Oklahoma House Republicans are aiming to ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill uses nearly identical language to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” Bill.
House Bill 2546 by Catoosa Republican Representative Terry O’Donnell goes further than the Florida bill, which bans any classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for kindergarten through third grade. Oklahoma’s expands that to pre-K through fifth grade, and after fifth grade, any instruction on orientation or gender must be age or developmentally appropriate.
O’Donnell says the measure is intended to protect the rights of parents to make decisions for their children in public schools.
House Democrats voiced several concerns with the measure, saying the wording is too vague as it lacks any enforcement mechanism and it doesn’t define “classroom instruction,” and that it’s “cookie cutter legislation” derived from nationalized political rhetoric.
“There is harm that will be done to our teachers and what happens in our classrooms. But most importantly, it harms LGBTQ Oklahomans and we know that. They should be able to feel safe being who they are," said Minority Leader Cyndi Munson.
The bill can now be heard in the Senate.
Oklahomans voted to outlaw cockfighting and make it a felony in 2002. But a bill working its way through the legislature is looking to change that.
House Bill 2530 would allow counties to vote on whether to reduce cockfighting from a felony to a misdemeanor.
In a committee hearing last month, the measure’s author Republican Justin Humphrey said the crime doesn’t fit the punishment.
“We've had many laws like heroin and fentanyl now reduced to a misdemeanor. And so what we're trying to do is to create fairness in punishment. When we're looking at 800 people died from fentanyl and not one person died from chickens.”
The bill has faced opposition from former Attorney General Drew Edmondson and animal rights groups.
The bill failed by one vote on Monday but was reconsidered and passed with a majority vote on Tuesday. It now heads to the Senate.
A slimmed-down version of a bill to protect survivors of domestic violence from long prison sentences advanced to the Senate on Wednesday.
Republican Representative Toni Hasenbeck’s House Bill 1639, which would create the Domestic Abuse Survivorship Act, passed unanimously on the House floor on Wednesday.
The original version of the bill created mandatory sentencing ranges for criminalized survivors of domestic violence who can prove they were abused in the year leading up to their crime against their abuser. The version passed leaves those sentencing ranges up to the discretion of the courts.
Additionally, it does not allow for the law to be applied retroactively, meaning it would not immediately apply to criminalized survivors currently serving decades-long sentences.
Colleen McCarty with the Oklahoma Survivor Justice Coalition says retroactivity is an important part of survivor justice reform.
"Oklahomans broadly support retroactivity on criminal justice reform issues. When we realize we’ve made a mistake and we need to go back and correct it, I mean, that’s kind of what justice is," said McCarty.
The title was stricken from the bill, meaning it can still be changed before the end of the session.
Ukrainian soldiers are nearing the end of their 10-week training at Fort Sill. Since January, 65 Ukrainian soldiers have been training on how to use the Patriot missile system at Fort Sill just outside of Lawton.
According to the Associated Press, the soldiers are expected to leave Oklahoma in the next several days for additional training in Europe before they deploy to Ukraine with a Patriot missile battery.
U.S. Army soldiers at Fort Sill who trained the Ukrainians said they were surprised how quickly the visiting soldiers grasped the concepts and learned how to operate the equipment.
The training of the Ukrainian soldiers is part of a larger international effort involving more than 50 countries who are providing security assistance to Ukraine.
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services is accepting applications for household utility assistance.
The Low-Income Water Assistance Program uses federal funds to help Oklahomans maintain their access to water and wastewater services. The program provides a one-time stipend that goes directly to the recipients’ utility provider to cover bills.
Additional emergency assistance is available for housholds in danger of losing access to those utilities. Households that receive a shutoff notice from their water or wastewater provider have three days to apply.
A similar program for energy assistance is available twice a year; but right now, the Department of Human Services is only accepting applications for emergency assistance.
Some tribal nations also offer assistance programs to members who live within their area. Many households may be eligible to apply for both state and tribal assistance, but can only receive funds from one source each fiscal year.
There is no fee to apply or receive assistance from the water assistance program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says people should contact their fraud hotline if anyone offers them a direct grant to cover water utilities or tries to charge a fee to apply for assistance.
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