“Play to your strengths.”

“I haven’t got any,” said Harry, before he could stop himself.

“Excuse me,” growled Moody, “you’ve got strengths if I say you’ve got them.”

Over the last few years, there have been a lot of Oklahoman’s down on their home state. As your new Lt. Governor, I’m ready to move in a more positive direction. That starts with looking at our current strengths. Tourism is not just one of those strengths, it’s an economic force in Oklahoma. 

Economic development professionals shouldn’t speak of tourism as a lesser goal than other traded businesses. Too many towns are focused on luring that “big score” company that they believe will solve all their problems. Those wins are great, but any business that attracts money from outside the region will improve prosperity within the region, and that includes tourism dollars. Tourism, it has been said, is the front door to economic development. Tourism advertising and visits create a “halo effect” that has a positive impact on our overall image and creates economic development opportunities. Bottom-line: When we can get people to Oklahoma, they’re impressed. And the good news is, people are coming here.

As recently reported, visitors pumped $9 billion into the state economy over the past year. That’s a 4.4-percent increase over the year prior. Even with a shrinking Tourism Department budget, state tax collections from tourism have jumped by an impressive 20 percent since 2010. That translates to more than 100,000 jobs, with a payroll of $2.3 billion.

Tourism is already the third largest industry in the state, but I believe we’re just scratching the surface. We have a valuable opportunity to talk about our amazing 200 lakes, wildlife, rich tribal heritage, small town charm, and more miles of the most famous road in America in Route 66. We can – and must – do better.

Governor Stitt and I are well aware of the big issues facing Oklahoma from education to healthcare to infrastructure. Promoting our great tourism industry and developing a uniform brand for our state plays a role in that bigger picture.

So Oklahoma, don’t tell me you don’t have any strengths. You’ve got strengths if I say you’ve got them…and you’ve got one in tourism.

Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell was recently named Oklahoma Secretary of Tourism and Branding.

Recently, I was asked to appear at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa to discuss the twin subjects of “How to Restore Civility in Politics” and “What Are Oklahoma’s Greatest Challenges?” The audience was an impressive group of Tulsa civic and business leaders numbering some 200 people.

Civility? Easy. Listen before you talk. Say “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am.” Speak before you shout. Don’t be a know-it-all. Don’t touch your neighbor. The usual stuff. Third grade.
Oklahoma’s greatest challenges? More difficult. Modernize the infrastructure. Don’t tax work. Don’t put everyone in jail. Make it easier to start a business.

Then, it got sticky. But I kept talking. We don’t teach hard enough courses in school. Look at our state’s latest National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores. From 2015 through 2017, we hit the guardrails. Our fourth graders rank below the national average in reading and math. Our eighth graders crashed as well in reading and math.

Read the complete story on tulsaworld.com

After a decade of teacher salary stagnation, Oklahoma lawmakers passed legislation last session giving teachers a deserved raise. Although we’ve made great strides and now rank second in the region in teacher pay, communities are still frustrated. They lack control at the local level to decide how their tax dollars are spent and they need more options and flexibility to do what makes sense for their districts.

This November, voters will have the opportunity to further strengthen our education system and allow local communities more control. If passed, State Question 801 would give local school districts greater flexibility to use existing property tax revenue for operational needs and expenses, including teacher pay and textbooks. Currently, a portion of local funds is confined to a separate building fund, which restricts usage to a narrow list of expenses. This is problematic for school districts with adequate facilities that would prefer to spend their local dollars in classrooms.

A measure intended to bring flexibility back to school funding, SQ 801 is not meant to be a cure-all. Neither is SQ 801 a mandate – if a district wants to keep some of its local dollars separated in its building fund, it will be able to continue to do so. But, we believe some Oklahoma districts and local communities would benefit from less government regulation and more local control, giving them the flexibility to spend their local dollars in the best way to help students, potentially including additional pay for teachers and more money in the classroom.

Read the complete story on the journalrecord.com

THIS year, at the Oklahoma Education Association’s urging, most Republican legislators approved roughly $600 million in tax increases and provided an average $6,100 raise per teacher while boosting the school appropriation almost 20 percent. If Republicans thought those actions, which broke campaign promises for many, would win OEA support, they’re learning otherwise now.

The OEA has released a list of teacher-affiliated candidate to bolster support for those individuals.

Reps. Greg Babinec, R-Cushing, and Scooter Park, R-Devol, both voted for tax increases and increased school funding. Both were ousted in primaries last week by OEA-touted opponents. Apparently, toeing the OEA line isn’t enough to avoid being considered “anti-education.”

Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, voted for tax increases. In April, he attended a town hall on education. In opening remarks at the event, Amanda Ewing, chief lobbyist for the OEA, introduced McBride and another lawmaker as “public education advocates.” Now the OEA is touting the candidacy of a Democrat working to defeat McBride in November.

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday threw out a petition seeking to repeal recent tax increases, ruling that it was misleading and fatally flawed.

Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite!, which has been circulating petitions to force a statewide vote on the tax hikes, now has less than than a month to file a new petition and gather more than 41,000 signatures. The deadline is July 18.

In their decision, justices said nothing prevents the group “from filing a new referendum petition, without the deficiencies identified today, and restarting the process of referendum.”

The Supreme Court – siding with groups that included the Oklahoma Education Association and the Oklahoma State School Boards Association – ruled that the petition being circulated was misleading and incomplete.

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

NEWCASTLE, Okla. (AP) — Sherrie Conley is like most people in small-town Oklahoma: solidly conservative. When she goes to the polls, she faithfully votes Republican.

But in Tuesday’s primary election here, the elementary school principal won’t be voting for the two-term GOP state House member from her district. That’s because she’s trying to get him out of office.

Conley is part of a wave of about 100 educators, including dozens of Republicans, who are running for office in the aftermath of a teacher walkout that shut down public schools for two weeks this spring and opened an unusually bitter chasm in the state’s ruling party.

Read the complete story from the AP. 

Governor Mary Fallin Appoints Labor Commissioner Melissa McLawhorn Houston to Serve as Secretary of Education and Workforce Development

OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor Mary Fallin today announced Labor Commissioner Melissa McLawhorn Houston will serve on her executive Cabinet as secretary of education and workforce development.

Houston begins her new duties effective immediately.

“The best way we can support our businesses and grow our economy is to produce a more educated workforce. Aligning our education and workforce training programs to provide relevant work skills is the best way to keep job growth strong,” said Fallin. “Commissioner Houston has the skills and knowledge to ensure Oklahoma public education and our business communities cooperate to increase educational attainment in Oklahoma.”

Fallin appointed Houston labor commissioner in the fall of 2015, to fulfill the remainder of then-Labor Commissioner Mark Costello’s term. Before that, Houston served as chief of staff and policy adviser in the Oklahoma attorney general’s office.

“I appreciate Governor Fallin’s confidence in me and the opportunity to further serve our great state,” said Houston. “At the Oklahoma Department of Labor, we have increased collaboration to advance our mission of promoting the welfare of the wage earner and we have spearheaded efforts to reform occupational licensing. Continuing to build partnerships in this new role to assist the governor’s efforts in developing a skilled, educated workforce in our state will be a priority. As a mom of two sons in the public school system, I look forward to learning more about all phases of our education ecosystem and ways to provide Oklahomans great opportunities to learn and pathways for entering the workforce.”

When she was appointed labor commissioner, Houston said she would not seek election to a full four-year term. She is an experienced administrator with extensive knowledge of state government. Before serving as the attorney general’s chief of staff, Houston served for nine years (2002-2011) as the chief of staff for the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security. Prior to that, she served as deputy director for the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association and as an attorney for the Oklahoma Truth in Sentencing Policy Advisory Commission. She has a law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Houston has extensive experience in state agency operational management, legislative process and budgeting. She has overseen and directed administrative operations of $30 million in the attorney general’s office and she oversaw and managed more than $170 million in federal programming and funds while chief of staff at the Office of Homeland Security.

Houston will also lead Fallin’s Oklahoma Works initiative, a statewide strategic plan, which seeks to align education to the needs of business and industry and to generate wealth-generating career pathways for students.

Education is one of the governor’s biggest priorities during her administration. She has pushed the past three years for teacher pay raises, culminating with this year’s approval of the largest teacher pay raise in the history of the state. Oklahoma teacher pay improved from last in the seven-state region to second for average annual pay, and from 49th in the nation to 29th. When taking into account the cost of living, Oklahoma teachers will be the 12th-highest-paid in the country. The teacher pay was one component of a 19.7 percent increase in state appropriations for K-12 public education for the upcoming fiscal year.

