OKLAHOMA STATE SENATE / From the desk of Sen. Jessica Garvin
Continuing our discussion of new laws, there’s one in particular that will be of great interest in our rural district. This past session, we approved House Bill 1962 to allow teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17, who live or work on a farm, to get a Farm Driving Permit. This allows them to operate any Class D motor vehicle with certain restrictions. Given that agriculture is one of our state’s top industries and we have somewhere around 85,000 farms and ranches, this new law is going to come in very handy. You can visit https://oklahoma.gov/service/all-pages/ farm-driving-permit.html to learn more.
One of our new laws that I did co-author, however, was SB 648, which removes the requirement that a landowner or agricultural lessee have a current agricultural tax exemption permit in order to receive a permit to control nuisance wildlife at night. Given how dangerous and destructive the wild hogs are in our state, it’s no surprise that this bill passed both legislative chambers unanimously.
You’ll remember last year my SB 1809 was signed into law that allowed landowners or agricultural lessees to hunt coyotes or feral swine with a headlight and without a permit or bag limit as long as it wasn’t deer gun season. This was desperately needed to protect their marketable agricultural crops, livestock feed, seed, and other agricultural materials. We must always protect landowners’ constitutional rights to do whatever necessary to protect their property and livelihood.
Another law that will be beneficial to many in our district came about under SB 747. This increases the income tax credit for volunteer firefighters beginning with tax year 2024. The credit for those with basic firefighter training certification is increased from $200 to $300, while those with an intermediate or advanced firefighter training certification has been raised from $400 to $600. This will provide additional financial relief for these local heroes.
As we have just celebrated the beautiful Thanksgiving holiday, I hope you’ll join me in counting our blessings. It’s so easy to sometimes get wrapped up in the chaos of life and lose our spirit of gratitude, but we have so much to be thankful for. Unlike so many around the world, we are free to worship as we choose, go to school, live where we want, have whatever career we want, and vote for everything from our local school board to the president of the United States. We have clean water, easy access to food and other necessities, medical care, and public media. We are free and so very blessed!
My heart and prayers are with our brave military men and women who won’t get to be with their families this Thanksgiving because they are somewhere around the world working to protect all of our incredible freedoms and blessings.
Thank you for your service! To contact me at the Capitol, please write to Senator Jessica Garvin, State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 237, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105; email me at [email protected] or call 405-521-5522.
