Marijuana Bills
Voters will head to the polls next month to give a thumbs up or down to recreational marijuana in Oklahoma. But before that lawmakers will discuss an array of bills related to the cannabis industry.
Last year, lawmakers reigned in the number of Oklahoma’s marijuana business licenses, and pushed through funding to bolster law enforcement around illicit grow operations. The legislature is again looking at further regulations, like bills that protect people who have medical marijuana licenses from discrimination and direct Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority employees to collect and submit samples for testing.
A special election on March 7 could upend the cannabis industry - and how lawmakers regulate it. That’s when voters will consider State Question 820, which would make recreational cannabis legal and provide for some cannabis convictions to be reversed and criminal records expunged.
Education Budget
Newly elected State Superintendent Ryan Walters is hoping the legislature will allocate about $330 million more than last year to fund his new education initiatives and address the teacher shortage. Walters presented his proposal to lawmakers Wednesday - and got some push back.
Agencies present wishlists, but only the legislature can set the final budget. And Walters got a peek into how some lawmakers feel about his plans after he began the hearing with familiar talking points, denouncing what he calls CRT and indoctrination in the classroom. Tulsa Representative John Waldron: "One of the things we could do to improve teacher retention in the state is to stop talking about the profession in terms like that. Can I get your assurance that you’re going to drop the campaign rhetoric and work constructively to encourage people to build long term careers in education?" Waldron asked Walters.
"I absolutely will not apologize, nor will I ever apologize for speaking on behalf of Oklahoma parents. I will never stop fighting radical indoctrination in the classroom," Walters replied.
The final budget will come from lawmakers later this spring. For StateImpact, I’m Beth Wallis.
Teacher Arrested
A Mustang Public Schools teacher has been arrested for sex crimes against a student.
Mustang High School teacher Raymond Thomas Garner was arrested earlier this week following an investigation by the Mustang Police Department and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations which resulted in multiple charges including first degree rape.
The investigation began after a Mustang Resource Officer notified the police department of rumors of Garner having sexual contact with a female student hundreds of times from 2014 to 2017 while he was her science teacher and National Honor Society advisor. Garner has since been suspended from Mustang Public Schools and is being held in the Mustang County Jail.
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