Pemberton named majority assistant whip, receives new committee assignments

OKLAHOMA CITY – Sen. Dewayne Pemberton will serve as a member of Senate leadership for the 59^th Legislature. Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat appointed the Muskogee Republican to serve as majority assistant whip.

“I want to thank Pro Tem Treat for entrusting me to help lead our caucus the next two years as an assistant whip,” Pemberton said. “I’m looking forward to hearing the ideas and perspectives of our eight new members as well as our other colleagues. We’ve accomplished some historic feats in recent years, but it’s important that our caucus continues working together to promote and support legislation to create jobs, strengthen our economy and improve the lives of all Oklahomans.”

Pemberton will continue serving on the Education Committee but will also now be on the Health and Human Services and Tourism and Wildlife Committees. He will also sit on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) and the newly created Senate Oversight Committee for the Offices of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

"I’m looking forward to shifting my focus to the new areas of health and tourism that are so critical for our state, while also continuing my dedication to Oklahoma’s students and educators,” Pemberton said. “It’ll also be a pleasure serving on JCAR to provide a system of checks and balances of agency rules, and the OMES/ARPA oversight committee to provide additional accountability of our largest state agency as well as our nearly $2 billion in federal pandemic relief fund investments.”

Besides his standing committees, Pemberton is also a member of the oversight committee for the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) and the Senate Rural Caucus.

The Senate will convene on Jan. 3 for an organizational day and the legislative session will officially begin on Feb. 6. To learn more about Sen. Pemberton, visit https://oksenate.gov/senators/dewayne-pemberton.

Sen. Pemberton: (405) 521-5533 or Dewayne.Pemberton@oksenate.gov