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When the acting head of the Federal Trade Commission proclaimed last year, “I challenge anyone to explain why the state has a legitimate interest in protecting the public from rogue interior designers carpet-bombing living rooms with ugly throw pillows,” it was clear that occupational licensing reform had gone mainstream. From Mississippi to Arizona to Wisconsin, states have enacted reforms that will make it easier for their workers to climb the ladder of opportunity.

In Oklahoma, we went big. The governor put together a task force to examine occupational licenses. It came up with recommendations that won’t just remove barriers for Oklahomans, but will provide a blueprint for other states, counties and towns across the country to follow so more American workers can find jobs and pursue their dreams.

There was a time when occupational licenses applied only to doctors, lawyers and other high-income occupations whose malpractice could jeopardize consumers’ health, well-being or safety. That’s no longer the case. Today, a license is required for roughly 25 percent of the workforce, up from just 5 percent in the 1950s.

This presents a significant impediment to employment for people in disadvantaged communities. A 2017 study by the Institute for Justice of 102 low- and middle-income occupations nationwide found that to obtain a license in Oklahoma (we license everything from travel guides to shampooers) an aspiring worker must pay an average of $234 in fees and complete nearly 400 days of education and experience.

Public safety is often the primary justification, but research shows licensing doesn’t improve quality or public health and safety. Real-world experience also belies the claim. Most of the 102 licensed occupations in the IJ study are safely practiced unlicensed in other states.

What’s more, the licensing requirements for jobs that do affect public health are often less strenuous. Nationwide, the average emergency medical technician, who can be the difference between life and death, must complete just 34 days of training, while cosmetologists on average need 386 days of experience.

The real purpose of many licensing boards is to insulate industry players from competition. Boards often include individuals who work in the profession they regulate and have every incentive to engage in behavior that limits competition.

This is where the task force’s recommendations enter the picture. They provide a blueprint that policymakers nationwide can use to examine current and future licenses.

Instead of broad ideas of what licensing should look like, the blueprint contains a series of specific questions to evaluate individual licenses. For example, “Is there a compelling public interest that needs to be protected?” If the answer is no, then scrap the license. If yes, then determine whether a license is the least restrictive way to protect that interest. After that, the questions focus on ensuring that active market participants do not control the board and consumer interests are protected.

The goal must be to remove unreasonable barriers to employment so that more Americans can realize their dreams and experience the dignity of work.

Tidwell is Oklahoma state director of Americans for Prosperity.

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

PUBLIC ED ADVOCATE ENDORSES CATHY COSTELLO FOR LABOR COMMISSIONER 

     Leading public education advocate, Dr. Denise Roddy, is endorsing Cathy Costello in the Republican Primary for Labor Commissioner.

“One of Cathy Costello’s greatest assets is being a former classroom teacher,” Dr. Denise Roddy says. “Cathy truly values public education and understands the importance of closing the skills gap by promoting STEM programs for both college-bound and career tech students.  She has a clear plan to cultivate the workforce and to set the stage for our kids to enjoy prosperous careers in Oklahoma.”

Dr. Denise Roddy graduated with honors from Northeastern State University College of Optometry. She is a past-President of both the NSU Alumni Board President and the NSU Foundation Board of Directors.

“Cathy is a 40-year job creator and business owner who has signed the front and the back of a paycheck, providing jobs for more than 100 families — including her own,” says Dr. Roddy. “This business experience will be invaluable as the protector of the workforce and small business.  Her unique exposure to the Department of Labor for almost five years makes her the perfect choice for Labor Commissioner.”

Cathy Costello is a co-founder of several businesses, both domestic and international, and is a sought-after national speaker and advocate on issues of mental health.  She has been instrumental in passing major state and federal legislation to improve how employers address mental health needs in the workplace.

The Republican primary for Labor Commissioner is scheduled for June 26, 2018 and the general election will be held November 6, 2018.

For more information on Cathy Costello’s campaign for Oklahoma Labor Commissioner, visit her website at www.CostelloForOK.com.

The referendum petition being circulated to repeal taxes passed by the Legislature is valid, and a protest filed by the Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators should be rejected, the Oklahoma attorney general’s office argued Friday to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

In written arguments, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter’s office said the state Constitution has always afforded broad protection to the right of citizens to seek a referendum on legislation. That right was strengthened when voters approved State Question 640 and barred the Legislature from attaching an emergency enactment clause to bills that raise taxes.

The state Supreme Court should “zealously guard the right of referendum” and deny the protest filed by the Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators, Hunter’s office argued.

The high court asked the attorney general’s office for its opinion on the protest filed by the Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators and on a separate protest filed by the Oklahoma Education Association and other education groups.

