OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Lawmakers are heading back to the Oklahoma State Capitol on Monday for the start of the 2025 legislative session.
The legislative session will kick off with Governor Stitt’s State of the State address on Monday afternoon. Then, committee meetings will start up in the following days to begin looking at some of the bills that were filed.
Stitt previewed some of his top priorities this past Wednesday, which included tax cuts.
“My goal this year, I mean I’ve been saying it for six years now, we need more taxpayers not more taxes,” he said during his first press briefing of the year. “Every time we’ve cut taxes, we’ve seen our revenue actually increase.”
Beginning on Tuesday, committees will start to meet to consider bills.
Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, is stepping into session as the new Speaker of the House. This past week he spoke on how lawmakers will look at the administrative rules process. He said this is to make sure the rules that are getting passed down to Oklahomans are used in a fair way that makes sense.
This week the House Administrative Rules Committee will take a look at a bill that would make changes to how state agencies propose and submit administrative rules, as well as create a Legislative Economic Analysis Unit.
There are two bills on the House General Government Committee’s agenda relating to the Open Meeting Act. One would add the Judicial Nomination Commission as a public body, and the other would allow members of a public body to participate in a meeting from a private residence under certain circumstances. A member would be able to participate in the meeting by a video or phone call.
A bill will be considered in the House Public Safety Committee that would grant elected state officials the right to access Oklahoma Department of Corrections facilities without warning or prior notification to ODOC.
These are just some of the bills that will be taken up this week. A full list of committees and agendas can be found here for the House and here for the Senate.
