On Wednesday, candidates began filing for the state Legislature, U.S. House of Representatives and one Corporation Commission seat. Filings will close at 5:00 p.m. today and will give us an idea of who will be serving in the next Legislature.All House members are up and a little over half of the Senate are up for election forthis year. Follow the Oklahoma Election Board to see who is running in your area. OK Candidate Filing (okelections.us). Once the elections begin, it is important to take the time and educate the candidates about municipal issues.

This week the Senate Appropriations Chairman, Sen. Roger Thompson (R-Okemah) said the Senate would not be hearing any House appropriations bills because the House refused to share their current budget numbers. The House Appropriations Chairman, Rep. Kevin Wallace (R-Wellston) says that the House will share their numbers once the Senate agrees to a solution for a deficit in the current FY24 budget. 

Next Thursday, April 11th, is the deadline for House bills and joint resolutions to be heard in Senate committees. That deadline is set by Senate Leadership, but in a press availability yesterday, Senator Pro Tem Greg Treat (R-Edmond) does not appear to want to extend that and said “The deadline is the deadline right now.” 

With the next deadline upon us, it brings us closer to the end. There are only eight (8)more weeks left of Session, and during this time, we will start seeing movementon bills that were carried over from last Session. Things will move quickly, and issues could pop up at any time, so please be prepared to respond to any ActionAlerts that we send out.

Thank you to those of you that attended OML’s Legislative Reception. We had a great turnout of municipal officials and legislators, and we appreciate you showing up in support of Oklahoma’s cities and towns.