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Fresh from the Bartlesville Chamber of Commerce Eggs and Issuses event, Senator Julie Daniels, Representatives Judd Strom and Wendi Stearman came by the Bartlesville Radio Studios for Capitol Call Powered by Phillips 66.

 

Senator Daniels responded to claims recently  made on television by Governor Stitt that the state of Oklahoma has a surplus going into the new state budget talks.

 

Daniels said" It turns out we weathered the storm of COVID and the downturn in the energy industry better than we thought --and we only appropriated 78 percent of what we could have done in the last session. So, we had some savings from that." The Senator added, "We're carrying over $1.136 billion into this year and the estimate of what we could appropriate from revenues now has gone up."

 

Daniels said it will all likley result in a flat budget, but we are in the early days.

 

Judd Strom said the state should use some of those funds to work together and rebuild our savings.

 

Wendi Stearman has been working on making emegency declarations more equitable so that the legislature has the opportunity to be brought into these situation so as to represent the people better without so much consolidation of power.

 

The winter weather issue was raised with the lawmakers agreeing  that this needs to be monitored as far as the energy companies and how they might bill their customers.

 

Bringing to businesses to Oklahoma was another big topic. Representative Strom said Oklahoma is the best place to live and set up a business. We  have the lowest energy rates, the cheapest land to buy, we have ready and willing force that is able to do the jobs.

 

A recent state initiative targeted California  businesses and netted six businesses for that state. Although the names of the businesses were not mentioned, the just is that each are bringing hundreds of jobs for Oklahomans--not necessarily transplanted Californians.