Comments from Senate President Pro Tempore Cal Hobson, D-Lexington

“We’ve been following the efforts of Governor Henry’s bi-partisan study group and I’m anxious to see its proposal. Just yesterday I met with more than half a dozen of Tulsa’s most prominent business leaders discussing at length the progress of the governor’s task force and their own efforts to craft bi-partisan reforms to our state’s workers’ compensation system.

Majority Democrats in the Oklahoma State Senate made a power play at Tuesday’s legislative organizational day on a pair of votes to amend the rules that govern the Senate’s procedures.

“Senate Republicans were seeking a more open, more democratic process within the Senate rules. But in contrast, the Senate Democrats – despite having their narrowest majority ever –decided instead to operate behind closed doors. The majority made a power play instead of opening up the process to more debate and new ideas,” stated Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City.

Senate President Pro Tempore Cal Hobson was officially elected to a second term as leader of the State Senate Tuesday as the First Session of the 50th Oklahoma Legislature convened for Organization Day.
Hobson, who served in the House from 1978 to 1990, is entering his 27th year in the Oklahoma Legislature. He was elected Tuesday by a vote of 26-21.

A state senator called on Gov. Brad Henry to conduct comprehensive background checks of potential commissioners on the state’s new Lottery Commission.

“With the potential for corruption in gambling enterprises, we must ensure that Oklahoma’s new Lottery Commission is composed of individuals of unquestionable character and integrity,” stated Sen. Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward.

A group of Oklahoma school children think it is high time one of the state’s naturally occurring gems gets official recognition—and State Senator Kathleen Wilcoxson is working to make sure the gem and the students have a chance to shine. She’s filed legislation to make Selenite Crystal the state’s official gemstone.

State Senator Randy Brogdon announced Wednesday that he will introduce a constitutional amendment to limit the future growth of the state government’s budget, known as the “Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights” or TABOR.

“Over the past ten years, state government has grown at an unsustainable rate of 89%, while the private sector has only grown 65%,” stated Brogdon, R-Owasso. “The TABOR amendment would limit the annual growth in the state budget to the level of inflation plus the state’s population growth, ensuring that the state’s budget does not grow faster than the family budget.”

Appropriations Committee Chairman Mike Morgan announced Tuesday that the Appropriations sub-committees in the Oklahoma State Senate will begin work on the FY 2006 state budget in the next two weeks.

“We’ve got a tremendous amount of work ahead of us and we’ve got seven new sub-committee chairpersons who are eager to get to work on what could be one of the most challenging appropriations processes in recent years,” said Morgan, D-Stillwater.

A ranking of the top ten “business friendly” states by the Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc., shows that Oklahoma is in dire need of economic reforms, a Republican senator said Tuesday.

“We should all be promoting the positives of this report and our top ten ranking, but Oklahoma’s lack of workers comp reform, lack of comprehensive lawsuit reform, and our high income tax rate are big reasons why we still rank near the bottom nationally in job growth and wages,” stated Sen. Scott Pruitt, R-Broken Arrow.

(Oklahoma City) Saying it’s only natural to continue to build on the advances enacted by the Legislature in the last two years, Senate President Pro Tempore Cal Hobson announced Friday that he will support Governor Henry’s continued work on tort reform in the coming legislative session.

(Oklahoma City) Oklahoma’s continued inclusion in a national report released this week as one of the top 10 “business friendly” states didn’t just happen, a veteran state senator said Thursday.

Senator Jeff Rabon, D-Hugo, said the state’s outstanding showing in the annual rankings by Pollina Corporate Real Estate Inc. is a result of work by the Legislature to foster an environment to grow existing Oklahoma businesses and attract new firms.