, until a slugger named Kirby Puckett came along to take his place. When we met last spring [1993], Brown was in what would be his final season as one of the American players in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Brown spoke at length, and with candor, about his life. After the glamour of professional sports, his thoughts these days are on education, kids, family, church and institutions such as the Boy Scouts. Brown reflected on America’s contemporary social problems:
“I’ve known guys like Wade Boggs. … I’ve been in the big leagues. All that used to impress me, but you want to know what impresses me now? A man and a woman celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Now, that’s impressive.”
This Sunday [in 1993], the Washington Journalism Center begins a conference on “Violence & Society: Kids, Cops, Women & TV,” running through Dec. 8. The seminar’s topics and speakers (with a couple of exceptions) may spark another spate of news stories about misogyny, guns and television as, allegedly, principal sources of American social collapse.
Just about everyone will get blamed but the human beings who are murdering each other. In the process of all this killing, are we seeing the death of those dreams that blossomed in our village, when the civil rights movement made its moral claim on the American conscience?
In the village of my youth, there were assuredly bigots, but I didn’t see or hear much from them, for people of all races knew the difference between the law-abiding and the thugs.
I recognize characters in the stories of Stanley Crouch, Daryl Brown and many others, from their words and actions. Somewhere in memory, weren’t we all from the same village?
Until that village is rebuilt, the madness will continue.
NOTE on April 11, 2021: McGuigan wrote this commentary in 1993. Concerning the two American literary figures mentioned in his essay: Stanley Crouch (1945-2020) was an American poet and music critic; Ralph Ellison (1914-1994). His ‘Invisible Man’ was judged by a wide range of critics as among the greatest American books of the Twentieth Century.
In Memory: The Village of My Youth Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
Staff Report
OKLAHOMA CITY -- State Rep. Monroe Nichols, D-Tulsa, released the following statement in response to the White House’s announcement that FEMA will partner with local and state agencies to open a vaccination center at Tulsa Community College Northeast Campus on Wednesday, April 21.
TCC’s Northeast Campus is located in House District 72, which Nichols represents.
“Before he was elected, President Biden said he would prioritize getting the vaccine to every American,” Nichols said in a legislative press release, send to CapitolBeatOK.com, The City Sentinel newspaper, and other news organizations.
“This center is an opportunity for Oklahoma, and especially Tulsa, to expedite our COVID pandemic recovery. I appreciate the work done by our state health department and our local Tulsa County Health Department to get us to this point, and I am thankful for President Biden’s continued leadership and vision to end this pandemic in America.
“Now it’s up to us to protect ourselves and others by getting vaccinated.”
www.CapitolBeatOK.com
State Rep. Monroe Nichols praises President Biden, encourages Tulsans to get vaccinated Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK |
Pat McGuiganThe dean of all Oklahoma Journalism, Mr Patrick McGuigan; has a rich history of service in many aspects of both covering the news and producing the information that the public needs to know. Archives
September 2021
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