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

I have read with interest and reflection the opinion pieces and letters to the editor about the Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite effort to collect signatures for a referendum on the tax increases passed by the state Legislature.

I wholeheartedly agree we need to have our teachers at salaries that attract the best and the brightest to educate our most valuable resource, our children. We should have the highest-paid teachers in our area of the country and the most accountable.
But what happened in the Legislature will cause Oklahoma to fail, not succeed. The Legislature has raised over $1.1 billion in new taxes since 2015. But what they have not done is look at every state agency and ask what is the goal of each, how do they spend their money and are they transparent with the resources they get.

Bureaucracies by their very nature are not efficient. Their goal is survival and expansion and most are not mission-focused, but survival-focused. That is just human nature.

Take, for example, the recent news about the Oklahoma Department of Health. A commissioner’s slush fund? The firing of 188 state personnel because the accounting in the agency was so poor it did not know where the money was and the limitations on it? Then $30 million in additional appropriations that were not needed.

Read the complete story on tulsaworld.com

Rep. Faught Supports Veto-Override Special Session
Petition for Special Session would give chance to stop US 69 Bypass 

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. George Faught today announced his support of a legislative petition authored by State Sen. Nathan Dahm calling for a special session devoted to overriding vetoes issued by Gov. Mary Fallin.

Article V, Section 27A of the Oklahoma Constitution allows for the Legislature to call itself into special session and set the guidelines without the governor’s input. Dahm’s petition would allow for the special session to take up overrides of Gov. Fallin’s vetoes from the 2017-2018 legislative term and allow for the members of the House and Senate to re-author and pass any measure Fallin has vetoed during her term, going back all the way to the 2011 legislative session.

“This would give lawmakers the opportunity to fix all the mistakes Mary Fallin has made and decisions she messed us up over the last eight years,” said Dahm, R-Broken Arrow.

One measure important to the Muskogee area that would be eligible to be heard during the special session would be Senate Bill 86. The legislation required the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) to perform an economic impact study before any planned bypass around a community is placed on ODOT’s eight-year plan and required the department to present the study to the municipality, which would need to approve the bypass before beginning construction. SB 86passed the House by a vote of 62-27 and the Senate by a vote of 32-11.

“A veto override special session would give Muskogee another chance at stopping the U.S. 69 Bypass, and give input and protections to communities in the U.S. 69 corridor and across the state from future bypass projects,” said Faught, R-Muskogee, who served as the House author of SB 86.

Another potential measure eligible for a veto override is House Bill 1552, an important government transparency and accountability measure authored by Faught. HB 1552 would have brought much-needed reforms to the state’s regulatory process. It would have reformed the administrative rules process by restoring legislative control over government regulations, thus strengthening transparency and accountability and reining in unelected bureaucrats. HB 1552 passed the House by a vote of 71- 23 and the Senate unanimously.

“Gov. Fallin has failed Oklahoma citizens by vetoing legislation that is important to the Muskogee area and the state as a whole,” said Faught. “This veto-override special session would give us a chance to correct those problems, advance Oklahoma in a positive direction, and protect citizens from government overreach.”

Lawmakers are also considering overriding vetoes on pro-life, pro-gun, and government reform measures.

“Citizens can go to OKLegislature.gov to find out who their legislators are and how to contact them. I urge Muskogee area residents to call their legislators and ask them to sign Sen. Dahm’s veto-override special session petition. Give lawmakers another chance at stopping the U.S. 69 bypass, as well as overturning other vetoes of policy measures that would benefit Oklahoma citizens and businesses,” said Faught.

Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee, represents House District 14, which covers portions of eastern Muskogee and western Cherokee counties, including the communities of Muskogee, Fort Gibson, Braggs and Webbers Falls. He chairs the General Government Oversight and Accountability committee.

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 Governor’s veto of improved reading law creates confusion, instability, Hofmeister warns

OKLAHOMA CITY (May 4, 2018) – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister made the following remarks about Gov. Fallin’s veto of Senate Bill 1190. The measure, which passed 88-1 in the state House and 42-0 in the state Senate, was necessary to adjust cut scores of the Reading Sufficiency Act (RSA) to align with Oklahoma’s adoption of more comprehensive academic standards and assessments.

