The 2010 legislative session began recently with the final State of the State address by Governor Brad Henry. In his address, the governor outlined many issues facing the state, but none larger or more important than the state’s budget shortfall, which is around $1 billion. He encouraged lawmakers to closely examine where cuts should be made. He also told legislators to get work started on raising the cap on Rainy Day Fund deposits, which would take a vote of the people. Currently, the fund is capped at 10 percent of general revenue receipts. The governor’s proposal would increase the cap to 15 percent.

There was not much work done on the floor in either chamber, however, the Senate did pass Senate Concurrent Resolution 37, authored by Sen. Ron Justice and Rep. Dale DeWitt. This resolution congratulates Sen. Jim Inhofe for being awarded the Golden Plow Award by the American Farm Bureau Federation. Sen. Inhofe will officially receive this award at the Farm Bureau Leadership Conference Feb. 15.
Most of the session’s early work took place in committee. Oklahoma Farm Bureau had one piece of legislation up in the House Agriculture Committee.

HB 3202, authored by Rep. Don Armes, would protect a livestock owner’s right to perform traditional animal husbandry practices as well as utilize equine dentists, chiropractors and farriers at the discretion of the livestock owner. This is a priority issue for Oklahoma Farm Bureau this session.

After many questions and debate, the bill passed committee on an 11 to 3 vote. Those legislators voting for the legislation where Reps. Don Armes, Dale DeWitt, John Enns, Eddie Fields, Steve Kouplen, Leslie Osborn, Charles Ortega, R.C. Pruett, Todd Russ, Mike Sanders, and Harold Wright. Legislators who voted against the Farm Bureau-supported legislation were Reps. Brian Renegar, Phil Richardson and Dennis Bailey. We look for HB 3202 to be heard on the House floor in the coming weeks.