OKLAHOMA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES / From the desk of Rep. Brad Boles
This week at the Capitol was packed with dozens of committee meetings as legislators hurried to ensure their bills were passed ahead of Thursday’s committee deadline. In addition to attending meetings for the committees I sit on, I passed six of my own bills out of their committees prior to the deadline, and those are now eligible to be heard on the House floor.
For the next three weeks, we anticipate spending hours on the floor each day hearing and voting on various bills. Our last day to pass House bills is Thursday, March 23. Once we pass that deadline, we’ll swap the approved legislation with the Senate begin start hearing Senate bills in our committees.
We’ve also already begun hearing bills on the House floor, and we passed a major bill this week to protect children.
House Bill 2177 was overwhelmingly approved by the House on Tuesday. This bill ensures that health care professionals do not recommend or perform gender transition services like puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender reassignment surgeries for people under the age of 18.
Health care providers shouldn’t be encouraging teenagers and children to pursue irreversible surgeries or subject them to questionable procedures because minors cannot fully grasp the impact of the choices they make.
Government has a fundamental responsibility to protect the safety of children. There are multiple activities that children are not allowed to participate in until they’ve reached an age defined by statute, even with parental consent, such as purchasing alcohol or cigarettes.
However, the bill does allow exceptions for minors who have a medically diagnosed disorder, and it does not prevent adults from seeking these procedures.
We’ll hear other important bills on the House floor in the coming weeks, and I’ll share details about those and about my own bills as they pass as well.
As always, I hope you reach out with any questions or concerns, whether on these House bills coming up for a vote soon or any others. You can contact me at 405-557-7405 or at [email protected]. Thank you for the honor of representing you at the State Capitol. God bless!