“It is deeply troubling that the governor would veto a bill that ensured the validity of the Reading Sufficiency Act. Her veto of SB 1190 threatens to severely undermine high standards and create confusion at a time when educators desperately need stability,” she said. “I am particularly alarmed because these were changes recommended by the Oklahoma Technical Advisory Committee of assessment experts, as well as a committee of Oklahoma veteran educators with direct involvement in the process. The recommendation was then unanimously adopted by the Commission on Educational Quality and Accountability, which was chaired by Gov. Fallin’s then-Secretary of Education and included her appointed commissioners.

“Gov. Fallin has been wrong on education policy before, and her veto of this legislation is wrong as well. The RSA has made a positive impact on reading instruction, but its credibility is seriously jeopardized by the governor’s misguided veto.”

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Even as they presented unified calls for increased funding, rural and urban educators had starkly different ideas of how to accomplish it, lawmakers said.

Teachers were allied in their calls for increased pay, additional classroom spending and reduced class sizes. Still, some lawmakers said they couldn’t help but notice some stark disagreement and mixed messages about how to solve those issues.

And as the walkout continued with little apparent legislative action, lawmakers said the divide appeared to be heightened by educators’ geographical and socioeconomic differences.

“The last two weeks, we almost had a civil war between the urban and the rural teachers,” said state Sen. Ron Sharp, R-Shawnee, a retired teacher and vice chair of his chamber’s education committee. “Your rural teachers, your rural superintendents began to realize this is turning into a battle of survival, and I don’t think they anticipated this.”

Read the complete story from the AP.

Here is the link to the video by OAR member Brad Worster, CPM, CCIM – https://youtu.be/dbpb34oJyLw

STATEMENT

The Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® (OAR) stands firmly in opposition to any attempt by lawmakers to end the capital gains tax deduction. Long-term investment and stability for our communities are key to Oklahoma’s economic growth and prosperity. Removing those exemptions will drive individuals and businesses from our state and hurt Oklahoma’s economy.

Additionally, capital gains taxes can vary dramatically year to year. It is not and will never be a stable funding source for our state.

Elimination of the capital gains tax is not in the best interest of the hard-working Oklahomans. We ask lawmakers to consider the individuals and businesses that are helping to sustain and grow their communities before attempting an untenable fix.

– Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® Chief Executive Officer Jessica M. Hickok, GRI, RCE, CAE

Three Republican gubernatorial candidates said they would not have signed the revenue and teacher pay raise package that promises a $6,100 annual increase for the average teacher.

In a candidate forum on KOKC radio aired Monday, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt and Tulsa attorney Gary Richardson said they would not have signed the package. Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett did not say what he would have done.

Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones said he would have signed the package because it mirrored one that he offered with Democratic legislators.

Lawmakers two weeks ago approved a $474 million package that includes a boost in oil and gas production taxes; higher gas and diesel taxes; and a $1-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax. Gov. Mary Fallin signed the package. The teacher walkout began a few days after the package was signed.

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

Oklahoma’s teachers have just completed the first week of a statewide “walkout,” with no resolution in sight. (It’s a “walkout,” not a “strike,” as public-employee strikes are illegal in Oklahoma.)

Ironically, the state’s teachers had won much of what they wanted before the walkout even began. On Friday, March 23, the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), the state’s largest teachers union, issued an ambitious list of demands: a $10,000 pay raise for teachers; $5,000 raise for school-support personnel; $200 million over three years in additional local-school funding; a 5 percent cost-of-living increase for retirees; and $500 million over three years to “fully staff state agencies” and raise state employee pay by $7,500 a year. In OEA’s estimation, this total package would cost more than $1.4 billion over three years.

In response, on Thursday, March 29 the Oklahoma legislature enacted a new teacher-pay scale that boosted average teacher pay by $6,100 — or 16 percent. This represented a remarkable win for teachers: In 2016, Oklahoma’s average teacher salary of $45,276 ranked 49th nationally, according to the National Education Association (NEA). The raise was funded via new taxes on gas, tobacco, and oil production, along with a new limit on income-tax deductions.

Yet, teachers were not placated — and on Monday, April 2, they started the walkout. The next day, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed a $2.9 billion appropriations bill for education funding in fiscal year 2019 — a 19.7 percent boost in spending over the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The legislation includes $353.5 million for teacher pay (funding the $6,100 average raise); $52 million for support personnel pay; $50 million for textbooks and general state aid; and $24.7 million for health-care benefits. Fallin signed additional legislation providing a $1,250 annual pay bump for school-support personnel and tiered raises for state employees ranging from $750 to $2,000.

Read the complete story on thehill.com