Chickashanews.com

Opinion

Discussion

Add a comment on this story
March 7, 2011

Pension system bills taken up in Oklahoma legislature

Joe Dorman State Representative The Express-Star

CHICKASHA — It was a very busy week at the Capitol as discussion began before the full House of Representatives regarding the various bills dealing with pension systems.

HB 2132 was the first of these bills. This legislation advanced by the Republican leadership requires that cost-of-living-adjustments (COLA’s) must have a funding mechanism to pay for that amount before a COLA could be granted to retirees.

I had grave concerns over one provision in the bill requiring the State Board of Equalization to certify the revenue stream to be available, and essentially giving this Board the authority to kill the legislation.

In my opinion, this takes away legislative authority to discuss and possibly negotiate ideas throughout the discussion and would prevent us from doing our jobs in the future.

Supreme Court rulings have stricken down legislation with similar ideas to shift authority under the checks-and-balances of our system of government, so I fear this bill will be challenged in the court system. This bill moves on for consideration in a Senate Committee.

Another bill of interest considered this week was HB 1225 by Rep. Pat Ownbey. This bill would require that a funding source be designated for all future initiative petitions submitting changes to the Oklahoma Constitution.

I amended this bill to require the Office of State Finance to prepare an estimate of the cost to the state budget of the constitutional change if passed by the people.

This would give taxpayers and voters an idea of what the actual cost would be rather than relying on estimates by competing groups which might affect the outcome.  This bill will also move on to the Senate for consideration.

It has been a busy time of good events around our area, and we will see some great things coming up this weekend. I had a chance to attend the American Farmers and Ranchers state convention and congratulate students for winning in their speech categories and I also had the opportunity to help award checks in all three of my counties from Rural Economic Action Program (REAP) grants.

On the topic of grants, special thanks go to REC for awarding annual grants to our local fire departments in their service area.

On Friday, Comanche County legislators hosted Governor Mary Fallin at Fort Sill, which is part of my legislative district and educate her on various programs affecting our area.

On Saturday, I was pleased to attend the Elgin Cub Scouts Awards, the Fletcher Livestock Show and the Elgin 4-H Cake Auction. On Sunday, I visited with the Central High FFA at their stock show and attended the Apache Rattlesnake Hunt Association where I was drafted to work the snake pit over the weekend of April 15-17, so stop by and enjoy the show.

This upcoming weekend, I’ll attend the annual Terri Hardzog Memorial Round Robin Showmanship competition at the Comanche County Livestock Show, visiting with student groups at Comanche County Memorial Hospital and Caddo Kiowa Career Tech, along with trying to make it to the state playoffs to root for the Fort Cobb-Broxton boys and Cyril girls basketball teams.  Best of luck to both of them this weekend!

It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol.

If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305.

My e-mail address is joedorman@okhouse.gov at work.

My mailing address is P.O. Box 559, Rush Springs, OK 73082 and my website is www.joedorman.com on the Internet.

Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Text Only
Opinion
  • Uncle Joe, the windmill man for the Common Good

    South of town, my grandfather’s family grew wheat. North of town, my grandmother’s family raised cattle. Water was important to everyone and everything.  Unless you were fortunate enough to have a live creek on your land, you had a windmill.

    May 14, 2013

  • Inhofe comments evidence of larger political problem

    There is no denying that global warming is one of the most disputed and politicized issues of the last two decades. Broach the subject with anyone that has an opinion on climatology, and that person transforms into a highly educated scientist with years of experience conducting weather related experiments.

    May 8, 2013

  • Dorman prepares for end of session

    The end of the session is growing close.  The anticipated date, which will be a week before the constitutional deadline, looks to be around Friday, May 24.

    May 7, 2013

  • Thank you Bryant Baker for our territorial mom….For the Common Good

    Gazing intently to the southwest with her chin held high, Oklahoma’s Pioneer Woman statute stands as a symbol of courage, faith and hope and is one of the most recognizable sculptures in the United States.  The statue is properly named “Confidence.”

    May 7, 2013

  • Writer looks at constitutionality of presidents

    As I'll be turning 88 in June, I'd begun to lose hope for at last witnessing in my lifetime some legal accountability for the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney-Barack Obama-CIA-national security torture policy instituted after 9/11, which continues today.

    May 3, 2013

  • Seeing the forest and the trees….for the Common Good

    Today, my optometrist would probably call it Macular Degeneration. In the 1940’s my family just knew that my grandfather’s cousin should not have been driving a car.

    May 2, 2013

  • Dorman updates on remaining bills

    I have an update on my remaining bills going through the legislative process.  I will have three pieces of legislation which will need further work, but I expect good, thoughtful policies to come about from them.

    April 30, 2013

  • Editorial: Tax continuation could only be good for Grady County

    Taxes are a necessity for any community on the verge of extreme growth, and Grady County is no different.

    April 27, 2013

  • Perryman touts importance of reading

    I grew up in a house that received a daily newspaper, two weeklies and a number of magazines.  That was the norm.  My grandparents’ homes were the same.  So was their parents’.  Settling in western Caddo County in 1901, my Indiana great grandparents kept up with news from the area where they were raised through the ‘Churubusco Times’ and my Kansas great grandparents did the same with a paper from central Kansas.

    April 20, 2013

  • Dorman reviews bills authored in senate

    As we proceed through the session, I wanted to provide you with some information on the bills I am authoring for Senators.  Each piece of legislation requires an author from both bodies, so these are the bills I am currently carrying for my colleagues across the rotunda.

    April 3, 2013