The Senate returns Monday after extending the special session at the end of June. Their unfinished business: overriding Gov. Kevin Stitt's veto of the vehicle tag and tobacco compacts.
This is the second attempt the Senate will make to override the Governor's veto after both the house and senate overwhelmingly voted to approve the compacts during the regular legislative session. Some are set to expire at the end of this year, while others are set to expire next year.
Renewing the compacts has been routine in the past. Now, they've become a bitter bargaining chip with the Governor, as he tries to wrest back power from tribal nations in the wake of the landmark McGirt decision.
Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat has called the Governor's actions ineffective.
"I think if they continue unresisted, then we will have adverse consequences for the long term."
It's unclear what the Senate will do. But Treat says he's confident he has the votes for approval.
The Senate is expected to take up the vote later this morning.
An Oklahoma Representative’s massive funding bill is at the center of a political debate over money for LGBTQ+ organizations.
The $65 billion funding bill was authored by Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole.
It became the subject of a political battle at an appropriations committee meeting last week. Democrats on the committee accused Republicans of a breach of process for pulling funding from community projects in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Both Oklahoma Representatives Cole and Stephanie Bice, who are on the committee, voted yes to removing the organizations from funding consideration.
“I’ve never seen in 18 years on this committee - I have never seen us take out the minority’s projects - or the majority’s for that matter - in the full committee appropriations process. It’s.. It’s wrong," said Democrat Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida.
The bill will ultimately need to be approved by the full house and reconciled with a Senate version.
With a potential nationwide UPS strike on the horizon, Teamsters in Oklahoma are preparing.
UPS Teamsters in McAlester and Oklahoma City gathered on Friday to practice striking ahead of their union contract expiring at the end of the month.
The practice pickets are not real work stoppages, but Teamsters Local 886 Secretary-Treasurer Jerry Sims says the demonstrations are an example of what will happen if UPS doesn’t come to an agreement with the union.
"We’re showing UPS that we mean business — that come next week, the 31st, if UPS doesn’t come to an agreement with us, we’re just showing them that we mean business and we will do the real thing," said Sims.
Among other things, the Teamsters are asking for wage increases for part-time workers, better hours, and safer working conditions.
The City of Maysville in South-Central Oklahoma has issued a precautionary boil advisory while it addresses murky brown water coming out of customers’ taps.
Maysville provides drinking water for a little more than 1,200 people in Garvin and McClain Counties. The city says those customers should bring tap water to a full boil for at least a minute before drinking it or using it to cook, brush teeth or care for wounds.
This advisory comes from the city itself rather than the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, according to Erin Hatfield with the DEQ. However, she says the problem is with the clarifier at the Maysville treatment plant, which removes solid impurities from the water.
Maysville has a history of drinking water violations, mostly from issues with the treatment process. Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Water Resources Board slated the city to receive $1 million dollars in federal pandemic relief funding to improve the water plant and seek additional sources of water.
Oklahoma City's animal shelter is open again.
Over the weekend, the shelter began allowing adoptions again following a 47-day closure. Now, new dogs can be dropped off starting Monday. To reduce overcrowding, though, there will be a limit of 30 dogs taken in. The shelter is over capacity for dogs.
This is the second reopening. Canine flu forced the shelter to close for much of March and April and much of June and July.
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