OKLAHOMA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES / From the desk of Rep. Brad Boles
Last week, the Oklahoma Legislature completed our bill filing for the 2023 session. There were just over 1,900 measures filed in the House and over 1,150 filed in the Senate. Combined, legislators have approximately 3,075 bills to consider in the coming months.
Many filed bills may make headlines in the next few weeks, but keep in mind that historically only a few hundred bills make it through the legislative process and actually become law each year. There is a long way to go before a bill becomes law, as legislators carefully consider what policies we put into statute to ensure they serve our constituents well. It’s important to not get too upset or excited about a bill at this point in the process, despite what you may read in the news.
For an idea to become a law, a legislator must decide to author the bill. Bills are then assigned to committee, which must approve each bill before it can be heard on the House floor. However, many bills do not receive a committee hearing. Some bills that do pass committee are not heard on the House floor.
When a bill passes the House floor, it moves to the Senate, where the process repeats. If it passes the Senate floor with no changes, it’s sent to the governor, who will consider whether to sign it into law or veto it. The Legislature has power to override the governor’s vetoes with a twothirds vote.
If a bill receives changes in the Senate, the amended bill is returned to the House, where we vote on it once again. Bills still needing negotiations are sent to a joint committee, which is made up of legislators from both the House and Senate. They will work on an agreement before the updated language is voted on by both chambers once again.
Over the next two weeks, the House will hold many budget hearings with the top state agencies so we can better understand their budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year. These meetings give us time to delve deeply into what they plan to do with the additional funds they’re requesting and how they’ve used the funds allocated to them in past years.
Session begins in just a couple weeks on Monday, February 6. We’ll spend the next four months moving bills through the legislative process and finalizing the proposed state budget for Fiscal Year 2024, as required by our state constitution. The Legislature must adjourn by no later than Friday, May 26. Although most bills filed ultimately don’t become law, it’s still important to stay engaged in the process. I always encourage my constituents to reach out to me if you feel very strongly for or against a bill so that I have a better understanding of my district’s stance on issues prior to voting on them.
Hearing from you helps me better represent you at the State Capitol. Please feel free to reach out with your thoughts. You can contact me at (405) 557-7405 or at [email protected].
As always, thank you for the honor of representing you and House District 51 at the State Capitol.
God bless!
