State Senate Plans Vote On Grocery Tax Cut
The State Senate plans to vote Thursday on eliminating the grocery tax.
Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat announced an agreement today among caucus lawmakers to cut the state portion of the grocery tax.
Treat says this will be the only tax relief the Senate will be seeking this year.
It's estimated that eliminating the state portion of the grocery tax will save Oklahomans about $400 dollars annually.
If signed into law, the anticipated effective date would around the end of August.
Proposed Legislation Would End Alcohol Sales At Self-Checkout Lanes
Alcohol sales at self-checkout stations in grocery stores could be coming to an end in Oklahoma.
A bill that would ban alcohol sales at self-checkout stations passed through a legislative panel this week.
Senate Bill 1866 was authored by Ponca City Republican Bill Coleman. He says he aims to prevent minors from purchasing alcohol while in Oklahoma stores.
“What we’re seeing across the county right now is self-checkout lanes in stores, young people are starting to buy beer and wine without buying it,” Coleman said.
The nonprofit news outlet Oklahoma Voice reports some lawmakers pushed back saying business owners should be allowed to police themselves.
Despite the debate, the bill passed the committee with a vote of 11-2 and will now proceed to the full Senate for further consideration.
Bill Seeks To Make Sex Ed Opt-In, Defines Curriculum
A bill passed the House General Government committee Tuesday that would require parents to opt their kids INTO sex education at public and charter schools.
It would also impact the type of education parents are opting their kids into.
House Bill 3120 by Seminole Republican Danny Williams adds a multitude of things to what must and must not be taught in Oklahoma schools related to sex ed.
Currently, the only mandated subject for sex ed is AIDS prevention instruction.
But in Williams' bill, schools would have to classify males and females based on biological sex, specify when abortion is legal in Oklahoma and emphasize abstinence outside of heterosexual marriages.
Schools cannot promote sexual orientations beyond heterosexuality, teach about having sex for pleasure or use student’s preferred pronouns if they don’t correspond with their biological sex.
The bill also deletes the definition of consent in Oklahoma law and says schools can’t teach it.
Some committee members were particularly concerned about this.
Williams committed to working on a floor amendment with the committee to address consent. The bill passed with a vote of 4 to 3 and is headed to the House floor.
Snapshot Of Farming In Oklahoma
The latest national Census of Agriculture shows overall Oklahoma has fewer farmers and ranchers. But not every county lost producers.
In the state, McCurtain County had the largest decrease in producers from 2017-2022. Numbers from the census show more than 400 producers left that area.
On the flip side, Northern Oklahoma’s Grant County gained farmers. It saw an increase of almost 330 producers, the highest hike of all the counties.
Andrew Van Leuven is an agriculture economics professor and an Oklahoma State University extension specialist. When looking at rural employment numbers, he said things are complicated.
“Is there a lot of other opportunities for people to continue to earn money or is the main centerpiece of the economy in those rural areas drying up? And so it's usually more complicated of a story than just it's dying or it's thriving,” Van Leuven said.
He said typically if agriculture is fading as a main employment opportunity in an area, it will be replaced or that area’s economic vitality will suffer.
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