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PROCESS:

The legislature concluded their third week.  The House took up several measures this week, the Senate has yet to pass a bill off the floor.  Committee work continues where we have seen many bills pass and many laid over which may never get a hearing.  This coming week is the deadline week for bills being heard from their house of origin – if the bills are not heard by next Thursday they are considered dormant and most likely will not get a hearing.  However, this rule does not apply to appropriation bills.

POLITICS:

There is a new Senator in town.  Senator J.J. Dossett – D – from Owasso was sworn into office this past Thursday to SD 34 – Democrats 9 Republicans 39.

The tension of the legislature continues to elevate.  Many cost saving proposals have been introduced, however, many have failed or the ones that have survived have minimal  support by the majority of legislators, but that could change.  But, what was a little crazy this past week, was the beginnings of a beer fight.  Yes, “Budweiser against Jolley.”  This week SJR 68, a constitutional proposal passed out of the Senate Rules committee, authored by Sen. Clark Jolley – the appropriation Chair of the Senate.  This bill is to modernize beer and liquor laws in our state.  Anheuser-Busch response to the Jolley bill : that they are for modernizing the beer laws, but claim special interests groups and backdoor politics are placing their business model at risk.  I’m sure there is more to come on this issue, but I am bewildered that Senator Jolley who has a tremendous task ahead of him on trying to craft a balanced budget – seems he has decided to take the time to take on “The King of Beers.”

PROGRAM:

This past week the Commissioners’ agenda continued to move forward with the passage of HB2519 by Grau – would allow Counties to use County Highway Funds to remove debris from roads.  It now heads to full House Appropriations to be heard on Tuesday.  In addition, HB3130 by Cockroft – raised the cap on the purchasing of road materials from $3 to $7 per ton or yard.  In other news, there were two bills we were watching that failed this past week.  HB2310 by Tadlock – would have allowed Counties to raise their sales tax cap from 2% to 3.50% - it failed 2-5 in committee.  Also, HB2451 by LePak – would have removed the population cap on cities from 5,000 to 15,000 population – authorizing the county commissions to assist cities with road projects – it failed 2-5 as well.

Next week bills to monitor:

Monday – SB1060 by Allen - CED bill – allows CED to establish financing agreements.

Tuesday – HB2519 by Grau -Debris bill to be heard in full House Appropriations.

Wednesday – HJR1051 by Derby – This bill began with a Constitutional provision to remove ad valorem millage rates from the constitution and allow the legislature to impose those tax rates – ad valorem used for sinking funds would not be affected.  BUT now the bill has changed to allow cities to increase their millage rate from 3% to 4% to be dedicated to their general fund. I will continue to monitor.

We will continue week four to educate Senators on the importance of our county highway maintenance funds and our CIRB program.  We need to keep the pressure up – this past week the Senate Committee passed SB1394 that would cap the revenue to the ODOT ROADS fund – ( a $59 Million impact ) 

It would probably be a good idea for commissioners to come to the Capitol this coming Wednesday to educate the Senators.  The Full Senate Appropriations Committee agenda has not been published yet – but be prepared to see multiple apportionment bills that greatly impact county T accounts.

Bill Case
Capitol Gains
405.570.2900
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ACCO Legislative Update: 2/11/16 from Caleb Taulbee on Vimeo.